full-disclosure - Re: A Botted Fortune 500 a Day

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Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:25:15 +1200
From: Nick FitzGerald <nick@...us-l.demon.co.uk>
To: full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk
Subject: Re: A Botted Fortune 500 a Day

Troy to me:

> > SI is, however, showing that at least some F500s
> > have lazy arse/stupid/otherwise incompetent admins and/or oversight
> > procedures and/or policies driving the whole mess of their IT systems,
> > and as a result the rest of us pay for their incompetence.
> 
> I've worked in a large corporate environment. I don't think it's a matter of
> the admins being lazy or incompetent. It's more a matter of corporate
> politics. The admins roll out a policy that locks down all workstations,
> prohibits the installation of unapproved software, and prevents visiting
> restricted web sites, and all is well. Then, Melllvar, the CEO's nephew in
> accounting, complains that he can't play World of Star Trek. The CEO comes
> down on the IT department, and the admins either lose their jobs or open a
> few holes for Melllvar, who promptly installs a "crack" for his game,
> unleashing a bot on the local LAN.

There'a a lot of stupid/lazy/incompetent admin'ing out there too, 
though as I suggested with my "and/or" options, often what is 
supperficially "obvious admin incompetence" from the outside is 
actually due to a failure (commonly in the form of managerial override 
you describe) of otherwise good policies and implemantation.  That said 
though, if an incompetent to decide CEO (etc, etc) can so easily 
override the agreed policies, etc, then the system is just as borked as 
if the firewall rules, client lockdown policies, etc, etc were 
incomplete/missing/etc and the rest of us are scarcely any better off 
than if it were simple administrative incompetence, as the result is 
the same.  If more admins stood up to such "managerial incompetence" 
things might actually change for the better, as like it or not, it _is_ 
managerial incompetence that is the problem here, regardless of the 
source of the problem being admin incompetence or policy override...

Regards,

Nick FitzGerald

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