The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in the U.K. has recently suspended work-from-home privileges for the entire department after several officers, staff, and contractors were discovered to be cheating the system. According to The Register, at least 26 people are accused of misconduct after an anti-corruption investigation found that they were likely “key jamming” — using an object to hold a key down on the keyboard — to fake productivity.
“The abnormal keystroke behavior comes from repeated key presses and could be from an item left on a keypad, pressing down one key,” GMP Chief Constable Terry Woods said in a statement. “Our communities deserve to see value for money, and where deliberate behavior is proven, you can be confident we will take decisive action in this matter.” These instances were discovered after the department installed keyloggers to ensure that work-issued laptops and other devices are only used for official business.
