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Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Hack Attack

Work has been pretty hectic lately. Recently, I've been promoted from programmer to IT Director. A singular honor with a hefty pay increase, but it leads to all kinds of headaches. For one thing, people assume that since you're proficient with computers then that means you know everything about them. In reality, that's usually not the case.

Another thing people do is assume that you can fix anything so long as you can plug it into the wall. I made the mistake of replacing toner in the photocopy machine. Now, they think I can repair it. The worst part is, no matter how often you try to explain to people that you don't know as much as they ascribe to you, they don't believe you because they think you're being modest.

The latest, however, is the recent virus and worm attacks through e-mail. People still open attachments in e-mails from people they don't know. Curiosity didn't kill the cat. It gave it a terminal disease. We keep getting this one e-mail that's telling everyone that their company e-mail account will expire. There's an attachment that it asks users to open to learn more about the problem. It's actually a worm. We keep getting four to six of these things every day, and they all come from an admin account, so it looks legit.

Fortunately, I was able to buy some corporate-wide screening software to kill it.

[sigh] I need a vacation.