Thanks (and apologies) for your comments on "The Most Obvious Question You Are Ever Likely To See" (

[Curious George]

Dear Colleagues:

In all of my years of posting to newsgroups I would have to say that the
response you all provided me are among the best I have ever seen. I thank
you all so very much for your advise.

To those of you who mentioned my excessive cross-posting, please accept my
apologies but this total lack of security is something that has given me
nightmares.

To those of you who suggested that I publish the address of one of our
parking lots, I would like to, if anything to prove a point, however, being
that I am the poor slob who would be called upon to remedy the problem (and
likely be the one who is blamed) its not advisable.

Now, without going into much fanfare (and to better respond to those of you
who inquired), my boss is one of those people who thinks they know it all.
My boss is a teacher and we are a school and every time that I have
suggested that we secure our wireless network, my boss rolls her eyes as if
I were crying wolf. The people who installed our waps said that we should
have some type of security in place, but her thing is all about what happens
if somebody comes in with a laptop and cannot connect. Of course I said
that such a person would have to visit the IT department, but this has
fallen upon deaf ears.

The biggest problem is not with the fact that my boss knows precious little
about managing a network and that the last time she was involved in any form
of network management was sometime back in 1985, it is because she is
adamant about her technical knowledge. It does not matter if 99% of the
industry believes in something (for example, having SDLT tape backup
devices) its what she thinks works and does not. In short, she is
completely ignorant.

To be clear, I have no quams about having a woman boss. What I have a
problem with is somebody who is so adamant that they are right and I am
wrong that it seems that no matter what I say, she will go against it.
There are more issues here than meet the eye, but I had to draw the line
when it came to the integrity of our data, not to mention what could happen
if the wrong person got in.

For those of you who mentioned that I should tread carefully, thank you. I
already have my resume and cover letter updated for even if they turned
around and changed all of the things that are totally wrong and dangerous, I
cannot stay in the sort of environment where our administrators take the
advice of somebody who clearly has precious little technical knowledge over
the advice of somebody who comes in with recommendations from a plethora of
experts.

This being said, I thank those of you who graciously contributed to this
thread and apologize to those who feel that my cross posts were excessive -
regardless of these complaints, those of you who took issue with my
crossposting also contributed good advise never the less.

Thank you so very much for your time and advice - I hope that somehow we can
cross paths in the future and I can repay the favor.

Curious George

 

[maximillianx]

By the way - I know I came in on the conversation late -

To appease your boss, you might consider creating VLANS on your network,
then having one access point in a shared lobby area that can let that person
out to the Internet. Then isolate all traffic on this VLAN from the rest of
your network. Now your "person who comes through the door" can get out, and
doesn't harm the rest of your network.

Something else to try is to get someone to perform an IDS audit on your
network. She will find out very quickly that steps need to be taken to
secure your network. Usually, these folks can provide a substantial amount
of industry standard information that will back up your concerns.

I have other thoughts on the matter, but didn't know if this had been
suggested yet or not.


Rob

Dear Colleagues:

In all of my years of posting to newsgroups I would have to say that the

response you all provided me are among the best I have ever seen. I thank

you all so very much for your advise.

To those of you who mentioned my excessive cross-posting, please accept my

apologies but this total lack of security is something that has given me


To those of you who suggested that I publish the address of one of our

parking lots, I would like to, if anything to prove a point, however,
being

that I am the poor slob who would be called upon to remedy the problem
(and

likely be the one who is blamed) its not advisable.

Now, without going into much fanfare (and to better respond to those of
you

who inquired), my boss is one of those people who thinks they know it all.

My boss is a teacher and we are a school and every time that I have

suggested that we secure our wireless network, my boss rolls her eyes as
if

I were crying wolf. The people who installed our waps said that we should

have some type of security in place, but her thing is all about what
happens

if somebody comes in with a laptop and cannot connect. Of course I said

that such a person would have to visit the IT department, but this has

fallen upon deaf ears.

The biggest problem is not with the fact that my boss knows precious
little

about managing a network and that the last time she was involved in any
form

of network management was sometime back in 1985, it is because she is

adamant about her technical knowledge. It does not matter if 99% of the

industry believes in something (for example, having SDLT tape backup

devices) its what she thinks works and does not. In short, she is

completely ignorant.

To be clear, I have no quams about having a woman boss. What I have a

problem with is somebody who is so adamant that they are right and I am

wrong that it seems that no matter what I say, she will go against it.

There are more issues here than meet the eye, but I had to draw the line

when it came to the integrity of our data, not to mention what could
happen

if the wrong person got in.

For those of you who mentioned that I should tread carefully, thank you. I

already have my resume and cover letter updated for even if they turned

around and changed all of the things that are totally wrong and dangerous,
I

cannot stay in the sort of environment where our administrators take the

advice of somebody who clearly has precious little technical knowledge
over

the advice of somebody who comes in with recommendations from a plethora
of


This being said, I thank those of you who graciously contributed to this

thread and apologize to those who feel that my cross posts were
excessive -

regardless of these complaints, those of you who took issue with my