I've just been working through my annual security assessment. An online series of case studies and questions to help me be more secure at work. I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd write some questions of my own.
You print out a database of people's names, DOB, their mothers maidenames, their home address, bank details and name of first childhood pets. You leave it on a bus by mistake. What action should you take?
Cover it up, don't tell anyone. If it gets out blame the trauma from loosing your first childhood pet. Tell them god told you to do it. Tell them you can see dead people and rats crawling over your body. What ever you do don't admit you're *That* stupid.
Ask yourself if you're happy in a job where they pay so little you have to take public-transport every day and yet forced to work from home.
Report it to HR so the people can be contacted and advised to have their mothers maiden names changed by depol, in fact their first pets names should also be changed and perhaps they should move.
You are leaving the office and someone is entering the building without a pass. What should you
do?
Let them into the building politely. No body likes to be rude right?
Get all up in their face and challenge them. If they can't produce a pass or explain exactly why they are here then mace them in the face with pepper spray.
Get the hell out. They are clearly a terrorrist.
You are in your office working on sensitive information. You need to go to the loo. What precautions should you take?
None. You work with trustworthy people because your company isn't run by dicks.
Password protect your screen, bolt your laptop to the desk. Ensure all your stuff, including pens (they cost money you know!) are locked away in a secure vault which only you know the twenty didgit combination.
Tell a colleague where you are going and give them a time you'll be expected back in case they need to inform security of your kidnapping.
You are on the train and take a work-related call. Which of the following are true?
You could divulge sensitive information. Everyone around you are potential spies. The government is watching you. They are tapped into your phone. That van outside really has been out there a long time.
There are no risks, as long as you use a pre-agreed coded language that only you and your colleague use. Some people think they can get away with speaking Klingon or Welsh but unfortunately a few thousand people in the world can speak this and they are probably all sat next to you on the train right now taking notes of what you are saying. They are basically employed to spy on you. You are not alone. Big brother is watching!
Go into the loo to take your call is more secure. The over-whelming stench of piss and that used confom and/or needle are a small price to pay when you're telling your colleague you'll be ten minutes late for the meeting. Remember, you ARE being followed and the information you are discussing could affect you and your organisation.
Which of the following statements are true?
All documents must be shred and properly recycled by professionals. You cannot take shredded paper home to use as hamster bedding as your hamster may be exposed to sensitive information.
Your bin, at home or work, is not secure. That feeling you are being followed when walking home at night is not in your head. It is someone waiting for you to throw sensitive information into your bin.
Documents are more secure if they have the word PRIVATE or CONFIDENTIAL stamped across them. If you see these words you will imediately stop reading because you know you would never read things you weren't meant to read.
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Monday, February 04, 2013
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Gov.uk - one website for all UK government digital services
"One Website to rule them all,
One Website to find them,
One Website to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them"
The UK Government are shutting down all departmental websites including arms-lengths-bodies (you don't use the word quango anymore) into one super-site. The question is... will it be super?
As I often do, because I'm lazy, I've chosen to point towards someone who's said it far better than I can:
Rory-Cellen Jones wrote for the BBC:
"Can the government run one decent and cost-effective website, which gives customers speedy access to vital information and services? Unlikely, you might think given a track record of over spending on far too many sites that deliver a poor user experience at a hefty cost.
Rory-Cellen Jones wrote for the BBC:
"Can the government run one decent and cost-effective website, which gives customers speedy access to vital information and services? Unlikely, you might think given a track record of over spending on far too many sites that deliver a poor user experience at a hefty cost.
But today sees the launch of www.gov.uk which seeks to change all that. The vision is of one website to rule them all - or rather a single destination for the government's customers rather than more than 400 different addresses spread across the various Whitehall departments.
If this is to work it is going to need a change of culture, from one where the government viewed its web operations as something to be farmed out to some giant suppliers and forgotten, to something far more responsive.
When I visited the Government Digital Service - now in charge of this operation - there were some encouraging signs. At first glance the office appeared to be awash with T-shirts and ponytails, more like a technology firm than a government department, though with much worse coffee and no free food."
In theory it's a great idea. One place to interact with the Government... that means you can renew your passport, driving license, collect pension, do your tax, renew your tax disc, etc online in one place. Businesses will similarly be able to register their business, get all the permits they need to run their business, check export/import rates, etc.
Anyone who's tried to renew their driving license online will know how painful it is to have to register for a Government gateway ID and follow the process to completion. It's doable, but not intuitive. As a starter I hope that activities like this will be simpler yet still secure.
I think this site will fail for users who don't know what task or info they need. There are heaps of random pieces of legislation and guidance out there for businesses and public alike. If I'm specifically searching for something, like renewing my driving license, that task is easy to find... but what if I'm a buiness, legally required to hold permits X, Y and Z? There are many activities and pieces of guidance for business and public, regulated by various Government bodies, that people simply don't know are there. Unless I search specifically for something it's hard to find what's relevant to me... as the Gov.uk site grows these lesser known bits of information may become more and more lost.
In theory the idea of Gov.uk is great; one website to rule them all.
We'll have to wait and see what the reality is. It'll all be down to how robust the architecture turns out to be and how good the content is. It'll also be down to how efficiently they continue to improve the site and how much support they provide the 400 departments and agencies that will now be feeding into the site. They've adopted an agile methodology; if they continually invest and improve this site then they've a fighting chance but it's a mammouth task - the needs of the Police vs Defraa vs Natural England vs the Post Office vs the MOD vs JobCentre+ are all very different and the needs of the many many different customers will be massively varied. After all the UK is a very varied place.
Monday, November 05, 2012
Why big fat IT depts suck
"I'm sorry, the outdated browser you are forced to use won't support Google docs for much longer. We know this makes your job easier but we've just upgraded you from IE6 so be happy with that. Please check back in 10 years for the next upgrade"
"The simple project you have proposed will cost £100K more than it would in the real world. We have taken 6-12 months to tell you this. We will take another 2 years to implement it by which time the project will be redundant and technology will have superceeded it by at least 4 years"
"Thank you for calling our support number. Your call is very important to us. If your problem is urgent try emailing our support address blah@blah.com. We aim to respond within 48 hours."
Do you work for a large company with a frustratingly slow IT department? Why is it that these departments seem to have unfathomably slow processes and a complete unwillingness to be flexible?
One of the most frustrating parts of working for a big company has to be the lack of control that you get when trying to interact with your own IT department. Even as a digital expert you are assumed to be IT illeterate and your computer is locked down to the lowest common denominator level. A level of assumed idiocy that even a monkey, bashing away at your computer solidly for a year, would struggle to do anything that would break the system... except that the reality is that most common error occurs when the poorly executed security controls placed on your machine bugger things up again and again.
It's pretty established that a lack of control in any situation increases stress. This is particularly true in the work place and very true when trying to use my computer on a daily basis.
The big issues about trying to get a project off the ground only to have it shot down based on rediculous cost are bad enough (why are we told that to change that sentence will cost £30K and take 6 months to implement... an inhouse developer could do it in 10 minutes and have time to make a coffee).
It's the little things that really bug me, for example, I can't:
Even if nothing changed it would be so nice if it didn't always feel like "us vs them"... we do work for the same people with the same objectives right?
SIGHS!
"The simple project you have proposed will cost £100K more than it would in the real world. We have taken 6-12 months to tell you this. We will take another 2 years to implement it by which time the project will be redundant and technology will have superceeded it by at least 4 years"
"Thank you for calling our support number. Your call is very important to us. If your problem is urgent try emailing our support address blah@blah.com. We aim to respond within 48 hours."
Do you work for a large company with a frustratingly slow IT department? Why is it that these departments seem to have unfathomably slow processes and a complete unwillingness to be flexible?
One of the most frustrating parts of working for a big company has to be the lack of control that you get when trying to interact with your own IT department. Even as a digital expert you are assumed to be IT illeterate and your computer is locked down to the lowest common denominator level. A level of assumed idiocy that even a monkey, bashing away at your computer solidly for a year, would struggle to do anything that would break the system... except that the reality is that most common error occurs when the poorly executed security controls placed on your machine bugger things up again and again.
It's pretty established that a lack of control in any situation increases stress. This is particularly true in the work place and very true when trying to use my computer on a daily basis.
The big issues about trying to get a project off the ground only to have it shot down based on rediculous cost are bad enough (why are we told that to change that sentence will cost £30K and take 6 months to implement... an inhouse developer could do it in 10 minutes and have time to make a coffee).
It's the little things that really bug me, for example, I can't:
- Use a browser other than IE8
- Use a USB stick without encrypting it
- Leave my computer for more than 15 minutes without it powering down completely
- Have more than 100mb of emails
- Organise icons on the desktop. Make things ordered and tidy
- Clear my cache
- Set a screensaver
- Watch a YouTube video, check my personal email or cheer myself up with Lolcats
Even if nothing changed it would be so nice if it didn't always feel like "us vs them"... we do work for the same people with the same objectives right?
SIGHS!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Royal Wedding
Who's set for the Royal Wedding?
I am! Only because my involvement goes as far as not giving a hoot. I may find myself watching it on the TV, but I'm far more likely to be down the pub, having a BBQ, at the gym or generally sunning myself. Nonetheless I'm grateful for this day off in a country with far too few public holidays and I suppose, deep inside, there is a little stirring of "isn't this nice".
As a royal UK event this one is probably quite unique in the sense that instead of gathering round the TV many people will be following the events online - perhaps on Twitter, streamed TV, Facebook updates, etc. No doubt long after the wedding footage will be watched again and again on YouTube of Kate Middleton and Prince William getting hitched ... and within a short space of time people will have re-dubbed the footage online and it'll be spreading virally. I look forward to hilarious voiceovers, Kate Middleton Exploding (see CuteThingsExploding YouTube channel), and Lolcats doctored into attending the royal wedding.
Personally I'll be most interested in seeing what her highness has to say on Twitter, or rather the hilarious personification of Queen Elizabeth II - @Queen_UK - if you don't already follow her then I suggest you do now. I suspect the Wedding will be cause for much hilarity!
So how is the UK gearing up for the royalist online event of the year? Well, one can check out the Royal Facebook page for starter or view the Royal YouTube Wedding channel. And of course there is always the official website.
Of course no doubt there will be plenty of references to the People's Princess - Princess Diana. I'd bet money that many tabloids and magazines will be comparing dresses, comparing ceremonies, etc. And I'm sure many of the online channels, bloggers and tweetsr of this world will be shameless mentioning her just to improve their keyword search. Disgusting!
So all in all, no bunting for me but I'll be keen to see how the UK embraces the Royal Wedding online. And will it lead to a rise in popularity for the Royal Family? Well in my book, if they give us a day off they are alright by me!
Your people say you can stay! God bless you!
Monday, November 15, 2010
The event
39 days until "The event" - which is what I'm calling it until the 1st of December.
I saw the first Coca-Cola "The event" advert last night during the X Factor; they are showing the old advert which is disapointing, it just seems lazy. It did give myself and my housemates warm fuzzy feelings (and there were a few texts and tweets saying "Wow, it's nearly chri... event time - did you see the Coke advert?". It's interesting that a product should have such a strong association with the event; then again it's an overly comercialised festival and I'm not sure what it means to me anymore. I do know the only reason Santa is red is because of Coca-Cola branding (Old St Nick was originally green) - but everyone knows that right?
I've just found the new coke commercial, hoorah - they haven't disapointed - they are just milking the old one. I suppose that's ok.
So anyway. First frost this morning, at least first one I've noticed (there goes my parsley) - I slipped up and now my bum hurts. I heard the first "The event" song the other day, that wasn't so bad. It was that one sung by the Pogues about domestic violence.
I'm looking forward to a trip to Germany this week (specifically I'm going to Cologne / Koln); I'm told I'll be going to an event market which will be nice. They do like their markets at eventtime - it'll be interesting to see what it's like.Actually I'm really excited about this, it's the first time I've been to Europe on my own, the first time I've had to make a transfer at an airpoint (bit worried about that part, what happens with my luggage, what if it goes on the wrong plane?) and the first time I've stayed with the family of someone who's language I do not speak and who themselves I've only met once - well he's an awesome chap. Let's hope he doesn't go all Human Centipede on me (because apparantly all Germans are like that now according to recent census polls... hmm, I think they are not - if you have to stereotype Germans it is surely as a lovely lovely people?).
View Larger Map
I suppose I should think about doing event shopping soon. Perhaps I'll do some while I'm in Germany. Has VAT gone up yet? I'm realising there is no point to this article other than to express my disdain for anything to do with the event prior to December first and to find a cheap way to mention The Human Centipede again. O I can't be bothered, I want to go back to bed, something about humbugs.
I saw the first Coca-Cola "The event" advert last night during the X Factor; they are showing the old advert which is disapointing, it just seems lazy. It did give myself and my housemates warm fuzzy feelings (and there were a few texts and tweets saying "Wow, it's nearly chri... event time - did you see the Coke advert?". It's interesting that a product should have such a strong association with the event; then again it's an overly comercialised festival and I'm not sure what it means to me anymore. I do know the only reason Santa is red is because of Coca-Cola branding (Old St Nick was originally green) - but everyone knows that right?
I've just found the new coke commercial, hoorah - they haven't disapointed - they are just milking the old one. I suppose that's ok.
So anyway. First frost this morning, at least first one I've noticed (there goes my parsley) - I slipped up and now my bum hurts. I heard the first "The event" song the other day, that wasn't so bad. It was that one sung by the Pogues about domestic violence.
I'm looking forward to a trip to Germany this week (specifically I'm going to Cologne / Koln); I'm told I'll be going to an event market which will be nice. They do like their markets at eventtime - it'll be interesting to see what it's like.Actually I'm really excited about this, it's the first time I've been to Europe on my own, the first time I've had to make a transfer at an airpoint (bit worried about that part, what happens with my luggage, what if it goes on the wrong plane?) and the first time I've stayed with the family of someone who's language I do not speak and who themselves I've only met once - well he's an awesome chap. Let's hope he doesn't go all Human Centipede on me (because apparantly all Germans are like that now according to recent census polls... hmm, I think they are not - if you have to stereotype Germans it is surely as a lovely lovely people?).
View Larger Map
I suppose I should think about doing event shopping soon. Perhaps I'll do some while I'm in Germany. Has VAT gone up yet? I'm realising there is no point to this article other than to express my disdain for anything to do with the event prior to December first and to find a cheap way to mention The Human Centipede again. O I can't be bothered, I want to go back to bed, something about humbugs.
I have coffee now - I'm slowing waking up. And here is a random video of Maru:
I realised that I've missed the chance to bitch at the supermarkets. I went to Asda on Saturday (it's my only local supermarket, you get used to it after awile - actually going in to see the crazies is quite good entertainment). There was event food everywhere - the shelves were literally statcked to twice their normal height. I wouldn't have minded as I was just doing my regular shop and I do like taking advantage of the cheap booze offers but I was very annoyed by the price hike in cheese! I mean I know people eat Cheese at Christmas but it was probably more expensive than gold, pure delicious milky gold! Then again I haven't eaten cheese for about 4 months, perhaps there has been some sort of cheese crisis in that time I haven't been aware of. Have cows been on strike? Everyone else has been.
There have to be more things I can rant at? Cheryl Cole's hair perhaps - that was quite rediculous. Check it out, xFactor 14th November 2010 - I can only assume she modelled herself on Queen Amidala from the Phantom Menace.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Windows XP
Why do people still use Windows XP on old rubbish laptops to save money? I have a laptop that I think, possibly, may pre-date the type-writer. It looks like crap (I miss my MacBook pro!) and is so slow it needs a full time nurse to make sure it doesn't choke on it's own inadaquecy. I'm trying to write a proposal right now and word has slowed down so much that I have to stop touch typing just to wait for the bloody thing to catch up.
If there were windows on this floor at eye level I would chuck this pile of crap out of it.
Note: This is not my laptop, this one is in better condition.
If there were windows on this floor at eye level I would chuck this pile of crap out of it.
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