Do you see BitTorrent as a remedy for the "slashdot effect"?
Re:Insider info
on
IT at the CIA
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· Score: 4, Funny
Didn't you know that the CIA provides a complete fake identity to all its agents? Passports, birth certificates, work history, even a slashdot user name?
Re:What the CIA needs:
on
IT at the CIA
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· Score: 1
I've actually heard the State of Utah referred to as a great recruiting ground for the NSA just for this reason - the Mormon missionary requirement means many of these folks are required to be fluent in a non-English language. Of course, having a verifiable "clean" background helps with security clearances too.
I will second this. What you learn on your own time is very good. What you can learn on-the-job is even better. Corporate folks are very suspicious of individuals claiming to know about network security without the work experience to back it up (are you a hacker? or just another BS artist?)
No matter where you work in IT, there is a security aspct that needs attention. Coding practices, change management are concerns in programming. System administrators need to harden and continually patch systems. People in training and documentation need to include security rpactices for end users.
Security is one of those things that gets too little respect, yet is recognized as as a need. Being pro-active in your job, thinking through how security fits in, and trying to help your overworked security admin will give you precious experience, and also give you the reputation as someone to groom for further security work.
The best security people I know started somewhere else and "volunteered" themselves to be the security point person in their area.
What you first do might not be all that exciting. You may be resetting user passwords, setting up new accounts, or dealing with trivial "non events" that turn out to have nothing to do with security (surprising how many network configuration mistakes look like hostile port scans). Just keep at it, do a good job, enhance your skills on the side. eventually a good opportunity will open up and you will be the first in line.
Most important, learn how the business operates, what are its priorities, what MUST work right, and what are the types of arguments that pursuade upper management. Security in commercial businesses is a give-and-take of cost, risk, and exposure. Learn to be flexible and not rigidly dogmatic about security practices. Your role isn't to make your company's security perfect, it is to educate non-technical managers about the real risks they might be taking, and the various options to limit (NOT eliminate) those risks.
If this were at all fair, those employers that insist on non-competes (that make it hard for ex-employees to find work) should pay a much higher premium for this insurance.
Otherwise they are shifting the cost of their policy either onto the ex-employee (who forgoes benefits) or the insurance fund (who has to pay out more due to the NCA)
The 50-year-old programmer isn't usually interested in innovation and tends to shun such things as this "web crap" - they just want to clock in their time and go home. In some cases this is fine, but in others it's a big issue.
In another 20-30 years, they will be saying this about Java and C++ programmers. Sometimes I feel like putting down money on which 20-something pierced and tattoo'd open systems nut is going to become the 50-year old curmudgeon.
My understanding is that some 20-30 year old predecessor to MVS (or OS/390 or z/OS) is in the public domain, but obtaining more recent versions is very expensive (unless you use a pirated version - anyone know a z/OS warez site?).
And what you will need is more than the OS, there are other utilities that are also licensed by IBM and cost a fortune.
You might be able to learn a bit of JCL and some basic TSO commands on Hercules + an ancient mainframe OS, but you would not be qualified to do more than the most elementary tasks on any modern production mainframe.
If IBM was smart, they would release a z/OS for Linux package, including basic compilers and utilities, just for hobbyists and students.
US government purchasing documents show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) from the department of justice last year to supply data - mainly on Latin Americans - that included names and addresses, occupations, dates of birth, passport numbers and "physical description". Even tax records and blood groups are reportedly included.
Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation.
The controversy is not the first to engulf ChoicePoint. The company's subsidiary, Database Technologies, was responsible for bungling an overhaul of Florida's voter registration records, with the result that thousands of people, disproportionately black, were disenfranchised in the 2000 election. Had they been able to vote, they might have swung the state, and thus the presidency, for Al Gore, who lost in Florida by a few hundred votes.
Oddly, this has received absolutely no coverage in the US media.
This is already being done to non-US citizens. See this article and this one too in the UK Guardian. The US has been purchasing files from ChoicePoint with personal infomration non-US citizens, with their governments being very unhappy.
Quoting one article:
US government purchasing documents show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) from the department of justice last year to supply data - mainly on Latin Americans - that included names and addresses, occupations, dates of birth, passport numbers and "physical description". Even tax records and blood groups are reportedly included.
Nicaraguan police have raided two offices suspected of providing the information. The revelations threaten to shatter public trust in electoral institutions, especially in Mexico, where the government has begun an investigation.
The controversy is not the first to engulf ChoicePoint. The company's subsidiary, Database Technologies, was responsible for bungling an overhaul of Florida's voter registration records, with the result that thousands of people, disproportionately black, were disenfranchised in the 2000 election. Had they been able to vote, they might have swung the state, and thus the presidency, for Al Gore, who lost in Florida by a few hundred votes.
Oddly, this has received absolutely no coverage in the US press.
You think we've seen tech jobs disappear off shore? Just wait 'til they start outsourcing jobs to the local zoo! I've heard these chimps will even work for peanuts.
Instead of the Pentagon having all the information on citizens' secrets, why not let citizens have access to all the Pentagon's secrets?
Instead of me having to justify my life to the military, let the military justify everything it does to me (and all other US citizens).
Information is power. When the government has all information about its citizens, we have tyranny. When citizens have all information about the government, we have democracy.
What, you say? Then citizens will have access government secrets, and could harm our military defense by handing them over to our enemies. Well, I don't suppose the government (or some government official) would EVER hand over details of our life to people who want to harm us?
or, you might say ordinary citizens just aren't qualified to make decisions about national defense. These matters should be decided in secret, by qualified experts. Well, who has decided the Pentagon is qualified to judge my life? What gives the government the expertise to make decisions based on a database of individual's actions? After all this must be their intents for this information, they wouldn't just hoard it for the sake of having it?
While I would applaud adding Dr. Einstein to the illustrious list of "Ask Slashdot" contributors, this is difficult to do for someone who has been dead 48 years
Only if you are a Federal employee. Most states have so-called At Will Employment. You can fire someone for ANY reason, provided that reason is not itself a violation of law (e.g., racial or gender discrimination, etc.). This may explain the strange counter by the two fired employees
Some commenters have noted that it is better to resolve the issue in-house, that system administrators shouldn't go right to law enforcement. Others note that the boss may be part of the problem.
My suggestion is go to the company Human Resources and/or in-house legal and let them deal with it. Be sure to document that you have done so.
For a situation as politically charged as this, the whistle blowers should go straight to their own attorney for advice. Hate to say it, but many companies place their reputations above the law. Some managers may have the internal clout to make your life miserable for even raising the issue internally.
Some/. posters have made the point that firearms are defensive weapons, and that the more innocent people with firearms, the harder it is for bad people to use firearms for bad purposes. I would make the same argument about lawyers
Governments across Latin America have launched investigations after revelations that a US company is obtaining extensive personal data about millions of citizens in the region and selling it to the Bush administration.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that the company, ChoicePoint, received at least $11m (£6.86m) last year in return for its data, which includes Mexico's entire list of voters, including dates of birth and passport numbers, as well as Colombia's citizen identification database.
Slashdot Mirror
I see some irony here
But that would just make them more dedicated coders. Fewer distractions, you know.
Do you see BitTorrent as a remedy for the "slashdot effect"?
Didn't you know that the CIA provides a complete fake identity to all its agents? Passports, birth certificates, work history, even a slashdot user name?
I've actually heard the State of Utah referred to as a great recruiting ground for the NSA just for this reason - the Mormon missionary requirement means many of these folks are required to be fluent in a non-English language. Of course, having a verifiable "clean" background helps with security clearances too.
Chemistry majors could make excellent bongs from various pieces of "missing" lab glassware. Nothing like the DYI spirit!
No matter where you work in IT, there is a security aspct that needs attention. Coding practices, change management are concerns in programming. System administrators need to harden and continually patch systems. People in training and documentation need to include security rpactices for end users.
Security is one of those things that gets too little respect, yet is recognized as as a need. Being pro-active in your job, thinking through how security fits in, and trying to help your overworked security admin will give you precious experience, and also give you the reputation as someone to groom for further security work.
The best security people I know started somewhere else and "volunteered" themselves to be the security point person in their area.
What you first do might not be all that exciting. You may be resetting user passwords, setting up new accounts, or dealing with trivial "non events" that turn out to have nothing to do with security (surprising how many network configuration mistakes look like hostile port scans). Just keep at it, do a good job, enhance your skills on the side. eventually a good opportunity will open up and you will be the first in line.
Most important, learn how the business operates, what are its priorities, what MUST work right, and what are the types of arguments that pursuade upper management. Security in commercial businesses is a give-and-take of cost, risk, and exposure. Learn to be flexible and not rigidly dogmatic about security practices. Your role isn't to make your company's security perfect, it is to educate non-technical managers about the real risks they might be taking, and the various options to limit (NOT eliminate) those risks.
Otherwise they are shifting the cost of their policy either onto the ex-employee (who forgoes benefits) or the insurance fund (who has to pay out more due to the NCA)
And we know how often people washed their hands in the Middle Ages.
No prices mentioned. Is this in the hobbyist/student range?
In another 20-30 years, they will be saying this about Java and C++ programmers. Sometimes I feel like putting down money on which 20-something pierced and tattoo'd open systems nut is going to become the 50-year old curmudgeon.
What about licensing a reasonably recent OS version?
A mini computer is too heavy to carry, but small enough you can get your arms around it.
A mainframe is too heavy to carry and too large to get your arms around.
My understanding is that some 20-30 year old predecessor to MVS (or OS/390 or z/OS) is in the public domain, but obtaining more recent versions is very expensive (unless you use a pirated version - anyone know a z/OS warez site?).
And what you will need is more than the OS, there are other utilities that are also licensed by IBM and cost a fortune.
You might be able to learn a bit of JCL and some basic TSO commands on Hercules + an ancient mainframe OS, but you would not be qualified to do more than the most elementary tasks on any modern production mainframe.
If IBM was smart, they would release a z/OS for Linux package, including basic compilers and utilities, just for hobbyists and students.
Is anyone at IBM listening?
Quoting one:
Oddly, this has received absolutely no coverage in the US media.Quoting one article:
Oddly, this has received absolutely no coverage in the US press.You think we've seen tech jobs disappear off shore? Just wait 'til they start outsourcing jobs to the local zoo! I've heard these chimps will even work for peanuts.
Instead of me having to justify my life to the military, let the military justify everything it does to me (and all other US citizens).
Information is power. When the government has all information about its citizens, we have tyranny. When citizens have all information about the government, we have democracy.
What, you say? Then citizens will have access government secrets, and could harm our military defense by handing them over to our enemies. Well, I don't suppose the government (or some government official) would EVER hand over details of our life to people who want to harm us?
or, you might say ordinary citizens just aren't qualified to make decisions about national defense. These matters should be decided in secret, by qualified experts. Well, who has decided the Pentagon is qualified to judge my life? What gives the government the expertise to make decisions based on a database of individual's actions? After all this must be their intents for this information, they wouldn't just hoard it for the sake of having it?
Better luck with the "cowboy neal" option
Only if you are a Federal employee. Most states have so-called At Will Employment. You can fire someone for ANY reason, provided that reason is not itself a violation of law (e.g., racial or gender discrimination, etc.). This may explain the strange counter by the two fired employees
My suggestion is go to the company Human Resources and/or in-house legal and let them deal with it. Be sure to document that you have done so.
For a situation as politically charged as this, the whistle blowers should go straight to their own attorney for advice. Hate to say it, but many companies place their reputations above the law. Some managers may have the internal clout to make your life miserable for even raising the issue internally.
Some /. posters have made the point that firearms are defensive weapons, and that the more innocent people with firearms, the harder it is for bad people to use firearms for bad purposes. I would make the same argument about lawyers
As a start, this band has already perfected the self-combusting drummer
You mean the DMCA isn't enough? It is already used to prevent reverse engineering the "black boxes" on Lexmark printers.
Quoting:
I would worry about Choicepoint if I were you.
Will they put all of John Travolta's movies on self destructable media? Please please please...