Don't Network Administrators Require Privacy? 457
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that Recently their company has decided to move the IT staff out of their offices to make room for the Service Department. The move has placed the IT staff in cubicles that all face inward and lack, obviously, the ability to lock their doors at night. This is, to them, an obvious breach in security and privacy for what may be sensitive network information. Have any other Slashdot readers dealt with this sort of problem before? If so, what specific information was best suited to rectify these security concerns?
Man up, nancy. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:2)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe the only consoles at which critical passwords are entered should be in the server room. There are rackmount keyboard trays that can slide right out when server access is required. The IT staff can stand when doing this work and/or a tall hard stool can be provided.
All the old BOFH stuff is ancient folklore. It's all PUBLISHED at this point and management has had somebody review it.
The jig
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:5, Insightful)
We had a building restack awhile back, and they wanted to bump our group into cubes. I ended up going to the Real Estate folks at HQ and letting them know that my screen would now be facing public walkways, and communications about acquisitions would be ripe for compromise. (I kinda wish we had the SOX issues back then... since I deal with private info as well, it becomes a legal issue.)
Fortunately for me, Facilities didn't want to get those goofy cubicle sliding doors, and we didn't have enough conference room space for me to be able to reserve a conference room for all my confidential meetings.
Then again, at another of our offices, all of us are in cubes, but our bank of cubes is behind a secure access controlled door, and the general users aren't allowed in there... All depends on how critical your info is, and what is available to protect it.
I wouldn't press the sube issue directly, I would press the security issue, and let management come up with their own answer.
Space to think! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Space to think! -- corollary (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:5, Insightful)
What company gives regular IT people their own offices?
I've been at a Fortune 500 company for five years, and in that whole time (which has spanned two buildings), the only people with offices were the directors.
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:4, Funny)
Nirvanacorp
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:4, Informative)
Microsoft.
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:3, Insightful)
It could be far worse (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:5, Interesting)
We had this problem here until the director of operations was reamed up one side down the other and then almost publically flogged when we missed an audit and he ignored all the noted problems on the monthly internal audits.
Now all key IT people not only are in a cubicle land in an office with limited keycard access, but we have 3m privacy filters on all our screens. and al lservers were put in a server room with even more limited access. Before then they had them pretty much in the open where anyone could gain physical access of the servers and the IT department easily.
Re:Man up, nancy. (Score:3, Insightful)
No he wont. Not for the reasons you're implying anyway. A little known company called Visa [visa.com] manages to keep all their IT guys in cubes. If you think your IT guys deal with a lot of financial information...
It's all about using the correct procedures in handling that financial info. This means, lock your desktop when you leave to take
Get cabinets (Score:2)
Battling Business Units! (Score:5, Funny)
Dance fight (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Battling Business Units! (Score:2)
Might Even Be Illegal? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Might Even Be Illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Monitors need to be faced in such a way so that they cannot be viewed from the walkways.
I also run mine at maximum resolution (1400x1150 for the laptop and 1600x1200 for the 20" second display) with small fonts so that my eyes are the only ones that can read anything displayed (unless someone looks directly over my shoulder).
Important papers have to be stored in locking cabinets/file drawers.
No sensitive information should be stored on the workstations. All sensitive information should be stored in a protected data-center type environment. File servers, host systems, database servers should all be protected. Workstations should be set to lock within a few minutes (mine is set for 2 minutes). I also have gotten into the habit of locking my workstation before I stand up for anything.
With no locally stored sensitive information, then the administrators PC is unable to be used as a tool to gain said information.
Cubicles are not necessarily evil, they are however, a fact of corporate life.
Don't be lazy, keep the information secure, rather than trusting a simple "door-lock" to keep unsecured data secure.
Re:Might Even Be Illegal? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Might Even Be Illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Cubicles are not necessarily evil, they are however, a fact of corporate life.
Cubicles present no significant cost gain over giving everyone a small office with a door. That material they use to make cubes is expensive. In fact, this has been done on Slashdot before and many link were posted to different office design styles. The general consensus was that technical types (IT, engineers, etc) like to be able to isolate themselves from the world for periods of time so they can focus entirely on a task.
Cubes don't give you that. I am continually distracted by the goings-on in the next cube. If two or three people are there looking at a demonstration or trying to find a bug then it's very noisy and I find myself having to wind up the volume on my closed-back headphones to unsafe levels.
Should I remind anyone what happens when people in your office are testing audio equipment or a product that talks over a 56k modem in an open plan environment? All I hear all day is that noisy screech of modems (we have hundreds of them scattered around the place) and "test, 1, 2, test" through the other audio equipment that people are testing.
It has been studied to death and decided that if you put technical people in an office with a door they will be more productive. I think this more than offsets all the other reasons for having cubes, and the exotic measures that you have to go through to protect people's privacy when they are in cubes (lockable drawers, filing cabinets, secured rooms for storage of documents, etc).
Cubes are put in place by management who want some level of separation between the "elite" and the rest of us. Management justify it by saying "we want to foster an interractive and friendly work environment to encourage productivity" but they have never had to work in cubes, and dont understand the loss of productivity that will occur when everyone is there.
Re:Might Even Be Illegal? (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't agree that offices are roughly the same cost to install as cubes. As others have said here, cubes are easier to light, ventilate and electrify. I think you also may use less space per person with cubes than offices.
But most importantly, remember with software developers you need to encourage a certain degree of chatter/communication as part of tea
Re:Don't try to sound like a security expert... (Score:3, Funny)
Write us again in 15 years.
I don't see that they do, no... (Score:2)
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bullshit. Once you have physical access to the PC you can compromise it.
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:2)
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:3)
Actually, with almost almost any type of access to a PC you can compromise it.
That's something that good network administrators acknowledge and deal with.
If a network administrator is unable to secure his own box relatively well (no network PC is ever 100% secure), why the %^&* would I trust him to secure a network? A good first defense barrier for an administrative PC in a cubicle environment is to flag those cubicles w
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:3, Insightful)
And that accomplishes nothing. It's just like taking guns away from people who want to own them legally. People who read that sign and abide me it, much like people who properly purchase firearms, are not the ones you need to worry about. Frankly, I don't even know what an "administrative PC" is anyway. My laptop can be an administrative device wherever I take it. This is why
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:2)
What good is a case lock if the attacker has 5 uninterrupted hours alone with a computer? What good is the BIOS password if they can reset the BIOS? And so on...
Re:I don't see that they do, no... (Score:2)
In a hallway (Score:3, Interesting)
So, poster, it could ALWAYS be worse.
Re:In a hallway (Score:5, Funny)
If anyone complains, blame it on their incompetence.
Re:In a hallway (Score:3, Insightful)
Just behave well (Score:2, Insightful)
Breakins.. (Score:2)
Logging out of your servers before closing down at night would suffice i'd say. Or use a solution such as the Sunray, just unplug your card and you're home free
Dont get me wrong, cubes are crap for a thousand reasons, but I do
Re:Breakins.. (Score:3, Interesting)
[Unfortunately, not entirely a joke. It seemed to have poisoned our department relations with IT when I once visited the server room and I questioned why our server and Oracle database passwords were sitting next to our server.]
I guess I'm naive too. I don't see where this should be so difficult with server room security, desk locks and some hardware security: hardware lock-down, no cd boot, BIOS password. If the janitor is going to
Re:Breakins.. (Score:2)
As for the original question: I'm not sure. It would depend on the environment.
Give me a break (Score:3, Interesting)
Passwords should not be found on post-it notes stuck to your monitor, nor should they be saved on your computer, anywhere. Don't keep them in text files, emails, IM history, cookies, etc. Passwords should be memorized or written down in your wallet, or better yet, your company should implement a security token system and do away with static passwords. Any sensitive data which has to be stored should be encrypted. Any workstations or servers at your desk should be locked when you walk away.
Shoulder-surfing for passwords is extremely hard. Try it sometime: at 80 WPM or more, it's virtually impossible to follow and remember every keystroke, especially while trying to be inconspicuous. As for keyloggers, server theft and more serious security breaches, these should be dealt with proactively at a lower level. Screen potential employees carefully, and keep security cameras rolling throughout the office to discourage suspicious behavior.
Re:Great idea! (Score:2)
If one admin has the only superuser password, then you have another problem entirely. There should be an emergency administrator account, whose password is stored somewhere physically secure (or known by several administrators). Logins with this account should be logged as suspicious, as it should only be use
Sounds pretty standard (Score:5, Informative)
Could someone look over your shoulder? I guess... but there are people out there (like say, me, or employees at any other benefits outsourcing company) that have access to literally thousands or even millions of people's date of birth, SSN, etc etc. We get along just fine, so will you.
I mean, sucks you lost your office... I remember mine, it was nice.
Locked Drawers (Score:2)
They use disk tumblers instead of pins like the lock in your house and can be consistently opened with a bent piece of stiff wire.
Do NOT think that those locks are security in anything but name. They exist solely to satisfy insurance companies that you "lock" things up.
Re:Locked Drawers (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, that's not why those cheap locks exist. They are there so that people don't have to put up "don't open this even if you're just looking for a stapler" notices all over the place.
The common bathroom lock is a good example. It's easily bypassed because it's not there to seriously defend the bathroom. It's there as a "this is off-limits for the time being" notice.
Re:Locked Drawers (Score:2, Funny)
They use disk tumblers instead of pins like the lock in your house and can be consistently opened with a bent piece of stiff wire.
Do NOT think that those locks are security in anything but name. They exist solely to satisfy insurance companies that you "lock" things up.
Really?? Oh dude! I better take the Caramilk secret out of there then!
Re:Locked Drawers (Score:5, Interesting)
I am a locksmith. I work with file cabinets and cube drawers all the time. Those locks you link to are specifically for one particular brand of medium-security, fire-rated, burglary-safe type file cabinets, not cubicle furniture. The crap-ass locks on cubicle drawers and cabinets, even the more expensive Steelcase stuff, simply cannot be improved. They're cheap chinese junk of one-off designs that don't lend themselves to retrofitting anything decent. Furthermore, a better lock doesn't do squat for security when your drawers and cabinets are made of cheap sheetmetal and particle board. If someone were stupid enough to install (say) an expensive MAS Hamilton electronic safe lock on a standard steelcase desk drawer, I would almost pay money for the chance to show him how his costly upgrade could be bypassed with a flat blade screwdriver.
Cube furniture isn't secure. Expensive locks ain't the answer.
Where I work we have the same situation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Where I work we have the same situation (Score:2)
Re:Where I work we have the same situation (Score:2)
Re:Where I work we have the same situation (Score:2)
No. A straw man requires setting up an artificial, easily defeated opponent, then defeating him. "Our opposition hates copyright law, but it's important for innovation," being the most common around here. His was just not a very effective argument.
Re:Where I work we have the same situation (Score:2, Interesting)
I have a sign (Score:2)
I've never felt I needed an office... (Score:2)
Sure, an office would be nice, but given a lockable closet or something, there's no real need for one.
Screen lock & locked cabinets (Score:3, Informative)
It seems like the larger issue is being evicted for the "Service Department". They're the ones that should be in cubes, but that's another story.
I do (Score:2, Informative)
It's not that big of a deal, but I guess I don't sit there looking at confidential passwords all day long!
I do, however, always lock my computer when I get up (xscreensaver...ctrlaltdel). That seems sufficient to me.
Oh! And I don't leave sensitive information sitting out on my desk, either.
Re:I do (Score:2)
I admin a small research lab, and I'm most useful if people can talk to me without having to go to another room.
If I _really_ need screen privacy and people are there (like, say, I'm editing
Have to agree with everything I'm reading here though... modular office furniture with lockable cabinets/drawers, hardware locks, keeping more thing
Who watches the watchmen? (Score:5, Funny)
Uhuh. Would this sensitive network information be the log of all those websites you network admins visited last month, and that copy of Quake 4 you installed on the Company Mail Server?
Just because you guys are the only ones who have access to the firewall logs doesn't mean we don't know what you get up to.
Money talks (Score:5, Insightful)
Be thorough, but don't make stuff up. Don't make it a turf war, just make it clear that you're working to protect the systems that you're responsible.
Come up with this proposal, and an estimate of the costs, and request that Accounting begin soliciting bids from vendors. And then lightly suggest that this would not be necessary if you could have good locking offices.
Keep in mind, though, that private offices are only effective if they are truly private. If they're not always proerly locked, or if too many people have the keys, then you'll be the worst kind of office hypocrite.
Re:Money talks (Score:3, Funny)
First you ask for a signifigant budget to conduct the analysis, THEN you spend that budget to come up with a second budget for what actually needs to be done.
No sympathy here (Score:5, Interesting)
Know what? I actually like it. We have almost no staff meetings and part of the reason is we are all there and can talk to each other as needed. In fact usually we work with at least one headphone off so we can hear what's going on and stay informed. If someone is doing something that needs a lot of concentration, headphones go on and they get left alone.
It works really well, and means there's one central location people go to for computer support.
As for privacy, from what? Anything remotely private isn't in my desk, it's on my computer. Well, we all have root so we can all get in to each other's shit if we want. The room itself locks to keep others out at night, of course, but as for my coworkers, well if I can't trust them to not mess with my stuff, they probably shouldn't be employed anyhow. Any of us could, if we wanted, wreak massive havok having the root password to all servers, the enable password to all switches, etc.
Sounds like just so much whining to me.
Update Your Resume (Score:2)
> security concerns?
The first step is to update your resume.
Couple of solutions... (Score:5, Interesting)
Whether or not this is correct, you should organize a demonstration of how easy it is to:
Of course, invite everyone who is someone in the company to this demo, including people like the CEO and CFO. In short, people who care about data security.
And whatever you do, keep a paper trail, by sending emails to the power-that-be, keeping a paper copy, and be as courteous and professional as can be, while being firm that this situation is unnaceptable. Please remember that these are probably not technical people. But they will understand that some data should stay inside...
Just my 0.02 US$ here of course, IANAL, but I am a sysadmin.
Uncover a security hole, go to jail... (Score:2)
Given recent history and experiences posted on Slashdot, it appears that actual physical demonstrations of security holes may open you up to getting fired and even charged with a crime. There have been a number of well meaning admin types who have demonstrated security problems only to find themselves in trouble. Among other things, an active demonstration might embarass The Powers That Be. If you write a memo describing the problem The Powers That Be can either address the issue behind the scenes or ju
it was like this at dell (Score:2)
Boo hoo! (Score:3, Funny)
Too Late (Score:4, Funny)
I have no such problem, since, as sysadmin, I am the only person in our office who can work Visio, and consequently I am the person who draws all the floor plans when we rearrange the office.
Some suggestions... (Score:4, Funny)
2. Lock up sensetive information.
3. Have a wild cougar patrol the datacenter at night.
not the only ones with sensitive info on screen (Score:2)
Um, log off or lock your workstation.
The move has placed the IT staff in cubicles that all face inward
If you need to, turn your desk so your monitor is not visible to people peering through your doorway. As for the others standing on chairs to see over the cubicle to view your screen, well ... let's just say they are noticeable. :)
I say go ahead and tear down the special aura that has classicall
No Privacy Required (Score:2, Insightful)
I had my own private office, however a request was made by Human Resources for the construction of new offices for their own use. Rather than the $10,000 price tag, I _requested_ that I transfer out to the cubicles on our main floor. Basically, it was a decision I made for the benefit of the company.
I find that no one really _needs_ private offices, unless they participate in confidential conversatio
Looks like you're not getting much sympathy (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm a network admin and not only am I part of the small percentage in our company that has an office, I'm part of an even smaller percentage that has a locking door. For me, it might not be completely necessary but it's desired for 3 reasons:
1) Work space - At any one time I might be working on 2 or 3 laptops and desktops while loading a server or configuring a router, etc. I need the space to set it all up. I have a counter top that runs along 2.5 walls of my office and a long table on the blank wall and it's all often occupied. My office doubles as my shop/lab.
2) Security - I have stacks of laptops, hard drives, routers, switches, etc. stored in my office and with our growth, more coming in every day. It's not that someone couldn't steal this stuff from elsewhere in our facilies, it's just that it's much easier to get to in my office. No unplugging, unbolting, etc. Just grab a stack of laptops and go. I've seen cabinets mentioned in other posts but I have too much stuff going on and if I was in one of our cubes I'd be lucky to fit 1 cabinet.
3) Peace and quiet - Between the useless chatter, relentless phone calls, streaming music and other noises, I can hardly hear myself think out there (cube world). Not to mention the drive through questions. Everybody and their little brother feels the need to stop by my office and ask a question on their way by. I don't mind it all the time. In fact I'm quite sociable, open and helpful but when I'm troubleshooting a tough problem or working on a project I just don't like to be disturbed. I generally deal with user issues in the morning and work on projects in the afternoon and evening. After lunch, when I close my door, everyone knows not to come knockin unless their problem is preventing them from completing their work.
That's my 47 cents.
Locking drawers. (Score:2)
i hate cubicles because um.. security is bad ..ya (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm much more concerned about a network admin that flaunts sensitive information as a rebuttal because he doesn't want to be moved into a cubicle, than I am about network information hidden by a cubicle wall rather than a more classical solid version of a wall. Your "bricks-and-mortar" walls are redundant in a virtual world, and so are the more limited cubicle versions. Simple suggestion: lock or log-off your terminal and turn the screen away from the cubicle opening. Now how tough was that? .... oh, the problem is you're still in a cubicle? Well most of the people around you are too; start a self-help group with the other people if it bothers you. This article isn't about security ... it's about cubicles and a whiner for crying out loud!
Salaries (Score:4, Funny)
2) Open up the salaries Excel doc.
3) Scroll to the execs - most likely at the top anyway.
4) Set your screensaver firmly to the off position.
5) Get permission from your boss to leave early.
No so bad (Score:2)
I have to say that in the first case everybody's desk is usually nice and tidy at the end of the day (no expensive hard-/software lying around), while in the second case there's often a tendency to leave the place a mess: "Hell, the door's locked anyway, right?" Maybe, but this isn't good either. For instance, it
Lots of replies from the living with momma crowd. (Score:3, Insightful)
No (Score:5, Insightful)
You are NOT entitled to privacy in the workplace. You are entitled to limit access to your work materials to those employees that have the need to know.
Two completely different concepts.
You can run IT from a cubicle, there is nothing terrible about that. If you are going to type in a password, look over your shoulder and make sure nobody is watching you. Access to the machine itself is no issue since you are not going to put your servers in your own office, they go to their own room. If you were running all the servers from your office then you are not as smart as you think you are.
Regardless of server OS, you can manage it from anywhere, there is no need to be sitting in front of the damn machine.
As for privacy, when you signed your offer letter and you agreed to follow company guidelines, you pretty much signed away any hope of privacy in the workplace. The boss can listen to your phone calls, can read your mail and read your paperwork. Yes, your boss can read your personal email if you are trying to read it from your workstation at the office. It is the company's computer and you are using the company's resources for personal reasons.
Now, say you are a programmer or a DBA, then you need a bit more shielding from prying eyes. But the plain IT folks? Nah, they can sit outside like everyone else.
Your only plausable reason (Score:2)
No Problems (Score:3, Interesting)
All of the documentation for our dispatch center has been stored in a bookshelf within dispatch. That's a controlled area but the dispatchers can all view it. As I predicted, one of the dispatchers did dig through it and made copies of certain documents. She then supplied those documents to one of the deputies who is now using that information as part of a suit against the county (long story, he thinks we intentionally have bad radio coverage).
Management didn't give a shit about that. The insurance folks shook thier heads in disgust but then they've seen it all with our county so nothing shocks them anymore. When that documentation made it to the internet it still didn't phase anyone.
Privacy? You want privacy? Around here they either think you're being a prima donna or you're up to something. There can't actually be a need for privacy.
Cubicles? Doors? (Score:4, Interesting)
So the network admins have been moved out of their offices? Cry me a river, and welcome to the 21st century along with the rest of us.
yellow stickers (Score:3, Funny)
Dude, you had an Office???? (Score:5, Interesting)
IT people are in cubicles and have been for at least 20 years. The servers are locked up in secured environmentally controlled data centers. You wouldn't want to work there, it sucks typing when your hands are freezing. The noise of the cooling fans and air conditioning is pretty darn loud too.
Due to Sarbanes/Oxley the customer data is secured to such a ridiculous degree that the IT staff doesn't have access to production data anymore! Yeah, that's right, the IT staff cannot see production data! When there is a problem we have to request a special temporary user name that expires in like 8 eight hours. That id is issued to you and the password is reset. You then use that account to examine the production system. Everything that account sees or does is logged extensively. When you are done, you give the account back and it's reset. If you forget, it will expire soon enough. Those with access to issue the accounts and reset them are at the highest levels of security and are located in our mainframe operations center where they are under constant surveillance including by closed circuit digital cameras. These guys have to go through several card access points to reach the data center. They are not even in cubicles but what looks like a college lecture hall of desks on stepped risers with projection screens on the main wall. Looks like a NASA control center. This helps a lot in major outages to have all the experts in the same room.
The call center staff obviously has access to production client data because they need to. But that doesn't mean they aren't being watched all the time. Every read is logged and if it's found that they should not be reading that customers data at that time, they will be caught. Random audits are performed constantly. We have a special investigations team which is constantly on the lookout for potential fraudsters, etc.
Security performs periodic physical security audits. i.e. going around looking for people who keep their ID/Passwords under their keyboards or on post-it notes; leaving their desks unlocked, leaving confidential information out in the open, etc. This happens at night after most people go home.
Cell phones with cameras and USB devices are forbidden in some places. The call center computers USB ports have been filled with an insulating epoxy from a hot glue gun. Of course that doesn't stop someone from writing down notes and sticking it in their pants. I mean if Sandy Berger can enter the national archives and stuff top secret documents down his pants and walk right out then so can a call center employee who makes less then $15 / hour. What the hot glue in the USB / Firewire slot does is stop someone from moving gigabytes of data out the door in one move. There are also no CD/DVD burners in the call center for the same reason.
Arguing security isn't a good thing, it will just lead to a security crackdown that isn't going to stop someone whose diligent and determined. It will just inconvenience you further... Take a look at those 4 Chinese Spies they just caught in California! They worked for defense contractors and gave away military secrets to the Chinese. I mean if we can't stop our military secrets from walking how can we stop everyday business data theft and industrial or corporate espionage?
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:5, Insightful)
The "looking over your shoulder" problem is more difficult to deal with than you might think. More than once I've had issues with users stalking up behind me and reading my screen before I even knew they were there. (the really rude ones ask questions about what they've read) I could be doing any number of sensitive things - sending someone an email discussing the layoffs that are scheduled for next week, chatting with someone sending them their new account password, drafting a memo to someone outlining new security policy... posting the new router passwords on a secure filestore... any of these and more could be serious breaches of security and privacy if observed by the wrong people, and as another poster mentioned, could violate state or federal laws.
It's really a design problem to set up a cubicle where the user faces away from their door. For one, they can either look at their visitor OR their computer, but not both. I always prefer looking at my monitor, and then off to its side to see my guest. This also allows me to look up information for them without having to turn my back on them. Intelligent cubicle design has the desk on the left or right of the doorway, not opposite it. If your desk is opposite your cubicle doorway, tell your HR to get a clue. The best cubicle design is of course to have to walk around your desk and sit down, facing the doorway as well as your monitor, but I'll recognize that not every company has the space or the funds for such large cubicles.
As for physical security, that's another matter in itself. The best design is of course to have every computer imaged identically, with network login and home folder, and to allow no one to store their own information on the local hard drive. This seldom goes completely followed, and all sorts of things wind up on the local drives. Besides being a backup risk, anyone with physical access when you are away from your cubicle can rummage through your hard drive. Some I.T. are paranoid even of the nighttime janitors and clean the I.T. room themselves so they don't have to give out another key. But for that I'd say if you don't have janitorial staff you can trust at least that much, you need to find new janitors.
And of course if the fileserver is in your cubicle with you, that opens up a whole new can of worms. (and if not, why is your office away from the server room?) On that note I will say one thing I am against... leaving the server with an account logged in on it. I see that where I work sometimes, and it bothers me. I like that extra layer of security on top of physical security, and knowing someone with a key can play with the server is not my idea of a Good Thing(tm).
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:3, Insightful)
Get a privacy screen for the monitor. They blur the screen to anyone more than a foot or so away from the monitor and they work. Drives me nuts to work on a computer with one on it because if I move my head to far I think I'm having eye problems.
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, then there's the guy on the other side of the back wall, or on the side walls. But a big hutch and a couple plants should keep that from being an issue as well.
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:5, Funny)
Failing that you can rig the motion sensor to a pair of wires, wire it to a steel-framed chair you sit in, and have it shock you when they walk in. Even better, wire the door handle on your office with it, then you'll hear them yell every time they open the door.
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:5, Insightful)
I think that most professional geeks need to come to grips with reality. If you're in IT, you probably think you're more important than you really are, while management probably thinks you're less important than you really are. This, obviously, adds up to a huge disparity, and causes plenty of conflict when these two distorted realities butt heads.
I'm sure some will look at this and say "no, really, I'm that important", but really, you're not. First, think about how many other people have exactly as much value as you do to the business. Unless you're in a very, very small shop, there's more than one person doing critical IT things in the first place. Then consider the people who produce whatever it is that your business does. It's popular in geek circles to complain that those people don't understand that they wouldn't be able to do their jobs without us geeks. Well, here's a news flash: you wouldn't have that job to do without them.
Next, try to remove that built-in Dilbert filter you've developed, and take a critical look at your immediate management. Now, your manager may be just as utterly useless as the stereotypes one would normally apply, but more often than not, that's an unfair stereotype. I know for certain that without my team lead or our group's manager, who both know how to work within the corporate political system to get things done, I would have been either downsized because upper management had no idea whether I was of any use, or I would have been fired for pissing off enough people.
You should also consider what those other departments really do (outside of the automatic reaction you probably have to that question, which is almost certainly along the lines of "annoy me" or "piss me off"). Sure, without the network guys, lots of things wouldn't get done; what wouldn't get done without this other department? "Service Department" is sufficiently generic that I have no idea what they do, but contrary to the common jokes about it, businesses aren't usually in the habit of hiring people to do nothing. Or take the Sales department, which is one of the bigger targets of IT vitriol. The individuals may often deserve it, or they may not (I've known some incredibly slimy sales guys in my life), but either way: the business needs customers. Without the IT guys, the sales guys would lack email, IM, and possibly even the productivity tools they use daily, but without the sales guys, nobody would be paying the IT guys' salaries.
For reference, I've only ever worked in one place where the IT staff got offices instead of cubicles, and that's mainly because there weren't any cubicles anywhere in our small office space. Not to mention the fact that it was about a 25-person ISP, and our customer base was primarily in a few counties. Oh, and they've since been gobbled up by a much larger competitor, had their employees laid off, and moved operations to another state.
I think, ultimately, that the submitter (and the GP) need a reality check. Despite what years in IT have led you to believe, you're not the most important preson in the organization and you're never going to be viewed as such. Millions of people get their jobs done just fine within cubicles. And for the GP: if you have a server in your cube or office, you're just asking for it anyway.
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:5, Insightful)
What do I have at that point? Enough info for a serious carreer boost!
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:5, Insightful)
> But for that I'd say if you don't have janitorial staff you can trust at least that much, you need to find new janitors.
I disagree. I think your colleagues are making a very prudent move by cleaning those rooms themselves. It's not about trust, it's about money. A janitorial position is simply not worth passing up a hefty bribe.
Fun example: My sister went to school in Ghana for a year. Going price for a human to do menial labor is about $5/month (or something like that,) so the school kept four people watching the international dorm 24/7. Going price to get into the international dorm: about $20. After a "break-in" the guards get fired, take a paid month off, find another shitty job. The burgler gets a laptop to fence. Everyone's happy.
Now, if the school had one person on duty 24/7, and that person was making $20/month, then that person might start valueing the job over bribes. Job security in a position paying 4x what you could get anywhere else is worth a lot more than one month's pay.
Even ignoring the difference in salary, an IT person has a lot invested in their career that a janitor does not. So they're going to be intrinsically much harder to bribe. Even if you get a dishonest one.
Re:Yes, and stripper girlfriends (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nobody cares for IT (Score:3, Insightful)
We will revolt until our spouses scream "Go out and get a damned job already you lazy, good for nothing loser!"
Re:Nobody cares for IT (Score:2)
Oops, I meant Speezes. Utah rocks!
Re:What A Retarded Quesetion (Score:3, Insightful)
Furthermore how is this any different then most other people in the company.
Does the original poster think a engineer sitting in a cubical designing a Death Ray with drawings and such about is in any less of a bad situation.
Honestly IT people would be one of the first people to get cubed in most places. They are much less likely to be seeing important stuff, or having important/need to know phone calls and so forth.
Re:What A Retarded Quesetion (Score:2, Insightful)
Which actualy, I see as a legitimate complaint. An office has a certain kudos, so being forced out does mean an effective (albeit small) demotion. Maybe not a major deal, but certainly something that would justify complaint.
Re:Learn to read ROT-13. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Quit griping. (Score:2)
Ha ha! Awesome visual.
The last IT gig I had was similar -- I had an office made for three all to myself. It actually echoed. The four other techs were in the same scenario -- we'd meet up in my office on Fridays to play Office Chair Nerf Football. Once the company finally noticed that they were paying for way, way, way too much space, they moved us all into the smallest office where things were so tight that my phone cord kept getting t
Re:Thats going to happen to me soon... (Score:3, Insightful)
I have told the big-wigs, in meetings now, that we will be losing our physical security.
You could always estimate how much it would cost to compensate for the lack of physical security. Make it cost twice as much as keeping the room. If they still balk, advise them in writing of the consequences and demand a signature. Keep this offsite.