A little from column a... »
PHILIP STORRY - JUL 17, 2008 (02:09:15 PM)
Every larger organisation has strict rules on how to keep your IT services secure.
You know the one - "don't tell your password to anyone else", "don't let anyone else use your account", and all that.
And it usually seems as though nobody pays attention to them.
Remember that story about the death threat sent via mail that I posted here?
Well, it turns out that the email account it was sent from was being used by someone else. The owner of the account has, rightly but unfortunately, been fired.
She's a home worker, and the machine she was using for her work was also used by at least one other person. The other person - brother? husband? - has even posted a rambling confession.
After all these years of trying to get people to behave in a secure manner, people can still lose their jobs over the simplest of security requirements.
I find that both disappointing and disheartening.
In a world of VPNs, Blackberries, and other systems connecting us ever more to the corporate network regardless of distance, people need to be much more vigilant about their security.
Perhaps things are changing too fast. I doubt this is the first job lost to a basic security breach, and I also doubt it will be the last. Even worse, I doubt any of the others will even get any media coverage.
Maybe the technology is changing too quickly for people to cope?
When I first wrote about the death threat, I asked a question in the title - a lack of training, or a lack of intelligence?
I think the answer comes from Grandpa Simpson:
Joe Friday: Freeze! FBI! The jig is up.
Abe Simpson: All right, I admit it! I am the Lindbergh baby! Wah! Wah! Goo-goo! I miss my fly-fly dada.
Joe Friday: Are you trying to stall us, or are you just senile?
Grandpa Simpson: A little from column A, a little from column B...
A little from both columns indeed...
