We're screwed from the start? Er, you could say that. Our mail server is also our file server and internet proxy server. Our anti-virus kit can't look for updates automatically because of issues with the firewall... which is a cheapy software affair. Management are looking at changing our IT support guys and I produced a report suggesting we at least separate the file server from anything connecting to the net, but since that will cost them a few quid, I don't know if they'll go for it.
However...
We got hit with Netsky-P a couple of weeks back. (When I say we, I mean the MD.) I disconnected the infected machines from the LAN, found a fixtool and disinfected them. Took a good while, but it was doable. Before I deleted the infected files from the MD's box, I printed off a report from the AV software listing each and every one of the infected files.
Monday morning I presented the MD with a twenty-eight page list of the 1200 files found on HIS computer with names like britneyspearscumshot.jpg.exe.
I only wish I'd had a camera handy. Still. Maybe it will help convince him that secure solutions and good backup don't come cheap.
Luck? Pah. I don't need luck. All I need is a twelve pound lumphammer to break the MD's fingers when he switches the preview pane on in Outlook, AGAIN.
Dude, I'm not that stupid. (You might not think so to look at me, but that's by the by.)
I'm comfortable with updating workstations because I carry out the same procedure on my home PC regularly and there's nothing critical on the workstations.
I don't mess with anything on the server and won't do so unless I'm given a written contract stating explicitly what I am and am not allowed/competent to deal with, because if I screw anything up, as you say, it's my arse on the line.
Management has decided to trust the advice we've been given by the IT guys, despite the fact that they KNOW we've been gouged and f*cked over by them several times before... such as when they 'accidentally' erased six months worth of stored emails and discovered that they hadn't been backing them up.
About a fifth of our staff have administrative access purely because they think their job title demands it. (Managing Director, Company Secretary et al. ) Despite the fact that the MD has already been hit by at least twenty separate viruses, because he's a fuckwit.
Believe me... even if I decide to start messing with critical systems, I'm not the worst problem we have.
I work in a small insurance brokers without its own internal IT department, and as token geek I get the job of patching workstations since our external IT support guys can't find their own collective arse with both hands and a map.
As soon as the last batch of updates were released - starting about half an hour after I read about the updates on/. - I patched twenty odd workstations individually, manually, over two days. (Manually, because our IT experts have set up our system in such a way that the automatic update service doesn't work.)
Which is why it's f*cking galling that I checked our server's update history this morning and there are sixteen critical updates still waiting to be loaded, because the IT guys say we don't need them and, y'know, we shouldn't worry about it.
Similar scenario:
1) New, dumb-looking email worm is released.
2) Everyone spots it and deletes the attachment.
3) Attachment still on hard drive and lays dormant.
4) Second, cunning worm gets past defences and recovers 'deleted' file, which turns out to be really nasty. Like Margaret Thatcher, but digital.
5) Mass infection, computers burst into flames, geeks burst into tears.
6)OH, THE HUMANITY.
I'm currently running Windows XP because I knew no better when I bought my PC... but I've also downloaded Spybot, Ad-Aware and AVG to sweep for any crap getting onto my drive, plus Firefox, Thunderbird and ZoneAlarm to stop it getting in in the first place.
All of this stuff is available free, it works, and it's easy to use. Why don't PC retailers aiming at the home market just bundle all of the above with every one they sell? Better yet, how about bundling the above with a manual explaining how to use them?
People complain about Linux documentation all the time, and they're right to do so, but more often than not Joe Public walks away with even less with their Wintel box, and they're the ones spammers and worm-writers target.
I circulated this email in the office where I work. Some people got pretty pissed when the found out it was a hoax...
"It has come to my attention that a particularly nasty email virus, going by the name of Flair Loop, has recently been released into the wild. The virus, which has been traced back to a college campus in Avignon, appears as an email with an attachment marked "Funky" - when opened, the attachment executes a small program which writes batches of pseudo-random data onto pre-determined sectors of your hard drive.
The program will then remain inactive until 4:00pm on April 15th, when it will attempt to access the data it has previously written to your hard drive. The data is arranged in such a way that the drive repeatedly has to access data on physically remote areas of each disk in quick succession, which will damage the drive heads irreparably. The drive sectors have been allocated such that the noise made by the drive as it attempts to access each sector will vary in pitch and play "Word Up" by Cameo over and over until it breaks.
According to my sources, the virus is particularly hard to detect while dormant, though in some cases a glitch in the program has been known to randomly display strings of text using characteristically French accent marks such as circonflexes or sedillas while typing documents in Word or Notepad.
Can you all please create a new document in Word or Notepad, type some random text and let me know immediately if you spot any French letters. This will help me determine if we have already been infected.
Thanks."
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We're screwed from the start? Er, you could say that. Our mail server is also our file server and internet proxy server. Our anti-virus kit can't look for updates automatically because of issues with the firewall... which is a cheapy software affair. Management are looking at changing our IT support guys and I produced a report suggesting we at least separate the file server from anything connecting to the net, but since that will cost them a few quid, I don't know if they'll go for it.
However...
We got hit with Netsky-P a couple of weeks back. (When I say we, I mean the MD.) I disconnected the infected machines from the LAN, found a fixtool and disinfected them. Took a good while, but it was doable. Before I deleted the infected files from the MD's box, I printed off a report from the AV software listing each and every one of the infected files.
Monday morning I presented the MD with a twenty-eight page list of the 1200 files found on HIS computer with names like britneyspearscumshot.jpg.exe.
I only wish I'd had a camera handy. Still. Maybe it will help convince him that secure solutions and good backup don't come cheap.
Luck? Pah. I don't need luck. All I need is a twelve pound lumphammer to break the MD's fingers when he switches the preview pane on in Outlook, AGAIN.
Dude, I'm not that stupid. (You might not think so to look at me, but that's by the by.)
I'm comfortable with updating workstations because I carry out the same procedure on my home PC regularly and there's nothing critical on the workstations.
I don't mess with anything on the server and won't do so unless I'm given a written contract stating explicitly what I am and am not allowed/competent to deal with, because if I screw anything up, as you say, it's my arse on the line.
Management has decided to trust the advice we've been given by the IT guys, despite the fact that they KNOW we've been gouged and f*cked over by them several times before... such as when they 'accidentally' erased six months worth of stored emails and discovered that they hadn't been backing them up.
About a fifth of our staff have administrative access purely because they think their job title demands it. (Managing Director, Company Secretary et al. ) Despite the fact that the MD has already been hit by at least twenty separate viruses, because he's a fuckwit.
Believe me... even if I decide to start messing with critical systems, I'm not the worst problem we have.
I work in a small insurance brokers without its own internal IT department, and as token geek I get the job of patching workstations since our external IT support guys can't find their own collective arse with both hands and a map.
/. - I patched twenty odd workstations individually, manually, over two days. (Manually, because our IT experts have set up our system in such a way that the automatic update service doesn't work.)
As soon as the last batch of updates were released - starting about half an hour after I read about the updates on
Which is why it's f*cking galling that I checked our server's update history this morning and there are sixteen critical updates still waiting to be loaded, because the IT guys say we don't need them and, y'know, we shouldn't worry about it.
Aaagh!
Ah, quit your whining. I could have said it were like Margaret Thatcher nekkid.
* SOUND OF CATASTROPHIC PROJECTILE VOMITING *
Similar scenario: 1) New, dumb-looking email worm is released. 2) Everyone spots it and deletes the attachment. 3) Attachment still on hard drive and lays dormant. 4) Second, cunning worm gets past defences and recovers 'deleted' file, which turns out to be really nasty. Like Margaret Thatcher, but digital. 5) Mass infection, computers burst into flames, geeks burst into tears. 6)OH, THE HUMANITY.
I'm currently running Windows XP because I knew no better when I bought my PC... but I've also downloaded Spybot, Ad-Aware and AVG to sweep for any crap getting onto my drive, plus Firefox, Thunderbird and ZoneAlarm to stop it getting in in the first place. All of this stuff is available free, it works, and it's easy to use. Why don't PC retailers aiming at the home market just bundle all of the above with every one they sell? Better yet, how about bundling the above with a manual explaining how to use them? People complain about Linux documentation all the time, and they're right to do so, but more often than not Joe Public walks away with even less with their Wintel box, and they're the ones spammers and worm-writers target.
I circulated this email in the office where I work. Some people got pretty pissed when the found out it was a hoax... "It has come to my attention that a particularly nasty email virus, going by the name of Flair Loop, has recently been released into the wild. The virus, which has been traced back to a college campus in Avignon, appears as an email with an attachment marked "Funky" - when opened, the attachment executes a small program which writes batches of pseudo-random data onto pre-determined sectors of your hard drive. The program will then remain inactive until 4:00pm on April 15th, when it will attempt to access the data it has previously written to your hard drive. The data is arranged in such a way that the drive repeatedly has to access data on physically remote areas of each disk in quick succession, which will damage the drive heads irreparably. The drive sectors have been allocated such that the noise made by the drive as it attempts to access each sector will vary in pitch and play "Word Up" by Cameo over and over until it breaks. According to my sources, the virus is particularly hard to detect while dormant, though in some cases a glitch in the program has been known to randomly display strings of text using characteristically French accent marks such as circonflexes or sedillas while typing documents in Word or Notepad. Can you all please create a new document in Word or Notepad, type some random text and let me know immediately if you spot any French letters. This will help me determine if we have already been infected. Thanks."