IT Abuse

As a corporate employee, I've always wondered what powers the IT department holds in looking at what I and others at work do on their computers all day. My IT department is particularly busy so I'm sure they may not have as much time to be a watchdog over everyone's usage but I know with other places I had worked, they closely monitored your computer and internet activity.

This article gave me a peek of what IT people do. In Cyber-Ark Software's "Trust, Security, and Passwords" survey, some surprising numbers were found in regards to what IT professionals do with their access. Over 400 of them were surveyed.

41% said they used administrative passwords to access records and confidential information in Human Resources and customer databases. As an HR professional, I find this intriguing that people do abuse this privilege. We go through great lengths and training to keep HR information private due to HIPAA and other legislation. Yet our own employees are basically hacking into the system just to look at these records and we can't do anything about it. Cyber-Ark's purpose is actually to sell software that prevents these security breaches from happening so its possible that the results are slightly exaggerated due to them wanting to get their product out there.




70% said there are monitors in place to control this access but 61% said there are ways around these. The other 30% said there is absolutely nothing in place to prevent IT abuse at their workplaces.

35% responded that sensitive data was leaked by ex-employees to competitors but only 10% of all data leaks are actually malicious.

This blog entry seems to point these issues towards cloud computing in which all file sharing is internet base. This increases the risk of someone entering and companies should be putting controls in place in order to prevent this.

The Dangerous Side of Technology

Nowadays when states are pushing to ban texting and talking on a cellphone while driving (ex: Massachusetts and Connecticute), the "Road SMS" application is being extremely counter-productive. Thousands of people are killed each year because they are texting when driving, obviously not paying attention to the road or their surroundings. People are even getting killed or seriously injured while just walked in the streets while texting.This new app for the Samsung Android encourages people to text while walking or driving. It's actually available in the Samsung App Store which is amazing to me! You would think that Samsung would not allow an application to be available to people because it could lead to serious accidents.

As you can see below, the application uses the phone's camera as a videocamera to display the scene as the background while texting. In theory, this is a good idea but when you really think about what it will be used for, its not so much a good idea anymore. It just connects to what we were talking about in class that everyone has become so addicted to technology, they can't just put it down for 5 minutes while walking down the street to grab a gallon of milk. "Road SMS" even advertises itself as being a safe alternative! How is that safe in any way?? Yes, you can see what is in front of you but if a car were to come flying into your passenger-side door because you just blew through a red light texting, then it's not so useful anymore. Hopefully this application will not extend beyond the realms of the Samsung App Store or else there could be some real problems

ITs Green!

It seems like no matter where you go, everyone is trying to be "green" whether it be your hippie coworker who yells at you to put your old printed papers in the recycle bin or your mother reminding you to turn off the lights when you leave the room. According to some experts, especially in America, we are using too much of the earth's precious resources for our own greed.

The workplace has also been greatly affected by this ever-increasing green movement. From the outside, it seems as though technology and being green has nothing to do with each other. When I picture being green, I see using glass plates instead of paper ones. Believe it or not, IT has plenty to do with companies being green. In this "how-to" article by Mike Hollier (http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Green-IT/How-to-Green-Your-Workplace-by-Promoting-Remote-Working-Practices/1/ ), he discusses that steps to take if you were to decide about whether or not to turn your workplace into a remote one. It does depend on the resources you have and which employees are capable of doing it. You definitely need employees who are disciplined about working from home and locations other than a stuffy cubical. If an employee can't do his/her work without constant reminders from a supervisor, they probably should not be chosen to work remotely. Off-site technologies also have costs and those need to be taken in consideration.

So why is a remote workplace green? First of all, the amount of gas employees use will be cut down dramatically, especially for those with a long commute. A 2005 study by Telework Exchange shows that employees use 583.3 million gallons of fuel each week traveling to and from work! That number could be reduced by 233 million gallons if those same workers were to only commute 2 days a week.Those same employees will now gain valuable work time with the ability to roll out of bed and straight onto their work laptop rather than spending hours in traffic. Productivity has been shown to increase anywhere from 3% to 25% with employee satisfaction also rising. The office itself would save money and decrease its use of energy with less people in the building all day long. On the downside, the organization must be capable of handling the IT infrastructure required to support telecommuting. The initial investment price may be really high but I believe that in the end, a company will cut its costs and be less harsh on the environment. Just think of the amount of carbon dioxide that would NOT be in the air if less cars were traveling the highways each morning and night.