Even the federal government isn’t immune from this common cause of corporate data breaches.

Potentially sensitive engineering data about government-owned helicopters was recently accessed by unauthorized users

The documents, about the design of the VH-60 helicopter used to transport White House staff, were found on a computer in Iran. How’d they get there?

Through a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network, according to Tiversa, a private company that monitors the use of P2P networks, USA Today reports.

P2p programs allow users to connect to each others’ computers to share files. They’re normally used to download music and video over the Internet.

Tiversa says a P2P client was installed on a computer at an unnamed defense contractor’s office. The computer also held the files, allowing users outside the company to download the documents.

The good news: Government officials say the information wasn’t classified, and none of it had to do with the aircraft used to carry the President.

But the incident does provide a warning about the dangers of using file-sharing programs at work.

Block unauthorized access

P2P software has caused some high-profile security issues in the corporate world as well. In 2007, for example, personal information about 17,000 Pfizer employees was compromised after one employee installed an unauthorized file-sharing program at his desk.

And last year, the names and social security numbers of about 2,000 Wagner Resource Corp. clients were stolen through a P2P network.

Experts recommend IT block the installation of all file-sharing software on computers that connect to the company’s network.

Also, firewalls and intrusion-detection tools can be used to keep outside users from accessing the network.

Tags: data breach, file-sharing, government, P2P