Ego-driven administrator takes city network hostage (Update)
by Steve Ragan - Jul 18 2008, 11:34
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This is why a team should be at the top. Much harder to get 5 people agree to hijack the system.
As far as I'm concerned this man has committed a terrorist attack on a vital piece of infrastructure it is no different than if it was a bridge, building or power plant he has control of. IF this system goes down, millions of users and Billions in commerce are at stake.
turn him over to homeland security, they have some pretty interesting techniques for getting information out of people.
Why is the author attacking Techies? Perhaps in general, IT gurus up in the heirachy tend to be a bit snobby..? Isn't that the case with heirachies in general? Don't doctors abuse their powers? Don't presidents abuse their powers? How are they monitored? I don't agree with what Child did, but perhaps the punishment should be lighter than what it is.
One thing is for certain, this guy's career in Information Technology is over. Who'd hire him?
This article is very biased. You are taking judgment instead of writing the facts. Stick to the actual story.
I am giving Childs the benefit of the doubt.
Since it was the city he worked for and not some IT company then I would guess the poor review was based on people skills or something stupid like that and not about his job performance. IT people are usually not the best with people skills and frankly its not their job to be.
And isn't this exactly the kind of thing they wanted to happen. They didn't want everyone to have access to the system and now they are mad that is what happened. Essentially he just made the auditing of who had password access to the system useless. Why do an audit when you know the answer? He could have given them a fresh start on who has control and they just took it the wrong way.
If giving the password would have circumvented the arrest or job termination he probably would have given it. But after being arrested or terminated the password is his only bargaining chip and you don't just give them away.
I do not agree with what he did or what he seems to have done. I will give him the benefit of the doubt. This is just one of the reasons why we recommend that there should no one user that can access all parts of the system and that there be more than one administrator.
First off, someone who doesn't really understand server tech, shouldn't write articles such as this. Secondly, if the man has such a criminal past it should reflect in this case, this is not someone who would be considered for such a high value position. Thirdly: It is not that hard to recover the information from the servers with a mere password lock-out. The lock can be over-ridden in a matter of minutes (you may have to do each server separately however it takes a few minutes for each machine in the network). I am very surprised that the City of San Francisco cannot come up with people to undo this sham! Because that is what it is, a sham! Nothing more. Now get some serious tech admins in there (people who are 'Hackers'- which is a technical term for folks that know security of computer systems) and it will be resolved in short order. As for Mr. Childs, let him be prosectued according to the law for his crime. (And 'no', he doesn't need some medieval mentality working him over with fascistic methodologies!)
Respectfully submitted,
'fugdabug'
Human Resources and new management made the wrong moves in handling this employee.
“Apparently the city hired a new head of security some months ago. She began auditing who had password access to the system. Childs seemed to not handle this well and began photographing her. His behavior became increasingly possessive of the system but he continued to have access to it. In addition, he had access to his boss’s emails regarding his conduct. At least until he was taken into custody on July 13. But why did it take so long?” Tricia Liebert wrote.'\
IT admins have always had the reputation of acting a bit superior than their bosses probably because of recurring simple daily troubleshoots like print spooling that their 'tech-illiterate' bosses can never learn to use. A 126,000 dollar IT is not the top of the food chain. But clearly as a 43 year old IT admin he probably comes from the old school--- ITs who have more hand on experience than degrees. These type of IT guys learned the trade on their own and fail to see why others can't do the same.
In other words, 'ego-driven' ITs have been around since windows 95 so you would think a good human resource manager would understand the personality of an IT admin.
That being said. It's never a good policy for a 'new boss' to negative review a long-term employee within the first 90-180 days. 3-6 months is not enough time to assess a negative review. Human resources and this new chief security made the fatal mistake of coming in as an interloper.
One of the rules of a good manager is 'new' boss (with the help of human resources) should establish a good rapport with his employees before handing down poor reviews. Especially in the case of IT admins who have access to private emails.
The man has been employed by the city for over five years so his performance was at least satisfactory. This new boss seems to lack the skills of management and the general knowledge of IT administration that she plans to manage.
Come on, as head of security, she should have known of his access and could have employed a less threatening tactics to achieve her manegerial goals.
Hey Ragan, I'd love to see someone throw your judgemental ass in jail for proveably baseless allegations. OOOH, he took a picture of a co-worker. That makes him a 'stalker'.... You are a total idiot. I bet you don't even have a degree in journalism. Have you ever heard of the word 'allegedly'? If you want to write this crap, you'd better start adding things like ...
, 'according to co-workers'
, 'as stated in the indictment'
, 'as set forth in public records'.... etc.
Otherwise, you and your lousy publication that I'd would never have even heard off might just get your asses sued for defamation and slander. In fact, if this guy is cleared as I expect him to be, I am going to see to it that he sues you. No.. really. You can't print crap like this and expect to get away with it. The DA and attorneys can... it's called the litigation privilege. Look it up.
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Matthew FlaschenJul 18th, 2008 - 12:08:43
'Despite the claim by a former co-worker that “I don't believe it's in Terry's character to do such a thing,” the fact is, he did.'
How about a little innocent until proven guilty? Everything in moderation, right?
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