Re: Rather funny; looks like page defacement to me

[Paul Schmehl <pauls () utdallas edu>]

I'm not picking on you.  You just happened to be the one that articulated 
it, OK?

I see this attitude a lot, and it troubles me a great deal.  I think all 
too often we "IT people" get isolated from the real world and think that 
everyone else should be just like us.

An admin who doesn't know TCP/IP?  There are many.  The norm in most small 
companies is to "promote" the "computer guy" to the IT slot when they can 
afford one (and often when they can't afford one this person works 
"part-time" in computers.)  Oftentimes this guy (or gal) just knows more 
about computers than most people in the office, but they're a long way from 
trained on networking and TCP/IP, security, etc.

Yet they are expected to perform and "get the job done" without any 
training or preparation.  They spend many sleepless nights reading books, 
trying to learn the myriad of things that they have to know to protect 
their companies.  On top of all that pressure, they have the pressure from 
their *peers* constantly denigrating them because they don't know enough.

When is the last time *you* took time to teach someone who was less 
knowledgeable than you?  When is the last time *you* were responsible for 
*everything*?  Mail, web, DNS, networking, routers, switches, wiring, IDS, 
firewall, virus protection, OS updates and patches, backups, disaster 
recovery, printers, faxes, applications, hardware repairs, etc., etc.? 
Most of these folks are doing *all* of that, *by themselves*, because 
that's *all* their companies can afford.  And they're doing yeoman duty for 
2/3rds the pay that the high-paid pros are.

I took on the task of trying to help one of these types of people (because 
he emailed me privately with a question about snort), and I quickly 
realized what a daunting task it is for him.  He had to learn Unix, mysql, 
snort, apache, sendmail and TCP/IP all at the same time.  Yet he tackled it 
with enthusiasm and he's making great progress.

He's the "computer guy" in a small architectural firm, and he got the job 
because he was constantly helping people in the office who had computer 
problems.  Once they decided they *had* to have an Internet presence, he 
was tapped for the job.

If you want our profession to improve, the onus is on *you* to do something 
about it.  Criticism is easy.  Anybody can do that.  Teaching others what 
you know and helping them get up to speed is much more difficult and time 
consuming.  It's also a great deal more fulfilling *and* humbling.  There's 
no better way of realizing the gaps in your own knowledge than trying to 
teach someone else.

Instead of wallowing in your smug self-righteousness, going home after work 
and complaining about "them", get out there and make a friend.  Teach one 
of those poor "draftees" how to protect their enterprise.  (Trust me, 
they're no threat to you professionally.)

--On Sunday, June 15, 2003 12:02:02 PM +0800 Callan K L Tham 
<miburo () singnet com sg> wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On Saturday 14 June 2003 03:48, broyds () rogers com wrote:
>
> I agree that the average sysadmin might not be able to handle an IDS
> straight  off. But an admin who don't understand TCP/IP? Why does he even
> have a job?  Oh wait...that explains the countless amount of codereds and
> nimdas and  sadminds I see _every_ day....
>
> If the arguments are admin incompetence and poorly-designed networks,
> then  they do not hold water. A company who doesn't care about it's IT
> infrastructure deserves to be cracked; and admin who doesn't know TCP/IP
> (I  got a good laugh from that) should be paraded on the streets and
> flogged.

Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
The University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu

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