TANKSHARK
TRUE TALES OF IT LIFE AS TOLD TO SHARKY
HAL MAYFORTH
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1and1.com
BI & Analytics
Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . 35
biperspectives.com/magazine
CDW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C3
cdw.com/adobe
Comcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
business.comcast.com/ethernet
dtSearch .............. 31
dtsearch.com
Hewlett-Packard . . . . . 8-9
hp.com/elite
Hewlett-Packard . . . . . . . 21
hp.com/go/turbocharge12
IBM Non-Intel . . . . . . . . C2, C4
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IT Roadmap
Conference & Expo . . . . . 27
itroadmap.net/2011dallas
OpenSGP ............. 23
opensgp.com
University of
Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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was ‘solved’
by making it an HTTPS
URL. At least the spoofable login will be
transmitted securely.”
That’s a Wrap!
Remote user’s laptop needs reimaging, so he ships it back to HQ. “Instead of shipping
the laptop back in the original box, he had carefully packaged it in a padded mailing en-
velope,” sighs the pilot fish who receives the package. “The user obviously thought that
this might not be enough padding and had wrapped the laptop in additional bubble
wrap. Just to make sure that this extra bubble wrap would stay in place, the user had
inserted one end of the wrapping between the lid and the base of the laptop and forced
the laptop shut. After I unwrapped the
laptop and forced it open — not easy,
because one of the latching pins had
been bent — I discovered that the user
had not bothered to log out or shut
down. The laptop was showing that the
login was locked for the user.”
nouncing the resignation, or if I should.
Boss’s response: ‘ We don’t announce
resignations.’ This could make the going-
away luncheon, well, interesting.”
Oh, They’ll Know
New-to-the-company pilot fish is still
learning the ropes when he’s promoted
to supervisor. “Shortly after I assumed
supervisor responsibility, one of the sta;
submits his resignation letter,” fish says.
“I start the process to ensure a clean
hand-o; of tasks. I ask my boss if he’s
going to send a notice to the sta; an-
Secure. Right.
Pilot fish is tasked with writing login ac-
cess code for a university’s new service.
“I was able to provide a secure login
with password-checking,” fish says. “But
I pointed out that it wouldn’t provide
actual security. According to the spec
I was given, a successful login would
redirect to a URL that could easily be
spoofed. If someone knew a student’s ID
and the structure of the URL, that was
enough to get access to the service. This
Get the Hint?
Users in this organization have been
clamoring for IT to let them access
email using their phones for years —
and finally it’s happening. “We had to
sign the appropriate documents and
return them,” says a pilot fish on the
waiting list. “We were then informed:
‘You will know your account is ready for
mobile access when your Outlook Web
Access changes. No one will notify you
of this change. It will occur sometime
in June or July. These instructions are
provided to you so that you may set up
your phone when the change occurs.’
I couldn’t make this up if I tried: no set
date, no detailed instructions, the only
notification is some sort of change
we should notice that will happen in a
couple of months, no screen captures
of what that change will look like. . . .”
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