Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Monitoring Software Helps Investigate Hot Spots at Utility District

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The Setting

For 60 years, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has served California’s Sacramento County with electricity at rates SMUD proudly describes as “consistently lower than statewide investor-owned utilities.”

SMUD’s computer network consists of approximately 1850 Windows XP desktop PCs and 350 servers.

Mike Hewitt, CISSP, has 15 years security experience and is in his sixth year as SMUD Information Security Officer.

The Challenge

“We have standards adhered to by most everyone, but there are always people who just don’t get it,” said Hewitt.

In addition to those broad concerns inherent in human nature, Hewitt said the generation of new hires at SMUD – beyond being hard-working and out to prove itself – is technologically savvy.

“This newer, younger group is very connected … very wired … it’s just the way they grew up,” said Hewitt. “They’re very proficient in chat, IM, peer-to-peer, blogging -- and that’s fine -- but with a lot of that comes vulnerability and distraction.”

Search for a Solution

Hewitt said SMUD does not closely monitor each seat on its network, but has come to recognize the need to focus on specific behavior when events dictate. Just such a happening occurred in recent memory, when Hewitt said an alleged harassment case precipitated management’s request for a “robust tool” with which to conduct investigations.

“We had a case where it was alleged that confidential information was being used by one of our employees to harass another individual, a customer,” said Hewitt. “We needed to watch EVERYTHING a certain person did to substantiate the allegation, or determine it was unfounded. I needed a tool.”

As a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Hewitt is schooled in high-tech security, and as such knows about PC activity monitoring software. A popular Internet search tool helped him narrow marketplace choices to an offering from SpectorSoft Corporation.

“I was pretty convinced from the start,” said Hewitt. “It looked like Spector CNE (Corporate Network Edition) would do the trick. As it turned out, it was just what I needed … something to give me not just history, but actual screen shots and specifics.”

Discoveries

The individual involved in the potential harassment case proved to be a model employee.

“Spector CNE showed us there was nothing to substantiate the allegations,” said Hewitt. “The OTHER person actually was the culprit. That was our first experience with Spector CNE and it was extremely successful … so much so that I let Human Resources know I had this tool … Spector CNE … to investigate.”

Now that management understands Spector CNE, the software likely will be used regularly.

“We have five investigations going on now … when it rains it pours,” said Hewitt. “In one instance, we have what on the surface appears to be a trustworthy employee acting in an untrustworthy fashion. Spector CNE will either support or disprove our case. “We also have someone who appears to be running a business on company time and equipment. Not only that, but the business appears to be in conflict with their job. For this case, Spector CNE’s keyword alert comes in very handy.” Hewitt explained the feature permits him to be quickly informed whenever the name of the conflicting company appears in documents, emails, IMs, or any other PC activity.

Working With Employees

Hewitt said SMUD not only discloses its monitoring policy, but does so with regularity. Management sends a memo to employees each year, making it clear that there is no expectation of privacy when employees use company PCs.

Spector CNE: The Software of Choice

“Every company will have a need to investigate inappropriate behavior from time to time,” said Hewitt. “Spector CNE is the complete tool to obtain the needed information.”

	“From a value standpoint, Spector CNE has been great,” said Hewitt. “The number of hours saved … the fact that I can automate the monitoring process … it’s the best. The money saved on just my productivity alone is substantial. If not for Spector CNE, I would have to spend lots of time on lots of other activities … poring over logs, copying hard drives, conducting forensic analysis of the data … things that require a lot of hours. The fact that Spector CNE not only monitors, but also records, is a great advantage.”
	Hewitt added it is easy to see how an unproductive employee, or one whose behavior is inappropriate, not only is costly but also a potential liability. “Finding and weeding out a problem employee early, that’s one of Spector CNE’s great values,” said Hewitt. “That really saves the company money.”
	“If we were ever to go to court, Spector CNE’s screen snapshots are irrefutable,” said Hewitt. “In some past investigations, what I have put together is a piecemeal re-creation of events … seemingly circumstantial. “Investigations used to be more speculative, maybe even a little skeptical. With Spector CNE, you have it all, plus additional information. Now I know EXACTLY what an individual is doing. I get to see it like a videotape.”
	“Spector CNE has been so successful,” said Hewitt. “I’ve told Human Resources about its capabilities … that we can assist them. I guess you could say I marketed it to them … and now they ask for Spector CNE deployment.”

Spector CNE has been such a boon for Hewitt that he has nearly eliminated the need for what used to be a regular burn of the midnight oil, clearly a benefit to Hewitt and SMUD management. On even closer inspection, it might be suggested that Spector CNE has been helpful in promoting and preserving marital harmony.

“Using Spector CNE, I can usually prove what needs proving without taking what used to be a necessary extra step … copying a computer’s hard drive,” said Hewitt.

For obvious security reasons, copying a hard drive requires working with an unattended PC … and for Hewitt at SMUD, this task is undertaken “in the wee hours.”

“My wife quickly learned that what I always optimistically projected to take ‘an hour’ turned out to be three to four hours,” said Hewitt.

Thanks to Spector CNE, Hewitt gets to stay home instead of being a ‘stranger in the night.’

For more information about Sacramento Municipal Utility District, please visit www.smud.org.

For more information about Spector CNE, please visit www.spectorcne.com … or for more information about SpectorSoft and its other dependable, full-featured PC and Internet Activity Monitoring Software products, please visit www.spectorsoft.com.

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