August 17, 2007

WSJ: Getting Past Your IT Department - WRONG

I was reading with interest the Wall Street Journal's article of 30 July 2007 entitled, "Ten Things Your IT Department Won't Tell You".

I didn't think much about it, until I read an IT magazine (eWeek or InfoWorld or one of those) that slammed the article and rightfully so.

Your IT department - especially if you are at a large company - might appear to be a slow, pain, always in the way section of the company to you. But in many ways they have to be.

For example, preventing unrestricted remote file access is not to make YOUR life more difficult, they are doing the best they can to prevent hackers accessing information.

Some of the WSJ advice is useful and can help you do things, however, be vary careful. If your IT department does not allow remote access to your files and you figure out a way to do it, wouldn't it be horrific if a hacker used your "MacGyver" solution to access the corporate network, cause identify theft to your colleagues and shut your business down.

Your company blocks certain web sites for 2 reasons:

1. They don't want you wasting time.
2. Many web sites are set up by hackers to do simply evil things

Maybe going to a blocked web site won't waste time, but you could end up having passwords to your payroll administration web site hacked.

The subsequent article the WSJ wrote, about helping your IT department was interestingly tame.

The next time you are lying awake in bed thinking of how you can bypass your IT department - just go to sleep.

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