Some IT folks are just total jerk asses. I was talking with a friend of mine over the weekend who is involved in a legal situation (he's the lawyer) with a former IT contractor who essentially erased confidential information and reset all the passwords in the system. Situations like this aren't uncommon and businesses have to take strong measures to counter malicious activity from former employees.

In most cases larger organizations have a strict security policy whereby all access codes and credentials are deactivated, company property is confiscated or turned in, and ex-employees must sign a written statement saying that they have purged all confidential data from their systems. In more extreme cases a company may go so far as to probe and scan all internal systems in search of logic bombs or other malicious pieces of code, however this practice is rare.

A fine example of how things can go wrong, and better yet the consequences of doing so, is illustrated in the recent account of man who was sentenced to 30 months in jail for planting destructive code in his former employer's computer system. The plot was eventually discovered when the logic bomb failed to "detonate" or execute correctly at the preset time. When asked why he did it the perpetrator stated that he thought he was going to get laid off. Fortunately for the company the guy wasn't as good of a programmer as he thought.

Regardless such behavior tarnishes the reputation of every honest IT worker in the market. I've witnessed and experienced and ever encroaching noose of distrust and precaution when dealing with both systems admins and business owners. This is unfortunate because for any IT project to be successful you must have a large measure of trust and respect from all parties involved. In some way the ever increasing rash of "hacker" stories have contributed to the silent distrust often reserved for those handling large sums of money or the keys to the department vending machine.

Though the accounts are sometimes comical to those of us in the technical world, we must be aware that the proposition of an attack from within can be terrifying to the uninitiated. Heck, it's scary even to someone who knows the risks and procedures all too well. In truth the only option we have to is to conduct ourselves in a professional manner and to make every attempt to root problems before they escalate. Then again that is really the charge of any professional who's given the keys to the kingdom.

Write Comment (0 Comments)

Inevitable as it may be, it's certainly over hyped in typical fashion

"Change is inevitable -- especially in stock-car racing, where the roots of the sport are deep in innovation. And now even that has changed with the full-season implementation of the Car of Tomorrow in 2008."
-NASCAR.COM

The Nextel Cup is no more, a new more locked down car has been introduced and we're still using 1950s technology. Can anyone other than NASCAR call that innovation? Despite the hype NASCAR's premier series bears little difference between now and what it was five years ago. Sure the names have changed and teams have come and gone, but can anyone really make a claim that stock car racing has moved ahead by leaps and bounds?

NASCAR is a racing series directed at the mass market, lowest common denominator audience. To present the series as anything less is disingenuous. NASCAR maintains it's king of the hill status because of easy to understand technology and an emphasis on driver personalities. There is nothing wrong with this strategy but to claim than change is driven by innovation rather than corporate strategies and "leveling the playing field" is ludicrous.

Fans continually lament how the sport has changed and that things were better in the "good ole days". Oddly enough most of these fans readily admit to having watched NASCAR for five or six years. That's a relative blink of the eye in respect to the decades long history of the series. Having watched for over twenty I can say that the more things change the more they stay the same. Changes are made, usually for the benefit of the show, but many things stay the same. NASCAR is still about team work, rough and tumble door to door action and flawless pit stops.

The point is that there is one defining characteristic about NASCAR that has made it a successful enterprise and a fan favorite for all of these years. That's the predictable nature of the technology, teamwork, and for the most part the rules coupled with the unpredictable nature of the personalities and the on track action. Things may have changed but the Sprint to the Cup Car of Tomorrow will still deliver the same entertaining races that fans have come to expect.

Write Comment (0 Comments)

Weird morning... I woke up and didn't know who was World Champion. At first it looked like Kimi Raikkonen was champ by one point. However upon review the race stewards may have to disqualify the second and third place cars, vaulting Lewis Hamilton ahead of Raikkonen. During Wind Tunnel analyst Peter Windsor said that though a final decision had been made by the FIA team Mclaren would appeal the decision. It looks like another fine legal mess for Formula 1. Won't someone please make it stop!

A quick run down of the tenth annual event at Road Atlanta

Today I'm tired but happy because after four days of racing I may have had my fill. It's hard to believe what one extra day makes a difference but in the case of hilly Road Atlanta is makes all the difference. Overall I'd say that this year's camp out crowd was no greater if not a bit smaller than last year's. This is most likely because of Aston Martin's absence this year along with mix weather forecast for most the weekend.

The weather made for an exciting Speed GT race on Friday after a brief storm flooded the track and sent cars careening through the grass. Ron Fellow made a blistering run on rain tires and took the lead for team Cadillac and everyone in turn 10 cheered when he made a daring pass near race end. The sun returned on Saturday for the tenth annual Petit and everyone was very level headed for the duration except for a few incidents most notably one that removed the #3 Corvette from the event in the first hour.