Federal agency spent $3 million fighting non-existent malware

A Commerce Department agency spent nearly $3 million and more than a year fighting off a non-existent malware infection, going so far as to trash $170,000 worth of computers and other equipment in what an auditor cast as a wild overreaction to a misunderstood threat.

An audit report describing the saga reads like a comedy of errors. Thanks to a series of miscommunications and what the report diplomatically describes as a technology staff that "lacked appropriate IT security skills," the U.S. Economic Development Administration went nuclear on a minor problem, eventually spending half its IT budget for last year attacking the phantom infection, according to a report released last month by the Commerce Department's inspector general.

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