eWeek had a great article/annoying slide show about the top 10 security risks that your users pose to your organization. One interesting thing I noted was with all of the increases in security (firewalls, IPS/IDS, NAC, password hardening, etc) in today’s organization, most of these are not even looked at. Think about the easy of someone to walk out with their laptop and have it lost on the train (with not encryption)… Or someone with P2P software on their machine (that is sharing out their entire C drive)… Or worse yet, wifi (without separating it from the rest of the network) that isn’t secured with WPA2… Oh the horror! USB Flash Drives Laptops P2P Web Mail Wi-Fi Smart Phones Collaboration Tools Social Networks Unauthorized... [Read more]

As an IT guy, I very rarely leave my cell phone, laptop, Blackberry or other computer-related device behind. I hate the though of going somewhere without being connected to the rest of “my world”. The internet is supposed to be a never-ending place. And I never want to be without it just in case it does end. I would have to be the first to hear it. When I started at Rohm and Haas, I was without a phone, desk, computer or login accounts for 3 days. This was one of the strangest feelings I’ve had since learning to drive a car, or the first time I partied too hard in college. It wasn’t fun. Sure, I wasn’t stuck over a toilet or driving like a granny, trying to not go over the speed limit, but it was almost painful. I’m... [Read more]

Why, even the big dogs (read: companies) still have very “small” IT departments. No, I don’t mean they have little people or even a small number of people — they do have a small-group feeling, though. Having recently switched from a company of a few thousand to one of tens of thousands of people, I’ve learned something very quickly… Every company out there has to run about the same way. Sure, a publicly traded company has rules and regulations they must follow but when it comes down to the real work, it takes small teams of people to get the jobs done. Take for example, a recent need — a few switches installed in a data center. These were not production switches but they were being used for development... [Read more]

Number 1, we picked the name for the confessional — correction, you picked the name for the confessional — and it will be… The IT Confessional I know, you’re all surprised and excited. I know I am. The second piece to this post is what you’re all want to hear. Who won the contest? The winner of this particular contest is Kevin Potter for his awesome, “Is that a big or little zero?” story! I will be contacting Kevin (or better yet, if he wants to email me at jesse.middleton at b5media dot com) to get him his KB. I want to thank everyone who posted and emailed in their stories, they were a great read and many of them will be used to form some, hopefully, entertaining posts at That Damn PC. Keep checking... [Read more]

Image via WikipediaThis is just a quick rant. Meets are a pain in the butt. I mean, sometimes it’s necessary to meet and talk about a project or get people up to speed on the latest information. We have them each week for the bloggers and our group and I usually held a network meeting each week at my last company but to have meetings to decide what will be accomplished at the next meeting is rediculous. People who set these types of meetings up — and you know who you are — stop it! Email and IM are great tools to collaborate while getting work done. A quick, “Who will do the research on the new cat toy?” email will do wonders. It doesn’t take blocking out 30 minutes of someone else’s time to decide... [Read more]