Employee Disciplinary (for downloading illegal software)

[hereford]

I am having to go through a disciplinary at work for downloading what my employers say is illegal software. Basically I foolishly downloaded some password recovery software to recover passwords for some spreadsheets I had previously created ages ago & i had forgotten the passwords to them. I wanted to recover the these files as I felt they had some useful tools/functions that I had created that could be used for my current worklod. I can prove that the spreadsheets were created by me & therefore I was not accessing them illegally, however my employers are claiming that this software amounts to "hacking" software & that this software can be used to circumvent the companies security. I have assured them that I have ONLY accessed spreadsheets created by me & that I could prove which files I have accessed if I were allowed access to my PC, however they are saying that everything has been deleted & therefore I have no way of proving this. I know I was foolish in downloading the software (at least now I am) however I can assure you that it was done in all innocence to recover lost passwords to spreadsheets i had previously created. Any advice?

Yikes--bad move.
Why not just ask them to get the files?

I would suggest you admit the error and accept a modest punishment. But also your logs and records should show that you never used it for any other purpose--so they should not fire you.

[hereford]

That's the trouble though, I have already had a previous disciplinary for forwarding "joke" emails, unfortunately these emails were not instigated by me but I was the only one caught, everyone else in my office who was sending/receiving them seemed to go unpunished.

So this is possibly now a fire-able offense!

I have said to them that I can prove my innocence if I am allowed access to my PC but the will not allow me & they also claim that all the files have now been deleted so I can not prove/disprove their claims categorically. I have stated to them that if I could gain access to the Registry/log files that I would be able to prove to them what files were accessed but they say that my PC has been "cleaned" & all traces of "illegal" software have been removed, therefore again I have no way of categorically confirming/denying anything.

They are I think trying to cover their tracks & just want to try & get rid of me at all costs.

I know i was stupid in downloading this software in the first place, but is there anything I can do to say "look, I know I was wrong to download this software, however I was not using it for malicious purposes, I was using it to to recover spreadsheets that I feel would help with my current workload blah blah blah..."??

I really do feel that I will be sacked when I go to the disciplinary so I need to try (am willing to try) ANYTHING to keep my job! I honestly was not using this software for any malicious practice & thought i was actually doing something that would benefit my employers. In hindsight I wish I had sent the spreadsheets to my home email address & used the password recovery software at home but as usual, hindsight is always 20/20!

I was fired for almost the same reason, I too downloaded password recovery software to help in my job and I did save my company over 200,000 dollar's but when the IT department got wind of it they gave me the axe immediately.
In short I had asked the IT department for help and they kept putting me off for several months, well I got through their passwords and setup my network and the end result was even though I had saved the company money with legal software I downloaded on their protected network I got canned.
and right now there is no way for me to get my job back, I didnt even get a warning.