19-Year-Old Squatted At AOL For 2 Months 141
New submitter mrnick writes "Eric Simons, 19 years old, was working at incubator Imagine K2 in Silicon Valley, which was hosted at AOL's Palo Alto campus. His grant money eventually ran out, but his access badge kept working, so he moved into AOL's office. He slept on a couch, took showers and washed clothes in the office gym, and ate for free in the cafeteria, all the while working on his new start-up. He was able to get away with this for two months before being discovered by security guard."
Urban Legend becomes reality (Score:5, Interesting)
Steven Spielberg claimed to have done something similar. He claimed to have occupied an unused office on the Universal Studios lot by simply dressing in a suit, carrying a brief case, and bluffing his way past the security guards. But his story kept growing and growing. A clear sign of fabrication. So it was finally debunked by snopes [snopes.com]. But even his tallest tale didn't claim to have lived on the lot full time. And now this kid has gone one better than the tall tale, actually living inside the corporate complex of a major tech company.
Re:Security? (Score:5, Interesting)
Security audit? what is that? Is that like those mythical Pay raises I hear that used to happen?
I have not worked at Comcast for 5 years. I handed a friend my keyfob access card that still works there because he lost his and wanted a replacement. He was going to have security reprogram the system to use it for his access.
Mine Still WORKED! Which is scary as it had All access clearance at multiple locations, 5 Freaking years and they never removed me nor did a security audit to remove users.
Re:Security? (Score:5, Interesting)
Depends on where you work. Where i work, we take security seriously. You cant even walk in the door with another person. Your photo is verified against your face as you enter. We also have metal detectors on the doors, and the guards have real guns to stop you with, not just a radio to call for help.
Every month a complete audit of badges takes place. Similar things happen for network accounts every 30 days.
Re:Security? (Score:4, Interesting)
Depends on where you work. Where i work, we take security seriously. You cant even walk in the door with another person. Your photo is verified against your face as you enter. We also have metal detectors on the doors, and the guards have real guns to stop you with, not just a radio to call for help.
Sometimes depends on the location, too... Same company, my last office was on the 6th floor at a building that houses a shopping facility on the ground floor. After-hours access required a swipe in an elevator and a swipe with a security guard at the front door, but during normal business hours the elevators weren't locked (even though they only went up to the "secure" office facilities upstairs), and people routinely held the door open for others without checking their passes. At the office I'm at now, there's a guard at the front door 24/7 who checks your pass every time, there's nothing but a lunch room on the ground floor and the guard has to unlock the elevators so you can get to your office, and you have to swipe through a security checkpoint on your actual floor, too. (annoying actually, because the bathrooms are on the other side of the checkpoint). Security also makes regular walkarounds on every floor (in fact, the guy just walked past my desk as I'm typing this).
What you say about network accounts surprises me, though... they do a routine audit here, too, and disable accounts, but they're pretty gung-ho about yanking peoples' network accesses... usually your network login and tool accesses will be disabled before they tell you that you've been let go (I know a few people who found out they'd been fired because security was waiting at their desk with a box when they got in), and except in some exceedingly rare circumstances, you will be escorted out the door by security within minutes of giving notice, when you leave for another job.
Re:Hmmm ... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Urban Legend becomes reality (Score:4, Interesting)
And now this kid has gone one better than the tall tale, actually living inside the corporate complex of a major tech company.
I guess it's the "major tech company" part that makes this shocking, right?
Where I went to grad school, it wasn't uncommon to have at least a few students living (and I mean with their sleeping bags, pizza boxes, toiletries, etc.) in a lab or storage room for long periods of time -- months or more -- in lieu of paying the high rent near campus. There were always the whispered stories of x student being caught trying to wash himself in the chemical safety shower or y post-doc who finally ran afoul of faculty after using his office as his kitchen.