Young Employees Pose Increasing Risk to Networks 710
buzzardsbay writes "Baseline is reporting on an upcoming survey from Symantec and Applied Research-West that confirms many suspicions about the generation gap in the workplace, namely that younger workers will use your corporate network to run most any device, technology or social networking software they can get their hands on. Dubbed "Millenials," these workers born after 1980 are nearly twice as likely to use cell phones and PDAs at work, and half admit to installing unauthorized software on their employer's computers. On the upside, the Millenials are more security aware than their older co-workers."
they need to protect their networks (Score:5, Insightful)
What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
- Do it but don't admit it
- Or don't it but are way less productive than their peers
I don't know how it is for the rest of the slashdot crowd but almost everywhere I've worked it's impossible to be (decently) productive using only authorized software.
The sad thing is not a matter of cost, but a matter of paperwork. Something as basic as winrar (no, let's not go into why would I want to use winanything) is impossible to get by the official channels.
Funny that (Score:5, Insightful)
Most people born after 1980 are treated like shit in the IT industry. You are taken on for pitiful wages with vague promises of future riches, squeezed for every bit of knowledge you have, then booted out when the project(s) you are working on are finished. So it is hardly surprising that people treated so shabbily don't have a particular commitment to their workplace.
Most of the highly technical and well paid jobs (system admins and the like) seem to be already taken by well established old folk, and nobody is really interested in training anybody for when they retire. Managers take IT systems completely for granted, consider IT professionals to be lowly peons, and are in for a nasty shock when the handful of people keeping their systems running leave.
Not much to this story (Score:5, Insightful)
If you want to secure your network, you need to address all the risks that are out there. Adding a little more risky behavior does not really make for any real changes is the risks to the network. Networks are always at risk from the weakest link. A 60 year old employee who happens to do something risky is just as bad for the network as a 20 year old.
There are really two sides to this coin (Score:3, Insightful)
Ug. Terrible article. (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're an admin tasked with security, you have to assume all users are evil, so the question should be more along the lines of, "What is the problem with your process that you are allowing these users to install unapproved software?" Symantec obviously has a big stake in convincing people that they need better security (assuming that this will drive business for their crappy products), but the simple truth is that these sorts of problems shouldn't BE problems in an adequately secured network...Even your basic windows AD setup on XP is capable of restricting software installs and such.
If you're a big believer in allowing users to install whatever crap that they think they need to do their jobs, then you'll need to invest in some solid networking gear because you're inevitably going to have more problems. Otherwise, just lock it down, set up an approval process, and be prepared to deal with a zillion complaints from people who think they're experts because they did their own myspace page.
And old People... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Contradiction? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
- Do it but don't admit it
- Or don't it but are way less productive than their peers
I don't know how it is for the rest of the slashdot crowd but almost everywhere I've worked it's impossible to be (decently) productive using only authorized software.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:4, Insightful)
Fine, fine, I'll get off your lawn.
The myth that young people are spoilt and have an undue sense of entitlement is starting to wear a bit fucking thin though. In what way do we have more than previous generations? Tax burdens have been moved down to lower incomes in the UK, and I believe this is also the case in the US. Public services have been gutted by privatisation. Yet because we can buy iPods these days apparently we are spoilt. Fuck you. I'd rather be able to find an NHS dentist and get free higher education than have an mp3 player. Of course, now all you old fucks have no more need of public education and have fat wage packets to pay for private healthcare, you want such things scrapped so you don't have to pay for them. That is called 'kicking away the ladder'. Then you have the fucking nerve to complain about an undue sense of entitlement in the younger generation. You simply don't want to pay now for the things you were given to help you out when you were young.
Yeah, I'm bitter. I was treated like crap and told to suck it up and that I was spoilt by a generation that had it a fuck load easier than I did. That is why I turned my back on the entire industry, although I don't hold out much chance of getting away from selfish middle-aged wankers any time soon.
Security aware? (Score:3, Insightful)
Um, no. That they install unverified social software on corporate machines and socialize at work means they are not more security aware. Social access is the number one security breach method.
I'm in my mid-20's (Score:5, Insightful)
I know some of my peers feel that simply having access to the Internet means they can use it during the workday either to take a break during the work period, not work at all or use the Internet on breaks. My friends don't do this but I have had co-workers who have and were generally disciplined and eventually fired for not doing their assigned work.
Personally, I feel that I have an obligation to my employer: 1) to do the tasks I am assigned and 2) to protect the information on their networks. I avoid using the Net at work for non-work tasks and social networks for these reasons.
Re:Ug. Terrible article. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
At my work, the things I install "unauthorized" for myself and my coworkers which are 100% productivity:
Firefox
Phrase Express (text macro program)
Stardock
Microsoft Powertools/toys (the one that gives you a screenshot of each app when you alt+tab).
None are "approved" but all the techs approve of it, because they know better.
None of them use any of what you mentioned. No RSS readers, no games, no funky screensavers, no weather spyware shit. Work is laid back enough to not care (many people just browse the web all day, I mean cmon I'm replying on slashdot), but most people don't push the slacking that far. Also, we're an enormous multibillion $ nonprofit corporation and what I am telling you is like...hmm, well its a worldwide company with thousands of employees. I've talked to the CEO and even he has admitted to having a preference for firefox over IE for example, even though the CIO hasn't officially or formally approved it.
I don't mean it to be ad hominem on this, but I will say you are making a pretty general bias here that is pretty generally not accurate.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:3, Insightful)
VNC: If it's needed for the job, I'd have it installed, or some other similar remote management program...VNC isn't all that feature rich. You'd probably need NAT for that as well, and you ought to run it through a tunnel. Otherwise, I am the firewall gestapo. I open ports for no one, and if you try to local proxy all your traffic out through 80 I will notice.
SSH: See above, except for the tunnel part.
The worst type of user is the tech guy who doesn't work in IT. They always think they know better, they have a massive attitude, and a huge superiority complex. If you can prove to me you know your shit, I'll give you some leeway, but that leeway is probably just having your box dumped out into the DMZ, and you screw it up, you fix it.
Re:Funny that (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm in a different country - try to keep up grandad. I have £15,000 of debt that someone graduating even 10 years ago would not have (they would've received a grant rather than a loan). I cannot find an NHS dentist, whilst 10 years ago it was fairly easy. People in my country have less these days, yet we are told the young are spoilt. From the Americans I know the story there isn't quite the same, but it is similar - it was easier in the past to get off the bottom rung, and now the people who have done that are gleefully demanding it be made harder in order for themselves to pay less tax.
And you wonder why young people don't give a shit about your workplaces.
Age, not generation (Score:5, Insightful)
When I was in my 20s, I was much more risk prone than I am now (in my 40s). Back then I considered it my *right* to be able to install whatever I wanted on a computer, and would be unconditionally annoyed and offended if it was not allowed. Today I am more aware that there are reasons for most restrictions. Yes, some restrictions don't make sense, but a very many do.
This type of thinking was in more aspects of life than just computers. Back in my 20s, I would say that I drove less cautiously than I do today. I drank more heavily, ate poorly, resented having to wear a bike helmet, jay-walked more often, the list goes on. These are all behaviours that I, and most people, grow out of.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm more productive when listening to music (blocks out outside noise). I've worked at places where my bosses have SUGGESTED that I get a pair of headphones and listen to music at work. If anything, iTunes should make an employee MORE productive by helping them get into the zone, and less prone to distractions.
The same thing applies to media players, assuming they're used for audio and not video. Anyone suggesting that such things makes employees less productive has obviously never worked for a software development company/department.
Re:Funny that (Score:3, Insightful)
It is considerably more today, a shame of the baby boom generation.
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:5, Insightful)
It's also about educating the employees more than anything IT can do to protect the network. If I can call one of your employees and pretend to be the remote helpdesk, and say that I need your password so I can install some software on your computer, and they give me the password, I am in your network.
It's called social engineering, and if you are good at it, you can get past ANY network or software based systems.
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:4, Insightful)
It definitely goes both ways. Sucks for him that he took it in the ass, but it happens. I remember showing up for work during the dot bomb and finding the doors chained shut. Yee haw. Had my 20 months of "freelancing" (e.g. scrabbling for consulting gigs and contract work in an economy saturated with out of work professionals). Tons of fun.
Now I'm in my 30's and am probably one of the "middle aged" bastards he was talking about since he's a gen y kid and "middle age" can usually be calculated by adding 10 years to your current age. I remember being a know-it-all kid, and thinking I was better than people who'd worked their way up. Sometimes I was, but that doesn't change the fact that not everyone gets to start at the top.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
Good luck with your job.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm surprised how high the risk is anyway (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess you didn't get the memo - The fed is now bailing out the banks, no matter how much bad shit they did. Just ask Bear Sterns.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
Where I work, the company standard IDEs for web development are Dreamweaver or Eclipse. Both are completely unacceptable. Yet, a F/OSS text editor like jEdit is nonstandard but allows me to be much more productive. Why? Because it allows me to work quickly. I have all of the powerful text editing tools of an IDE without the extreme overhead.
Also, as someone else replied, Firefox and certain plugins like Firebug and the Tidy validator are critical. I am a web developer, you see, and IE's ultracrappy javascript debugging capabilities are not even worth considering (even with the insanely useless MSFT Dev Toolbar installed). Profiling AJAX calls, or ANY HTTP request, is impossible without a tool like Firebug. And they are all nonstandard, but without them it would be more time consuming if not practically impossible for me to debug or optimize web pages.
I am not trying to install iTunes or GAIM or games. Stupid people install that stuff at work. I just want to use tools that will allow me to get the job done. The web and its technologies are rapidly changing. Company Standard Software committees do not seem to be able to keep up, at least where I work. So, you can either 1) fight the establishment and risk looking like an "OSS hippie troublemaker" and still never get what you need, 2) work with approved but ineffective and usually expensive tools, or 3) just install what you need and produce good work. Within reason, I go with option number 3.
So...unauthorized software isn't always better; authorized software isn't always better.
Re:Two Cents (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:3, Insightful)
PS: Being a whiny physics asshole is even worse than being the jerk in IT that everyone hates. Congratulations on your step down.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What about the other half? (Score:3, Insightful)
Case in point, Instant Messenger. I get people trying to sell me on instant messenger all day long...They want to use it for inter-departmental discussion. Okay. So I set up an internal IM server, and gave everyone access. No, it's not enough. We need to talk to people in other business units. Ok. Fine. I set it up corporate wide, and route all the traffic through secure tunnels. No, it's not enough, we need to talk to customers. Too bad, use email.
Really, people want to talk to their friends in other locations. So I should open up my network to the sort of vulnerabilities that come with AIM and the other big services, just so they can goof off? I bend over backwards to provide the functionality they say they need, until it becomes obvious that they just want a toy. Not my responsibility to provide this. Learn to use email.
I know a lot of places are run by paranoid morons who are afraid of web browsers and Open Office; I get it. But that doesn't mean that there are no real security concerns, and it doesn't mean that all rules are arbitrary.
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:5, Insightful)
Which is why you mitigate how much damage a single person can do.
So if you do get a password of a normal user in a corporate office, all can do is read their mail and delete their home directory. If their machine was properly locked down, you won't be able to install anything either and if their password expires in 60 days you got that long to harass them.
Yeah... Your employees will complain they can't get anything done because they can't install programs or save files on the network or modify databases as they would like. At the same time, you have to put in procedures that minimize damage if a IT person is socially engineered such as not even let them look at existing password and temp ones have to changed on login.
This technique also is useful for rogue employees who plan on going postal with your companies data.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:3, Insightful)
And if the guy is an engineer, then they probably do know better. Especially in their area. And then we engineers have to fight against guys like you who have a chip on their shoulder and insist that our knowledge and need to work is a "massive attitude" or "superiority complex".
Re:Funny that (Score:2, Insightful)
It's you, not them (Score:1, Insightful)
That may be happening to you, but I'd say that has far more to so with you than the state of the industry.
I haven't found any of the things in your post to be accurate, and honestly, I'd say you're full of shit.
Of course, you included the obligatory "US healthcare is fucked-up/ blame the insurance companies and politicians" troll, so you'll inevitably be modded up.
But you're lying, and we all know it.
Re:Funny that (Score:3, Insightful)
Fine, fine, I'll get off your lawn.
The myth that young people are spoilt and have an undue sense of entitlement is starting to wear a bit fucking thin though. In what way do we have more than previous generations? Tax burdens have been moved down to lower incomes in the UK, and I believe this is also the case in the US. Public services have been gutted by privatisation. Yet because we can buy iPods these days apparently we are spoilt. Fuck you. I'd rather be able to find an NHS dentist and get free higher education than have an mp3 player. Of course, now all you old fucks have no more need of public education and have fat wage packets to pay for private healthcare, you want such things scrapped so you don't have to pay for them. That is called 'kicking away the ladder'. Then you have the fucking nerve to complain about an undue sense of entitlement in the younger generation. You simply don't want to pay now for the things you were given to help you out when you were young.
Just because you see someone criticizing youth as if it were a collective sentience (an absolutely absurd position: they are all individuals with seperate aims and ambitions), that doesn't make your attack against another collective age category meaningful. If all you are good for is to engage in moronic knee jerk reactions, you will continue to be part of the problem going forward, and in 15 years you'll be part of the 'blame kids for everything' crowd. It also explains why no one wants to put you in charge of anything or give you the money you think you deserve because all the "old fucks" have "kicked away" your poor little ladder.
Yeah, I'm bitter. I was treated like crap and told to suck it up and that I was spoilt by a generation that had it a fuck load easier than I did. That is why I turned my back on the entire industry, although I don't hold out much chance of getting away from selfish middle-aged wankers any time soon.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:3, Insightful)
If there's one thing I hate more than company standard software boards who chronically Don't Get It, it's the self-proclaimed Intranet Hall Monitor buttholes. Show me someone who goes out of his way to intentionally deny users access to a site simply because he dislikes the user-agent...and I'll show you someone who just doesn't get the medium he is working with. "Internet? Shucks no, boy, I use that there big ole blue E! The one right there on my compooter screen!"
I agree (Score:3, Insightful)
Each department or workgroup needs to have a private network so people can load their own WinAmp, personal text editors and productivity-enhancing macros, MP3s, and oscilloscope controllers without having to interact with the rest of the company network.
But I've found that it is nearly impossible to convince anyone in any IT department of this reality. So it goes.
Re:fuck load easier? was:Re:Funny that (Score:5, Insightful)
"The difference between Americans and British is that Americans believe their country is wonderful and is the best one in the world while the reality is that it is terrible. On the other hand, Britons are always bitching about their country without realizing their life is actually pretty good".
I can tell you from my experience in the UK (I've lived in the UK for about 4 years, coming form Mexico) is that you people over here have it really easy. Shit, people can just stop working and the government will pay them money. "spare some change mate?" you see people selling the "big issue" and then they go to cash their check to get beer. That is being poor in this country. Let me tell you, you do not know what the fuck you are talking about.
For people in the UK life is really easy right now. It is, really. You have a hell lot of things which you take for granted. You whine that you can not get a free dentist. Oh shit, but you do not see that in other countries and in other times (even in your country) there is no free NHS even for a freaking Nurse.
So as other people already said, stop whining and go back to fucking work you lazy ass.
I think I see your problem (Score:2, Insightful)
I see why you're having such a hard time understanding this.
You seem to think that "spoilt" = having stuff. If you'd bothered to ask, I suspect many of the people who think you're spoiled think that not because of the amount of stuff you have, but because of the sense of entitlement that is practically dripping off of your posts on the subject.
You see, it's not about the stuff, it's about the attitude that you think you deserve something you haven't yet earned. If your posts are any indication, that may be why people around you think you're spoiled.
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm a C++/C# developer and I've been running in a normal account for over two years now. It's no biggy. I do need to elevate to local admin occasionally: I keep another session open (either with Remote Desktop or Fast User Switching).
Granted, we're specifically discussing locking down the local admin account entirely. My point is that if more developers took the time to run without admin privileges, we'd see a lot more programs that didn't ask for admin rights unnecessarily.
Re:I think I see your problem (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:2, Insightful)
What you are reflecting is interesting: the erosion of social programs by the people who benefited the most from them. In the US, we don't really have social programs in any meaningful way that would make sense to the Social Democracies of Europe, so our young people aren't seeing the same thing. In fact, the closest we get to that is the push to close down public education itself -- so you could say we are on a very different place on the curve of the erosion of social cohesion.
In the US, I think you have to go back around 100 years before you can seriously start talking about a generation that has had a hard time in life. The boomers, Gen X, and millenials all have had roughly similar experiences in the US. I imagine boomers in Europe, however, generally had extremely difficult circumstances: whether a firebombed London or a pillaged France, it isn't exactly conducive to an upbringing of opportunities. Our millenials, on the whole, are considered spoiled simply because they are pretty far removed, from a historical perspective, of knowing hardship.
It is good you have a chip on your shoulder, and all that, but part of your attitude is misguided. This notion about how you shouldn't give a shit about where you work needs a change. In other words, you need to start your own business, live off the grid, or find a job where you *do* give a shit. Any other solution, and you just end up being a loser. And this nonsense about your student debt: please, no it is time for you to keep up. My wife and I have twice that much debt, and that is from graduating *12* years ago. Yes, that means 12 years of payments, and we have a long, long way to go.
Re:fuck load easier? was:Re:Funny that (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Fuck their networks.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Somewhere along the line here is some element of choice, and it's an element that people have somehow been taught that they don't really have anymore. "It's the best job I can get" or "that's how this industry works."
I don't accept that, and I don't think anyone else should. Once you're working at a certain level, probably just above the poverty line, you make a choice what you're going to do to earn money, and who you're going to work for. We all make these choices based on supporting the kind of lifestyle we want. If your entire industry works this way, and you hate it so badly, you should work in ways that don't make you miserable. That might mean adjusting your lifestyle. But seriously, find something that makes you happy and do it. Don't spend your life working for people that treat you like crap. I won't, even if it means living in a tent. I'm not for sale.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:2, Insightful)
B) If you had IM you could be doing that to waste time during business hours, rather than posting on Slashdot how you have nothing but disdain for people who want to use the net to waste time at work.
C) Yes, I DO like to IM my friends at work. e.g. "Hey man, do you remember the name of that tool we used to use to use to [insert business related productive tool here.]" and "Great, thanks! Now if I can just get SatanicPuppy to let me install it, even though he doesn't see the value of it since he doesn't need it, assuming of course I can get him away from his Slashdot time wasting session
Re:What about the other half? (Score:3, Insightful)
The next school I went to was the exact opposite: huge network, sexy unix mainframes, fibre to the dorms, effectively unlimited bandwidth. I still managed to crash a mainframe every now and then, but it took a lot more work (stupidity), and it always got a response from the admins...Not a bad response either; I got access to the code-test mainframes my freshman year. A quick and easy approval for a privilege I didn't even know existed, and one which they were not required to offer me. The admins were well paid; they were there to support the student systems and to support the research labs from which the grant money flowed like wine.
I always try to be more like the latter than the former. You should always try and help well-intentioned people whenever possible, especially when they're working toward a goal that you're supposed to support. But there is a limit.
Re:Funny that (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed. He's right, too.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:2, Insightful)
You're assuming that the functionality required is included in the functionality set of the authorized software.
In my experience that rarely happens.
I for one, along with the majority of my coworkers in my specific business area, would find a massive productivity slowdown without or so-called 'power-tools' which are all unauthorized. Tabs and plugins in firefox, shell access with putty (this functionality plain out doesn't EXIST in authorized software, yet my job requires me to be able to use ssh), a notepad replacement (are you serious, you want me to use notepad? come on now), GIMP (Paint? Ya, sure, that will work just fine...ha), WinSCP, a Print-to-PDF driver, and the list goes on.
Can't be bothered to learn something new? Hardly. I don't care if you learn every pixel of the notepad interface, it is still not going to be a very good program for text editing. MS Paint sucks, and many companies don't provide the pricey Photoshop as an option, yet still want the colorful marketing pictures. Blame the IT department, or blame procurement if you want. I don't care who is to blame, the end result is that there is functionality that I need to accomplish my job within the time constraints expected of me which does not exist within the authorized software catalog. So I largely turn to OSS to avoid licensing issues.
Besides... most of the alternative software I use is because MS provides free junk software which the IT department expects you to use like a good little soldier.
Re:Fuck their networks.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Security is not limited to their physical property. Security includes their digital assets as well.
As an example, if your company makes widget, and the staff uses computers to design said widget, to send those designs to the part of the company (or another company) who actually builds said widget, then the designs for that widget are digital assets, and are no doubt quite valuable to them.
If I as a hacker, working for another company, or even for myself, got access to your company computers and copied those designs, I could then either give them to my company to give them an advantage over yours, or if working alone, I could offer to sell them to every company that competes with yours, giving them all a leg up on your company, plus making a tidy profit for myself.
While I agree that a lot of times the things put in place by IT to stop this are poor, i'm sure they would feel you do not have the right to do things that would aid me in copying those designs. To some IT departments, this includes you installing software on their computers. The fact they may be wrong is still not your task to covet and single handedly choose for them. If you think their methods are wrong, try telling them why, and suggesting a more correct approach. If they still choose to go about it wrong, then let them (and look for another job, since that company most likely wont be in business long, thus needing you.)
You may disagree with their policy, and may even be perfectly right in your reasons for it, but the fact remains it is still their hardware, their network, and their digital assets, not yours.
Taking your attitude is akin to me visiting you, sitting at your computer, deciding that the way you set it up is 'wrong', and changing that against your will.
You have every right to make wrong choices with your own property. So does the company you work for.
And if you really honestly believe it is perfectly ok for someone (you) to come in and tell someone else (the company) what they can and can not do with their own property, well, by that exact logic, you have no right to complain still, because someone (me) has by your own argument the right to come in and tell someone else (you) what YOU can and cant do with your own computer. Thusly, I say you arn't allowed to reply and complain, and thankfully, you would agree
Re:Fuck their networks.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm going to spend forty hours learning CADbozoCAD when most of the industry uses BozoCAD, just because your company got it a 10% discount?
We had such a maverick at my place of employment. He insisted on using software tools and other items that were not "standard" for our organization. Guess what happened when he decided to leave? We now have someone else having to learn the way that person did things so that we can convert them back to the way we normally do things so that we can get said things done.
Re:What about the other half? (Score:5, Insightful)
They call me demanding to know why the internet is so slow and I find Limewire running on three PCs and now theres no b/w left for anything else.
Why is the PC throwing up so many ad windows? Could it be that button bar they thought was cool was actually spyware?
The best was the office that called me complaining "outlook is broken" Only for me to discover a 1 GIG game install file in the outgoing mail folder that was causing the whole thing to freeze while it processed the file.
And then worse yet... if I ask them if they did anything lately they outright LIE to me until I spend the time needed to find out and show them exactly what they told me they didn't do. At least the older crowd is likely to be more honest and a lot less likely to intentionally install something.
Re:Fuck their networks.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:4, Insightful)
If you come to an employer which has already invested many man-hours in training to use such software and many thousands on licensing it, then you will have no job.
If your employer comes to you and says "Make this piece of software work, we need it for the business" and you refuse because it needs admin privileges, sooner or later (probably sooner) you will have no job.
The role of IT is to make something work. If that means ugly hacks, firewalled subnets or other measures in order to mitigate the idiocy of some commercial piece of software, 9 times out of 10 that's less work than re-engineering the business around some other piece of software.
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:3, Insightful)
Heck, if I understood this attack [darkreading.com] better, I could become the admin in a few seconds even with full disk encryption.
OTOH, any company that I've heard of that really locks down their dsktops and still employs developers gives them a second box on a different network to actually get work done, and the locked-down box becomes just an email and intranet app terminal.
Re:they need to protect their networks (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I think you've proven my point (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Funny that (Score:3, Insightful)
If a country's strength is measured by the capability of it's populace, then it's in the country's own best interest to keep it's citizens well educated and healthy. Unless, of course, they're looking to run it in to the ground, kill it off and start over.. not, mind you, that i'm suggesting that anyone thinks that's a good idea. I really don't understand addressing this in immediate fiscal terms though, because the long term benefits to everyone (yes, even rich people) vastly outweigh the immediate cost.
Re:Fuck their networks.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately this is a bad year to be preaching that particular message. My costs went up easily 20% last year, so I'll be looking to convert this potential income into something that spends in the near future.
I'll miss seeing my baby daughter at lunch, but I'll take some consolation in her not having to pole dance to pay for college.