Re: Rather funny; looks like page defacement to me

From: Paul Schmehl (pauls_at_utdallas.edu)
Date: 06/17/03

  • Next message: Thomas Seibel: "Correlationtool" 
    Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 09:54:50 -0500
To: miburo@singnet.com.sg, broyds@rogers.com

    I'm not picking on you. You just happened to be the one that articulated
    it, OK?

    I see this attitude a lot, and it troubles me a great deal. I think all
    too often we "IT people" get isolated from the real world and think that
    everyone else should be just like us.

    An admin who doesn't know TCP/IP? There are many. The norm in most small
    companies is to "promote" the "computer guy" to the IT slot when they can
    afford one (and often when they can't afford one this person works
    "part-time" in computers.) Oftentimes this guy (or gal) just knows more
    about computers than most people in the office, but they're a long way from
    trained on networking and TCP/IP, security, etc.

    Yet they are expected to perform and "get the job done" without any
    training or preparation. They spend many sleepless nights reading books,
    trying to learn the myriad of things that they have to know to protect
    their companies. On top of all that pressure, they have the pressure from
    their *peers* constantly denigrating them because they don't know enough.

    When is the last time *you* took time to teach someone who was less
    knowledgeable than you? When is the last time *you* were responsible for
    *everything*? Mail, web, DNS, networking, routers, switches, wiring, IDS,
    firewall, virus protection, OS updates and patches, backups, disaster
    recovery, printers, faxes, applications, hardware repairs, etc., etc.?
    Most of these folks are doing *all* of that, *by themselves*, because
    that's *all* their companies can afford. And they're doing yeoman duty for
    2/3rds the pay that the high-paid pros are.

    I took on the task of trying to help one of these types of people (because
    he emailed me privately with a question about snort), and I quickly
    realized what a daunting task it is for him. He had to learn Unix, mysql,
    snort, apache, sendmail and TCP/IP all at the same time. Yet he tackled it
    with enthusiasm and he's making great progress.

    He's the "computer guy" in a small architectural firm, and he got the job
    because he was constantly helping people in the office who had computer
    problems. Once they decided they *had* to have an Internet presence, he
    was tapped for the job.

    If you want our profession to improve, the onus is on *you* to do something
    about it. Criticism is easy. Anybody can do that. Teaching others what
    you know and helping them get up to speed is much more difficult and time
    consuming. It's also a great deal more fulfilling *and* humbling. There's
    no better way of realizing the gaps in your own knowledge than trying to
    teach someone else.

    Instead of wallowing in your smug self-righteousness, going home after work
    and complaining about "them", get out there and make a friend. Teach one
    of those poor "draftees" how to protect their enterprise. (Trust me,
    they're no threat to you professionally.)

    --On Sunday, June 15, 2003 12:02:02 PM +0800 Callan K L Tham
    <miburo@singnet.com.sg> wrote:

    > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
    > Hash: SHA1
    >
    > On Saturday 14 June 2003 03:48, broyds@rogers.com wrote:
    >
    > I agree that the average sysadmin might not be able to handle an IDS
    > straight off. But an admin who don't understand TCP/IP? Why does he even
    > have a job? Oh wait...that explains the countless amount of codereds and
    > nimdas and sadminds I see _every_ day....
    >
    > If the arguments are admin incompetence and poorly-designed networks,
    > then they do not hold water. A company who doesn't care about it's IT
    > infrastructure deserves to be cracked; and admin who doesn't know TCP/IP
    > (I got a good laugh from that) should be paraded on the streets and
    > flogged.

    Paul Schmehl (pauls@utdallas.edu)
    Adjunct Information Security Officer
    The University of Texas at Dallas
    AVIEN Founding Member
    http://www.utdallas.edu

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  • Next message: Thomas Seibel: "Correlationtool"

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