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House IT aids fear blackmail


Merc14

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This is a bizarre little story that I am starting to see pop now so thought I'd post it and see if anyone knows something more

http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/22/house-aides-fear-suspects-hill-breach-blackmailing-members-data/

House IT Aides Fear Suspects in Hill Breach Are Blackmailing Members With Their Own Data

Luke Rosiak / @lukerosiak / May 22, 2017/ comments

Congressional technology aides are baffled that data-theft allegations against four former House IT workers—who were banned from the congressional network—have largely been ignored, and they fear the integrity of sensitive high-level information.

Imran Awan and three relatives were colleagues until police banned them from computer networks at the House of Representatives after suspicion the brothers accessed congressional computers without permission.

Five Capitol Hill technology aides told The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group that members of Congress have displayed an inexplicable and intense loyalty toward the suspects who police say victimized them. The baffled aides wonder if the suspects are blackmailing representatives based on the contents of their emails and files, to which they had full access.

“I don’t know what they have, but they have something on someone. It’s been months at this point” with no arrests, said Pat Sowers, who has managed IT for several House offices for 12 years. “Something is rotten in Denmark.”

A manager at a tech services company that works with Democratic House offices said he approached congressional offices, offering their services at one-fourth the price of Awan and his Pakistani brothers, but the members declined. At the time, he couldn’t understand why his offers were rejected but now he suspects the Awans exerted some type of leverage over members.

“There’s no question about it: If I was accused of a tenth of what these guys are accused of, they’d take me out in handcuffs that same day, and I’d never work again,” he said.

The Awans’ ban sent 20 members searching for new IT workers, but another contractor claims he’s had difficulty convincing offices to let him fill the void, even when he seemed like a shoo-in. He says he has the sense some members wrongly believed that he blew the whistle on the Awans’ theft and they were angry at him for it.

Politico reported the Awan crew is “accused of stealing equipment from members’ offices without their knowledge and committing serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network.”

A House IT employee who requested anonymity said tech workers who have taken over some of those offices found that computers in some—but not all—offices were “thin clients” that sent all data to an off-site server in violation of House policies. Additionally, staffers’ iPhones were all linked to a single nongovernment iTunes account.

Awan began working for Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida in 2005, and his wife, his brother’s wife, and two of his brothers all appeared on the payrolls of various House Democrats soon after, payroll records show. They have collected $4 million since 2010.

For years, it was widely known that Awan, and eventually his 20-year-old brother Jamal, did the bulk of the work for various offices, while no-show employees were listed on members’ staffs in order to collect additional $165,000 salaries, workers said. This circumvented a rule that prevents any one staffer from making more than members of Congress.

Members were fiercely protective of the business despite objectively shoddy work and requests for computer help routinely ignored for weeks, all said. An IT specialist who took over an Awan office said they did not keep an inventory of what hardware was there, and the office was paying for phone lines it hadn’t used in years.

Article continues here:  http://dailysignal.com/2017/05/22/house-aides-fear-suspects-hill-breach-blackmailing-members-data/

 

 

 

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There was something vaguely familiar about the name "Awan"...

Quote

Awan began working for Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida in 2005, and his wife, his brother’s wife, and two of his brothers all appeared on the payrolls of various House Democrats soon after, payroll records show. They have collected $4 million since 2010.

I think we touched on this story or a very similar one last year. We talked about the vetting process for IT techs in Gov. Anyway, let's root out the rats in all levels of Government.

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At some point, I hope that all this garbage is dumped in public for all to see just how despicable these "honorable" representatives really are.

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Excellent story ....

These IT guys remind me of something else I used to watch, and love ...

 

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The Awans and their associates collected $5 million from congressional offices.
These bars represent how they got that much money while allegedly fleecing taxpayers.
The money is broken down by year, congressional office and payment to
Imran, Abid and Jamal Awan and Hina Alvi, Natalia Sova and Rao Abbas

http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/22/sources-democratic-aide-suspected-of-major-security-breach-under-government-protection-in-pakistan/

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3 hours ago, Ellapennella said:

 

The Awans and their associates collected $5 million from congressional offices.
These bars represent how they got that much money while allegedly fleecing taxpayers.
The money is broken down by year, congressional office and payment to
Imran, Abid and Jamal Awan and Hina Alvi, Natalia Sova and Rao Abbas

http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/22/sources-democratic-aide-suspected-of-major-security-breach-under-government-protection-in-pakistan/

Wow, I hope Adam Schiff attacks this intelligence breach with the same enthusiasm he attacks Trump with zero proof of a breach.  Good thing the republicans are doing nothing at all, as usual.  

That is what really sickens me!  The democrats run around, with zero evidence, accusing people of high crimes and the republicans, with intelligence leaks and IT crimes right in front of them, do NOTHING!  They are the great do-nothings of the 21st century while having the majority in both houses and the executive.

Edited by Merc14
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