Slashdot Mirror
Replaced by Outsourcing -- What's a Geek to Do?
SafariShane asks: "Yesterday I was fired from my position as 'Network Security Analyst' from a financial institution. I was pushed out by a 3rd party vendor, who labeled me the major security risk, after performing a 'vulnerability assessment.' At the time, I thought a vulnerability assessment of our network was a good idea, but in retrospect, it occurs to me that this company, who's other product is 'Outsourced Network Monitoring and Intrusion Detection' may pull this little trick everywhere they go. Has this happened to any other network security folks out there. Does anyone know if this is a common practice, and what's a geek to do if they find out a 3rd party assessment is on the way? If this happens again at another institution, should I just start polishing my resume right away?" Here's a question I always wish I could ask managers, whenever the topic of 'outsourcing' comes up: if dealing with programmers overseas is more appealing to the bottom line, why not let your programmers work from home for 50-80% of their current in-office pay? For those of you who feel the threat of Outsourcing breathing down your neck, what are you doing to try and stay in your current job, or even in this current market?
I'll also note, because people will ask me anyway, if there were other problems. In my year on the job, there was only 1 network intrusion: Welchia, which was contained in twenty minutes. Anyone familiar with Welchia will know that it is no easy task. I was never reprimanded for anything. In fact, I received a 12.5% raise only two months ago for job performance.
I doubt what they did was illegal, but it's bad business at best. Here is a group of network security geeks, who get other network security geeks fired, so they can increase their bottom line.
I'd like to hear comments from folks this has happened to, and what did you do as a result?"
"Here comes the obligatory South Park reference:
- Perform Network Vulnerability Assessment
- ?
- Profit! (Sell Outsourced product)
Label anyone who is responsible for network security as the risk, and get them fired.I wouldn't even dream up the above situation, except that when the assessment was done, all results were hidden from me. The company presented the results not to the geeks that can interpret them, but directly to the executives that still think 'Clippy' is a great product.
I'll also note, because people will ask me anyway, if there were other problems. In my year on the job, there was only 1 network intrusion: Welchia, which was contained in twenty minutes. Anyone familiar with Welchia will know that it is no easy task. I was never reprimanded for anything. In fact, I received a 12.5% raise only two months ago for job performance.
I doubt what they did was illegal, but it's bad business at best. Here is a group of network security geeks, who get other network security geeks fired, so they can increase their bottom line.
I'd like to hear comments from folks this has happened to, and what did you do as a result?"
SafariShane needs to turn around and hack back in to the system in a week and show that the new company's security measures weren't that great. ;-) This will ingratiate himself with the CEO and get the new company kicked out.
;-)
Problem solved.
As reported by "America's Finest News Source" this is even happening to Company CEOs!
Now I shall sit back and wait to get modded down by the unemployed, disgruntled Slashdot hive mind, but my position on this issue stands.
A martyr complex and a superiority complex, all in one. Neat.
From the second sentence of the story:
Reading between the lines, it seems that a 3rd party vendor labelled him a major security risk. But I'm just guessing.
Using HTML in email is like putting sound effects on your phone calls. Just say <strong>no</strong>.
Basically, what I'm saying here is, quit whining. Make yourself a valuable person and you will find employment. And don't rest on your laurels, either: you have to constantly adapt and pick up new skills.
Wow.. this is some really good advice. If I were any of you, I'd listen to this guy, he really knows what he's talking about..
Now, would you hurry up and fix me my double tall latte??
---
You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.
-- Bumper Sticker
as oppose to surfing /. from the office ;)
No. He should just post the name of the company he was fired from... and they will have legions of crackers breathing down their necks now.
if you're good at your job, get a new one.
Oh well shit, is that all it takes? I've been going about this all wrong!
I'm gonna get a pony too, while I'm out getting things. Anyone else want something?
El riesgo vive siempre!
Not only do they have scooby doo in india, but he's much more evil than he is in the united states -- he gives kids tattoos and has got them buying 75 gram packages of "krackjack". We americans have to settle for regular crack.
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
oh ya and don't forget to post you letter to slashdot... to leave no doubt that you are a professional.
The brain would have thought about this and have already prepared to outsource the kidney functions to the liver.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
>he went out and got a 32" TV and laser-corrected his eyes.
Wow, amazing!! I've been wanting a 32" TV all my life! Are you Amish or something?
Where were you when Samir Nagonnaworkherenomore was panicing, huh? HUH?!
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
For those who don't know, this is a line from the movie "Office Space".
If you haven't seen it, you should. It's really a very funny look at office politics and lost jobs.
Unfortunately, for many people, it's not in the comedy section of the video store. It's in the documentary section.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
I've been reading /. for 5 years, and I haven't seen Office Space. Then again, I have a girlfriend too.
That's funny because I was going to suggest that the reason for correllation was indeed causation. In other words the slashdotters who did not see Office Space had girlfriends, and therefore were watching some chickflick instead. :)
Yea, I learned that from the spiderman movie, too.
find / -name "*.sig" | xargs rm
I don't know how many times I've said this, but I served eight years in Federal prison and the incidence of rape is much lower than the news media (including /.) would have you believe (at least if you're over forty and not terribly attractive...heh, heh).
Well, thanks for dashing our hopes about the future of the SCO executives.