Between Dec 2006 and Jan 2008 I was a help desk/system admin working as a sub-contractor for the Department of Defense responsible for maintaining both PCs and networks in both non-class and classified environments (NIPR/SIPR). I was in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan working on Manas AB, an Air Force base that transitioned troops and supplies to and from fields of operation in Afghanistan.

There's been something that's bothered me for the past decade, and I wanted to get it off my chest: the US Government can be strangely amateur when it comes to OpSec.

The US government held annual and bi-annual bazaars on base where they'd invite the local community to sell their wares on US military bases. This includes pirated copies of operating systems (Windows Vista), Microsoft Office, the latest games, and movies. All pirated. All at insanely cheap prices (about $5).

These were all sold to members of the US Air Force and Army, government officials, as well as US contractors. And often were laden with viruses, malware, and other nasty shit. Most of the pirated material was Russian in origin. And yes, it was all going to the troops on the forward lines.

When I worked the help desk I'd often have troops come in and complain that their personal laptop was infected with viruses and other nasty shit that was rendering their machines unusable. And there was nothing I could do about it because it wasn't a DOD machine, and thus it wasn't my responsibility. I couldn't touch them due to liability issues. Meanwhile, the machines of soldiers on the front lines were being infected with malware. The best I could tell people was to wipe their devices from a recovery disc (if they even had one -- most didn't). Due to liability

I bought this up to JAG and the 376th AF Comm Ops Lt. Col at the time as a concern. Not only were these bazaars selling compromised software but even Green Beans Coffee (a Star Bucks-like coffee shop found on almost every military base) was selling counterfeit iPods, flash drives, and other devices to our troops. And nobody cared. Our internal network was flooded with pirated games, movies, music, and more. AND NOBODY CARED THAT IT WAS ON THE GOVERNMENT NETWORK.

"Copyright doesn't apply to war zones." I was told. In fact, I was even told these software packages provided "excellent savings opportunities" to our troops, despite the fact that they were often pirated, counterfeit, or piggybacking viruses/malware. I tried to stop it but didn't go far enough.

In retrospect, I wish I had made a bigger stink about it and said something. While nothing may bad may have ever come from it... I still felt bad that this was something that ever occurred in the first place, and I didn't do more to stop it.

I just needed to get this off my chest.