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Why Should I Trust My Network Administrator?

Posted by timothy on from the hire-two-and-aim-them-at-each-other dept.

Andrew writes "I'm a manager at a startup, and decided recently to outsource to an outside IT firm to set up a network domain and file server. Trouble is, they (and all other IT companies we could find) insist on administering it all remotely. They now obviously have full access to all our data and PCs, and I'm concerned they could steal all our intellectual property, source code and customers. Am I being overly paranoid and resistant to change? Should we just trust our administrator because they have a reputation to uphold? Or should we lock them out and make them administer the network in person so we can stand behind and watch them?"

3 of 730 comments (clear)

  1. This is what being bonded is for by Dr_Harm · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you're concerned, ask them to carry a performance and fidelity (aka surety) bond.

  2. If you can't trust your admins you're screwed... by Narcocide · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously? You're thinking about this now AFTER they've put the whole network up with all remote access enabled?

    What the hell makes you think they can't steal all your crap in person? Even if you assigned someone to watch every move they make it would be difficult for novices to even be able to recognize data theft happening as they watched if it happened through a command-line interface.

  3. Re:Worried about the results of your actions? by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Informative

    Outsourcing to IBM has lead to a 30 to 60 day lead time.

    No BS.

    To make a change to the software, they need to allocate resources away from all the other companies we are sharing the resources with.

    To get new hardware requires 60 days after they get an approved PR. And the cost of setting up that hardware is incredible. $14,000 for a server for example-- more than the cost of the hardware.

    Main reasons we do it... Sarbanes Oxley (sp?) and Disaster Recovery. If our corporate office is wiped out, we keep going. If IBM site 1 is knocked down, we keep going. If IBM Site 2 is knocked down- we keep going. Sites 1 & 2 are in very stable, very safe areas of the country.

    But our productivity has gone to hell and our costs have skyrocketed.

    And YET--- it's cast as a "savings" in the annual reports. Really laughable.

    When executives set the rules, they *ALWAYS* make their goals.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.