Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You

The Wall Street Journal ^ | July 30, 2007 | VAUHINI VARA

[redfish53]

Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You By VAUHINI VARA July 30, 2007; Page R1

Admit it: For many of us, our work computer is a home away from home.

It seems only fair, since our home computer is typically an office away from the office. So in between typing up reports and poring over spreadsheets, we use our office PCs to keep up with our lives. We do birthday shopping, check out funny clips on YouTube and catch up with friends by email or instant message.

And often it's just easier to accomplish certain tasks using consumer technology than using the sometimes clunky office technology our company gives us -- compare Gmail with a corporate email account.

Security expert Mark Lobel of PricewaterhouseCoopers describes the most common things employees do on the internet to jeopardize company security. There's only one problem with what we're doing: Our employers sometimes don't like it. Partly, they want us to work while we're at work. And partly, they're afraid that what we're doing compromises the company's computer network -- putting the company at risk in a host of ways. So they've asked their information-technology departments to block us from bringing our home to work.

End of story? Not so fast. To find out whether it's possible to get around the IT departments, we asked Web experts for some advice. Specifically, we asked them to find the top 10 secrets our IT departments don't want us to know. How to surf to blocked sites without leaving any traces, for instance, or carry on instant-message chats without having to download software....

[zeugma]

Just the tip of the iceberg... We love our users we truly do...

Back when I was running networks for a University all of my data centers that were student accessible had the following sign in them:

Poor Planning on Your Part does not Constitute an Emergency on Our Part!

 If you haven't read it, you might be interested in read the Bastard Operator From Hell series. First time I read it, I swear I fell out of my chair from laughing so hard.

 

 

[Syntyr]

“I admit it. But I have to support them, so it is good to have one that I wreck with Microsoft and Citrix updates before I have try to do it to a customer’s production server. “

Yep My home network doubles as my sandbox many a time.Its had just about everything on it that the work network does.

Now if I could convince the boss that I need a rack of those new servers to test at home ;)

[Dr.Zoidberg]

The people who write and distribute many of these are known. Nothing happens to them.

.....that needs to end.....

.....by one means or another.....

Preferably another, to the back of the head, while he/she screams for mercy.

I have no patience for viruscum.

[Fawn]

The Problem: Many companies now have the ability to track employees' emails, both on work email accounts and personal Web-based accounts, as well as IM conversations.

This is impossible. IF I am on an IE7 session, sign on to my comcast account and send email.....how does IT see my email?? They can't. (I use Windowwasher every day for cookies and tmp files)

[Fawn]

I notice that my computer is slow so I go to task manager and delete proceses that seem sneaky to me...like defwatch,tireremoteservice & savroam every morning my computer starts up.

[wbill]

how does IT see my email?? They can't ...Sure they can. We use network traffic monitors, packet sniffers, SurfControl and other internet monitors. All of it upstream from your computer.

Windowwasher will clear your PC, but it's safe to assume everything that goes out on the network is monitored and logged.

Like I said in an earlier post...typically the IT Dept (or at least specific people within the Dept) has access to all that info, we just don't care. Unless someone (for instance, your supervisor wondering about your performance) asks us to pay attention.

[TexasRepublic]

We don’t have time for technical cat and mouse games. New employees have to read and sign a computer policies statement. Those who violate the rules set themselves up for termination.

[wbill]

Just google processes that you’re unsure of; there are a number of websites out there that detail what’s what.

[Fawn]

Are there processes I can look for in the task mgr :)

ALso, I use 2 computers...one is a DSL line and the other T1 is the network one. Am I safer on the DSL since it's not connected to the network?

[MarkL]

This is impossible. IF I am on an IE7 session, sign on to my comcast account and send email.....how does IT see my email?? They can't. (I use Windowwasher every day for cookies and tmp files)

No, it's not impossible. Unless you're connected to the web server with an SSL connection, the information you've typed into the web mail client is transfered to the web server in clear text form. And I believe that most IM clients also send their data in clear text as well.

Mark

[tacticalogic]

I have been in the biz for a while.

I won't say exactly how long it's been, but long enough to have a copy of the Bat Book, signed by Eric Allman.

[Fawn]

I’m just going to make sure I use the DSL NON NETWORK computer from now on.

[MarkL]

I notice that my computer is slow so I go to task manager and delete proceses that seem sneaky to me...like defwatch,tireremoteservice & savroam every morning my computer starts up.

I hope you're kidding about that... defwatch and savroam are both part of Symantec Antivirus. As far as tiremoteservice, that belongs to an Intuit application like Quicken or some such. While you won't completely kill Symantec AV by killing those processes, you really should leave them running.

If you want to see what's starting up automagically (and control it), grab Autoruns from Sysinternals (now owned by Microsoft). This is a lot like an enhanced MSCONFIG utility.

Mark

[MarkL]

I have been in the biz for a while.

I won't say exactly how long it's been, but long enough to have a copy of the Bat Book, signed by Eric Allman.

Somewhere at home I still have my yellow "Green Card," and a few O'Reilly Nutshell handbooks (like my guides to programming with curses, and termcap and terminfo) that were stapled together, with covers that look as if they were made out of paper grocery bags.

Mark

[ko_kyi]

“This is impossible. IF I am on an IE7 session, sign on to my comcast account and send email.....how does IT see my email?? They can’t.”

For your review

http://www.thoughtcrime.org/ie.html

[Fawn]

Thanks. Ok I'll leave those two alone then. I knew what the tireremote process uses and will continue to delete that even though I have it turned off....
Thanks for the Autoruns page.....I'll see if i can download it and run it. I really have nothing to hide...I just want to know how I'm being watched.

[AppyPappy]

“ALso, I use 2 computers...one is a DSL line and the other T1 is the network one. Am I safer on the DSL since it’s not connected to the network?”

Safer?

[cyberaxe]

Preferably another, to the back of the head, while he/she screams for mercy.

.....i was thinking about something, more "Pavlovian".....

.....like metal keys on the keyboard connected to the negative side of about 20 serried 12volt batteries.....

.....and the positive connected to, lets say, their (lack-of) manhood.....

.....maybe every time they saw a keyboard after wards.....

.....they would begin to sweat, breath hard and pass out.....

.....(but that's just the sick kind of guy I am).....

[FastCoyote]

I have my own top ten things IT doesn’t want you to know.

1. Your backup tapes haven’t functioned for a year.
2. Microsft Really Does Suck, but its main function is IT job security.
3. A barebones system is just as good and cheaper for most desktops.
4. Everyone knows everyone else’s passwords. There is no security.
5. Microsoft Office costs a Bundle.
6. Mysql is free, Oracle and SQL Server want your first child.
7. You really do need the command line.
8. IT knows all the porn sites you’ve been cruising.
9. You don’t get spyware from Amazon.com, you get it from Russia.
10. Since high school kids can now do IT, you now have a high school quality network.

and just for kicks

11. The Indian help desk is not only hard to understand, they really have no clue what they are doing either.

[Fawn]

SAFER from SNOOPS.