Russell Thomas Home Page

I’ve worked in Information Security for most of my career and have seen the evolution of network and user monitoring evolve into a Draconian nightmare where employees are evaluated based on the monitoring of their Internet usage and document creation rather than their actual outputs and contributions.

An employee in this day and age has lost all rights and expectation of privacy when using company resources and it’s getting scarier every day.

I work in the banking industry where security is a high level concern to the stakeholders as it can have a dramatic effect on reputation if a breach were ever exposed publicly. The CIO of the bank I contract with now has been a big supporter of InfoSec operations by funding new firewalls, intrusion detection, monitoring aggregation, and much more all designed to identify and respond to incidents and reduce risk. But now that same technology is being used to restrict employee freedoms and monitor excessively.

Employees are now told that they are not to use the Internet for anything other than business. That includes surfing while on lunch, breaks, or just checking the daily news! What’s even worse is that they are going to implement keyloggers on all the workstations to be able to track every key typed. That’s in addition to the existing locks on all computer ports and removable media. Furthermore, remote access is being removed for most employees including remote email.

This is all in ironic contrast to the grossly managed physical security that allows piggybackers, hackers and neighborhood crack addicts the same physical access as employees. Additionally, file and directory permissions are lackluster at best allowing anyone to index the contents of shared network drives and pull up gigs of highly sensitive data about employees and customers in seconds. This is compounded by the fact that they allow designated traffic to pass around the firewalls unabated.

So why don’t I fix it? I’m InfoSec after all and I have a duty, right? Yes, I’ve brought up all these issues but they’ve simply been added to the growing list so I can only care so much… and that’s not the point anyway. The point is that we’ve lost all rights to privacy in the workplace and now find ourselves treated as prisoners in the workplace.

As prospective employees we now go through credit checks, criminal history checks, reference checks, and a long interview process to ensure that a company is hiring a so-called trusted employee. Shouldn’t this be enough?

Sure, I’ve walked out my fair share on Internet pedophiles, porn addicts, data thieves, and idiots who send inappropriately humorous emails who all went through the same process but it wasn’t necessary to treat them as criminals before they committed a crime.

I believe that you should monitor you networks, computers, and all ports of entry at all times, but acting on that information should only occur after suspicious activity has been detected and confirmed. Don’t content filter web surfing, don’t use keyloggers, don’t track document creation and usage, and don’t remove remote access all because of an internal threat you can never stop. It stems back to my favorite quote, “What’s the best way to hack a target company? Get a job there.” You can’t stop all threats, only detect them and reduce the risks of exploitation.

Let employees be employees and humans at the same time. Give them the rules and the freedom to act without restriction; only taking action when those rules are broken. A business relies on mutual trust and respect between the employees, owners and stakeholders. If you break that bond by removing employee freedoms you may find that you also lose loyalty, moral, and the creative talent that ensures a competitive advantage.

It’s Monday morning and it’s also trash day. If I don’t put out the trash the night before I end up playing the what-if game all morning with my neighbors and their white trash trucks.

A large portion of the folks living on my street drive enormous trucks. You know, the ones with duallies, orange roof lights, super duper cabs, KC lights, and they’re jacked up so high it takes a fold out escalator just to get in. I suppose that’s fine because they probably have a good reason for owning such a modern monstrosity and testament to global warming, right? No, they are not going off roading, pulling a huge trailer, motor home, or are hauling things for work… they don’t use them for anything other than back and forth to work! That’s a White Trash Truck (WTT).

Every Monday morning these guys come down the street in their wanna be semi’s and you can’t tell the difference between the sounds of their engines and that of a 12 ton trash truck. You don’t need a truck that big. You have a job at Jiffy Lube and have never towed anything, nor can you afford anything to tow after you just spent 50 grand on your truck. You spend your entire retirement savings on an environment killing rapidly depreciable asset rather than on your family, your future, your education, or keeping your front lawn alive.

Now that the world has finally awaken to realize that we’re on the verge of self destruction by means other than religious and political wars, we ironically have the largest and most wasteful vehicles ever available to the public on our roads. It’s like a competition to see who can have the biggest truck, the smallest nuts, and the greatest audacity to throw the green movement in the face of all those hippie intellectual college graduate types who think they’re so smart and all. And so, to the White Trash Truck Driver, I salute you, for you are a shiny example of what America is all about; inconsiderate, extravagant, and caustic hypocrites.

As a computer geek you get used to staying indoors, and in cubicles, data centers, closets and always striving for the ultimate goal of a perfect left arm tan. I’ve probably spent the last decade mostly indoors except for going out on the town at nights. I suppose that’s good for a fair skinned lad like myself but people need sunlight and human interaction to maintain a normal disposition. I guess it’s that slightly abnormal disposition that makes you geeky….

Now that I have a kid it’s changed all that. It’s time to get outside and show her everything. It’s a lot like reliving your childhood the way you always wanted it to be. We’ve been going to all the fun centers, parks, festivals, restaurants, and tourist attractions. Its fun pretending everything is new again. It’s funny the way kids can change your perspective on life and make it a little less scary outside.

They call them “smart drugs” or “barbie drugs” because they are meant to be the cure all for improving memory functions or appearance in a single pill. I have a small fascination with them and want to be the first one on board to try them, but not because I’m a masochist. It’s kind of like Gattica, the movie; if you were not one of the genetically altered kids of the future your were placed lower on the societal scale and denied certain rights and benefits in society. So, if I can join the club sooner I have a better chance of surviving the future… in theory.

What I’ve been experimenting with and find interesting lately is Modafinil (wiki). What’s most interesting is that it has replaced standard uppers used in the U.S. military to keep soldiers awake and alert for more hours than usual. Why did they choose this new drug? Heck, not one scientist can understand why it works, it just does. That’s pretty scary, but it’s also FDA approved (thanks to a little push from our military, I’m sure). They selected this drug because it creates a long lasting sense of alertness, not a jumpy caffeine induced fit that causes you to vacuum your house for two hours and then pass out. It is sold as a medication for persons with narcolepsy (i.e. randomly falling asleep disorder) primarily, but has also be sold for those with ADD (Attention Deficit Dis… where’s my coffee?).

For me, I’m so busy these days with work, kid, wife, college, and multiple businesses to manage that I hardly have time for sleep anymore. I drive an hour each way to work and often find myself falling asleep at the wheel. I also fall asleep in the middle of meetings, over my lunch break, watching TV, and if I allowed myself I could fall asleep standing up and having a conversation. It’s a nice ability to have when you want to sleep through a long flight, but not when you want to be a productive member of society. Do I have Narcolepsy? I doubt that, I’m just an overachiever that sacrifices a good night’s sleep for some extra work or play time and I pay the price for it… that is, until now.

I originally purchased a box of 100mg pills from an online retailer because I can’t afford the time to make an appointment with my doctor, take a day off work, pay an outrageous co-payment, beg for the meds, fill the scrip for a million dollars, then have to do it all again in 3-6 months. No thanks.

So, the pills arrived but they are straight from India, not made by Cephalon but rather the Indian equivalent. That’s OK because I recently read a story of the owner in India who is producing generic equivalents of nearly every drug regardless of U.S. patents and the other drug companies are pissed. That’s OK by me, U.S. drug companies have enough money and the world needs cheaper meds. Anyway, for me, 100mg proved enough on day one, but thereafter the dosage had to keep increasing to notice a benefit. They state that person with severe Narcolepsy may take up to 600mg a day. That appears to be my dosage now; 400mg in the morning maybe another 200mg on the drive home if I’m on the verge passing out.

So, what’s my conclusion? It works… very well actually, and with no side effects (so far). Check out my liver’s blog for more information ;-). You are simply very, very alert, but not obviously so. I can still go to sleep if I want to or need to, but I can control it now and I’m far more productive on average. I can assume that the U.S. prescribed equivalent is probably much stronger (cleaner) since I’m already up to the daily maximum, but then again, maybe I really have a form of Narcolepsy…. whatever! It works and it’s probably the only thing that will get me through this stage of my life so I’ve purchased a crap load of the 200mg versions.

Next to try… Melanotan. Invented by accident at the University of Phoenix and gives Irish white boys like myself the ability to get tan without sun! And, the best side effect of it is increased sexual arousal (not that I need any more). The problems are cost, no FDA approval yet, and the fact that you have to inject it with a syringe. I may wait on a patch or something before I try this. For now I’ve been keeping up on the blogs of those who are more willing to be initial test monkeys than I am.

My first post on my new blog and I suppose it’s appropriate to start after Father’s Day since being a father has changed my life so dramatically.

It’s always the mother, how life has changed for her, the work she puts in to keep the family running, and it’s mother who is always remembered at graduation, marriage, and award receptions. I understand why that is. It’s cultural and historical that we maintain matriarchal families, but modern families shouldn’t be predisposed to such notions anymore. And, neither should your child. Most children don’t know what it’s like to have an active, caring father who provides his fair share of support in the family.

For as much as I can remember, my father was a very selfish, angry, egotistical bastard. Regardless, that’s no excuse for abandoning his kids just because the marriage failed. The negative effects of having such a father and being abandoned during the most critical years of a man’s life will last for the remainder of mine. Although, there has been at least one positive outcome… I will never leave my children and I will always strive to be the best father a kid could ever want.

Like most families today we are working parents that struggle to survive on a combined income that would be considered astronomical just fifty years ago, and yes, I’m adjusting my opinion for inflation. My wife runs her own business and I have a job in another city and go to night school to finally finish my degree. There is little time left for anything but a few hours of sleep these days. So, we relegate ourselves to outsource our daycare, pre-made meals, housekeeping, repairs, and everything we can to get just one more minute in a day. Many fathers and even mothers would elect to neglect their children for the sake of themselves in such a situation, but I refuse.

I make sure I spend quality time with my kid every day. I assure that she learns several new things every day, has a new experience, and feels loved every minute. I don’t spoil her, I hold her hand through life, letting her make mistakes, and being an example to her because that’s what I should do. I get down to her level and listen to her and give her respect. In turn, we never argue and she always respects my demands as long as I explain my reasoning to her.

I never liked kids before. Heck, I had never held one until my own daughter was born. Having children adds a unique perspective to life. If you stop, listen, and learn it can make all the difference in your child’s life and your own.

Life has changed now. It’s not about money, success, material possessions, or any of the silly things that dominated my life for so many years. It’s about happiness; both obtaining it for yourself and providing it for others.

So, while Father’s Day comes and goes with a whimper, I can stand proud and remember this day as a testament to the fortitude of modern men who understand their duty to be a good father rather than a day I once tried to forget.