[rescue] cheapness..

[Gary Nichols]

I worked for a company where half of the critical infrastructure was the 
personal property of the head DBA.  Not a great situation.  I advised them 
immediately that they had a bad security situation on their hands but my 
recommendations went in one ear and into /dev/nul.  Hence one of the many 
reasons why I don't work at $former_company.

On a serious note...

<reality soapbox>

I do information security for a living (ISO for 
$large_insurance_company).  I have investigated many acts of computer 
vandalism, theft of intellectual property, etc.  I have given testimony in 
courts of law.  I have seen what happens to sysadmins/etc that leave 
timebombs or other 'presents' for former or soon-to-be former employers.

1) An investigation happens.  Typically someone like me is called in to 
perform forensic analysis of the machine/device in question.
2) 95% of the time I can restore at least 2/3rd of the information that 
was overwritten.
3) I'm 4/5 on providing enough forensic evidence to prove malice on the 
sysadmin's part.  The one time I didn't was because $idiot_company didn't 
keep proper chain-of-custody for the equipment.
4) 100% of those accused of malice (the 4 out of 5 people above) have been 
convicted, jailed and/or fined.
5) God help you if any of those systems touch/pass/contain protected 
health information, federal taxpayer information, etc.  Then the feds get 
involved.

</reality soapbox>

I'd grab your equipment and go work somewhere else if they won't pony up $$ to buy their own.

Gary


On Mon, 24 Jun 2002, Linc Fessenden wrote:

> Why would the UPS matter with a deadman switch?  Just set it so that if I
> didn't reset the switch in 3 days it overwrites the hdd with /dev/null or
> /dev/random?