On the other side of things, don’t you love systems that return “invalid password: password is not unique”?
“What do you mean this password is too short? I use it for everything!”
- Installs antivirus on servers that wrecks application performance
- installs content filtering proxy that prevents developers from reading “hacking materials” like OWASP documentation
- won’t let developers install anything on their own machines without filing a ticket and waiting 6 weeks
- pushes unannounced antivirus updates that pop up OS security dialogs like “Netscan Antivirus would like to monitor all network traffic. Enter your password to approve”, and is surprised when users don’t enter their passwords.
Your corporate IT guy
They usually don’t have a choice. They know this stuff is bad, but they need it to demonstrate compliance with XYZ framework so they can fill out the marketing copy so sales can land a contract with some big customer that wants to know why $competitor has better security than you.
Need the opposite costume, the overly eager sys admin.
- wants to force password changes once a month for security
- constantly changing security policies to reflect the flavor of the month
- constantly sends out phishing emails tests, wonders why no one replies to any of his emails
A website once complained my password contained 3 consecutive letters there were 1 away from each other. This was back when I used sentences for passwords. It was complaining about the word worst because of r-s-t.
My fucking uni is trying to move to passwordless, but you will always need a password to log onto any lab device, and to the wifi, so why?
I mean you don’t actually need a password for that when it’s implemented the right way
Sysadmin: “A clear indication of phishing email is the sense of urgency. We would never send out any email regarding urgent updates that needs immediate action.”
Also sysadmin: “URGENT!!! You must update your system now before Friday!!! Click link here for instructions! Otherwise you will be locked out!”
Then do this to computer-shaped instrument controller systems that have accounts that can not have passwords changed or the application won’t run. Or service accounts, so if you pop in after 6 months, nobody knows the current password and the IT guy only comes in 2 hours/week. And that was yesterday. And no, no contact information present…
Searches for things online by typing it as a post on social media instead of using a search engine as in: “Google what is the weather like today near me?”
