A spokesperson for the department said that Defence technicians could not find messages sent to its system administrators 12 days ago warning of them of the trade ring. A system administrator with another organisation told ZDNet Australia two weeks ago that he began alerting Defence about the stream of inappropriate email coming from its network over two years ago.
Despite being unable to uncover the administrator's email the department insists that it monitors its emails in order to enforce strict e-mail codes of conduct that apply to both Defence and public servants.
While Defence's Canberra headquarters sticks to tightly worded comments about the matter, it appears that branches of the department in other states have been left in the dark.
The Defence Security Authority for Melbourne and Tasmania has contacted ZDNet Australia for assistance in order to investigate the matter independently.
Keith Wilson, a principal security advisor at the Authority said he needed to investigate the matter in order to implement -preventative measures".
-[The Department of] Defence has a clear policy on the inappropriate use of such transmissions. I'm sure that the system administrators managing the receipt of such email would also like to see this prevented".
