Whistle Blowing

Whistle-blowing in BOEING By: Rahul Bhardwaj Likumri Changkiri Aditya Mathur Varun Sood

The concept of Whistle Blowing.  One who reveals wrongdoing within an organization to the public or to those in positions of authority.

 The person with the concern must be affiliated with the organization.

Generally…..     

The misconduct is a :violation of law rule regulation or a direct threat to public interest

There are two types of whistle blowers:  Internal whistle -blowers report misconduct to another employee or a superior within their organization

 External whistleblowers report misconduct to outside persons or entities

Reasons why someone would blow the whistle are:  A violation of a law, rule or regulation  Gross mismanagement  A gross waste of funds  An abuse of authority  A substantial and specific danger to public health or safety

Reactions to whistle-blowers:  They are ostracized by their co-workers  Discriminated against by future potential employers  Fired from their organizations

Examples of retaliation on Whistle blowers….  In Washington DC, employees of Northrup Grumman were threatened with the loss of their jobs if they disclosed computer problems that caused thousands of e-mail messages to escape reach of a congressional subpoena

Whistle-blower law:  In the UK, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998  In the US, Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002  Whistle-blower Protection Act (for federal employees)  No Fear Act  Military Whistleblower Protection Act

Famous Whistle-blowers:  Cynthia Cooper (WorldCom) and Sherron Watkins (Enron) both exposed corporate financial scandals  Coleen Rowley (FBI) who outlined the agency’s slow action prior to 9-11 attacks  Joseph Darby (MP) who in 2004 alerted the U.S. military command of prisoner abuse in Abu Ahraib, Iraq

In closing……..  A whistle-blowing is exposure of fraud or abuse

by someone with in the organization  Computer forensics is now being used to blow the whistle on fraud (corporate fraud specifically)  There are 2 classifications  Internal  External

 Whistle-blowers are often ostracized,

discriminated against or fired.  Laws have been enacted to protected those who blow the whistle.

Thank You