[Billthedrill]

Not all system administrators are misanthropic sadists, only the ones who have been doing it more than six months. Nine times out of ten the restrictions are there for a reason and "getting around" the IT department means laying your hand on a table and waiting for somebody to come along with a ball-peen hammer. You may never know you're compromised but when your company's IP address gets black-listed because you and your work buddies are running a spambot empire for some Russian hacker you may not like the results. That gets to be a b*tch to unsnarl. Trust me.

There are even more challenging environments than industry in this regard. I went from industry to an academic environment and now in addition to the careless or thoughtless but benign worker who just wants to jigger the system so he can download nekkid pix I also have an actively malign element who (1) demands that the network work flawlessly for his or her own little term papers and (2) also regards it as a playground and an opportunity to Stick It To The Man by betraying what he or she doesn't even recognize as a trust relationship.

Most of it is human attitude, really. If you have a login name and a password you are in every real sense an insider with the ability to soil whatever nest you're being allowed into. If it stinks afterward, whose fault is that?

Oh, and as long as I'm ranting - the next idiot who breaks the system and smirks that he's found a hole gets his nose cartilidge tested by my trusty clue-by-four. Go stick nails into the tires of the football team and then complain that security shouldn't have allowed you to do that. See what it gets you. < /rant >

[ko_kyi]

“Not all system administrators are misanthropic sadists, only the ones who have been doing it more than six months.”

Can I PLEASE use that line? Can I use it as a tagline if I give attribution?

[wbill]

Great rant. Looks like you've been doing this for awhile? (grin)

I can't imagine handling security in an academic environment. My hat is off to you, sir.