Re: Security and the Under 30 User

["Mike Hale" <eyeronic.design () gmail com>]

The problem, I think, lies in the discrepancy between the attitudes of
the Security (and IT) mindset, and those of the younger users.

Security, and IT in general, wish to exercise an almost fascist
control of their systems.  The ideal network is where no user can
install anything on their machine, nor transfer anyting off it without
authorization.  You start getting into questions about usability and
how productive people are in a more pleasant work environment.

Simply relying on the mindset of "Its our network, you're just using
it" misses the point of that network.  You have to take into account
the culture of the people you're serving.  Make everyone a standard
user, and how much impact will malware truly have on your system?
Keep important apps in a virtualized environment, such as Citrix and
VM, and you'll go a long way to preventing the issues that the common
user could encounter.

Certainly, I'm not saying that every person should be allowed to do
what they want when they want. Rules need to be there, and they need
to be enforced.  But they have to be created with the understanding
that YOU are there because of the end-user.  A reliable network goes a
long way, but usability is just as important.