Computer Security and Star Trek
May. 12th, 2006 07:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebToday I had to attend a class on computer security. It was taught by a guy with a high-pitched nasal voice and an accent. The worst word was "the-FAH" (therefore). I did enjoy "WEAR-i-fy" (verify), "WIRE-esses" (viruses) and my favorite, "grupp" (group).
That doesn't sound so fun, but actually it was because the speaker was knowledgeable, aware, and funny. He started off explaining how computer guys can build a castle around you to protect you, but if you make a small hole, anyone can get through that hole. They can make rules, but if you don't like them, you will find a way to get around them. So our computer guys decided the best strategy is education (plus some rules, some recommendations, and some castle building). And thus, the class.
For example, we are no longer forced to change our passwords every 42 days because this rule makes people more likely to write the words down and store them under the keyboard or in a desk drawer. Instead the speaker just strongly recommends finding passwords that are hard for other people to guess (letters plus numbers, upper- plus lower-case, no words), and he recommends we change them regularly.
My favorite example of making recommendations instead of rules came up when he talked about adware and how it spies on you gives you pop-up windows. He recommends using SpyBot Search and Destroy. But maybe you like pop-up windows.
He also talked about "social engineering," which he described as people trying to trick you by abusing your kindness or curiosity or by impersonating people or entities that you trust. He said that as a network administrator, he would never ask for a password. He would ask the user to type it in directly. And he explained that if he ever does ask anyone for a password, it's not really him.
This sort of thing always reminds me of Star Trek: Oh no! Our computer guy would never ask us for a password! Then it must not really be him. He's either an alien, or under the control of aliens or something like that. When I wiggle my eyebrows funny, you'll know to kick his knees out from under him.
Of course in real life, people are generally too complex for these Star Trek moments to really happen. (And we might also not have quite as much alien intervention.) So you just end up saying, "Who are you, and where did you put [name of person you're talking to]?" Or just "Where's my [name of person you're talking to]?"
Overheard at work: "What fresh hell is this?" I'll probably never use that quote, but I might think it. Good comic relief. P.S. Actually, I found this written on a piece of paper of mine, and I'm remembering that I wrote it down during the presentation by Susan Scott, the author of Fierce Conversations, and I have a vague recollection that she attributed this quote to both her mother and a client in different stories.
That doesn't sound so fun, but actually it was because the speaker was knowledgeable, aware, and funny. He started off explaining how computer guys can build a castle around you to protect you, but if you make a small hole, anyone can get through that hole. They can make rules, but if you don't like them, you will find a way to get around them. So our computer guys decided the best strategy is education (plus some rules, some recommendations, and some castle building). And thus, the class.
For example, we are no longer forced to change our passwords every 42 days because this rule makes people more likely to write the words down and store them under the keyboard or in a desk drawer. Instead the speaker just strongly recommends finding passwords that are hard for other people to guess (letters plus numbers, upper- plus lower-case, no words), and he recommends we change them regularly.
My favorite example of making recommendations instead of rules came up when he talked about adware and how it spies on you gives you pop-up windows. He recommends using SpyBot Search and Destroy. But maybe you like pop-up windows.
He also talked about "social engineering," which he described as people trying to trick you by abusing your kindness or curiosity or by impersonating people or entities that you trust. He said that as a network administrator, he would never ask for a password. He would ask the user to type it in directly. And he explained that if he ever does ask anyone for a password, it's not really him.
This sort of thing always reminds me of Star Trek: Oh no! Our computer guy would never ask us for a password! Then it must not really be him. He's either an alien, or under the control of aliens or something like that. When I wiggle my eyebrows funny, you'll know to kick his knees out from under him.
Of course in real life, people are generally too complex for these Star Trek moments to really happen. (And we might also not have quite as much alien intervention.) So you just end up saying, "Who are you, and where did you put [name of person you're talking to]?" Or just "Where's my [name of person you're talking to]?"
Overheard at work: "What fresh hell is this?" I'll probably never use that quote, but I might think it. Good comic relief. P.S. Actually, I found this written on a piece of paper of mine, and I'm remembering that I wrote it down during the presentation by Susan Scott, the author of Fierce Conversations, and I have a vague recollection that she attributed this quote to both her mother and a client in different stories.
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no subject
on 2006-05-13 06:48 pm (UTC)Let it be known: If I ever call anyone a half-breed, it's because I've been replaced by an evil robot, or perhapse just a tactless robot.
-Mike
no subject
on 2006-05-15 08:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
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