We at D-J love our clients. We also get alot of distraught clients who’ve been given bad advice by folks with many nicely framed pieces of paper on walls with nice seals.
All we can say is beware of ‘experts’ toting expensive paper.
Nothing against nice pieces of paper; most of our staff have these. But we direct that they don’t enter the office. Rather they are better suited for a den or ‘love me’ wall. At D-J your credibility is established on the effectiveness of your deeds and what you can do today; not what some expensive institution might have though of you (whether the degree was bought OR legitimately earned). Training is wonderful stuff; the thing that matters is how you carry that training into your day to day life and vocation.
We’ve fielded several clients befuddled and frustrated with IT issues lately. Seems their IT protocols with passwords and authentication have turned against them. Employees are forced to generate passwords with incomprehensible keystroke sequences which are required to be often changed. This, of course, is done in the name of some security boogyman out there generated by ‘experts’ with paper and lawyers with ties (the very same ‘experts’ who urge people to post idiotic ‘no guns’ signs and make our owners’ manuals unreadable). Employees get frustrated and now more resources are devoted to assisting the frustrated workers get back into the accounts they’ve been inadvertently locked out of. The “2-factor” or “Push” notification apps are a variation on the tune; often malfunctioning, on another device not with the employee at the time, or erased when he or she gets a new iPhone. These clients have seen iPads thrown windows (an extreme example) but usually this just results in huge amounts of lost time at work, lost productivity, large IT bills to staff a line helping employees get back into accounts they should have access to, and employees (in which the employers have invested a great deal of time and money) getting fed up and quitting.
And the ones who ARE routinely getting back into their accounts have some type of easy to guess run-your-finger across the keyboard method OR are writing their constantly changing password on post-its at desk or in locker.
Which begs us to chuckle “If AI is so damn smart, why can’t it figure out when I’m sitting at my own computer on my own keyboard at a location I frequent trying to log in with a simple password on my own account ?”
As a side note, we were a bit dismayed that anyone was entertaining the very idea of a ‘smart gun’ — one usable by only its designated owner — and baffled that anyone rational might think this a ‘good’ thing. Especially given the tremendous actual observed failure rate of conventional logins, electronic devices, and computers. And those failures happening under a low stress situation; not under an adrenalin fueled gunfight. Not to mention it could be easily disabled and a person might well WANT someone else to be able to use his firearm in a whole bunch of other situations. Including use by some newfound colleague at the range or in a dire tactical scenario. What an idiotic idea.
We’ll stick with springs and sears, thank you very much.
At D-J, we call this syndrome “Broken Window Myopia.” A homeowner is worried about security at his house. So he installs a heavy door with several cumbersome and complicated high security locks. There’s a vertical glass window pane next to the door. The homeowner has a false sense of security because the burglar simply breaks the glass pane next to the window, opens the locks, and walks right in (or breaks something elsewhere and does the same). The only thing the heavy door and locks do is cost the homeowner money while making it more likely he’ll lock himself out (and not want to break the window because he knows he’ll have to repair it). The homeowner would be better advised to have a better warning system and be well armed.
We see much of this in today’s world; the password nuttiness is just one facet. We seem to dwell in letting others lock us out of our own homes; the only thing their ‘security’ measures do is encumber US (who have a right to be there in the first place) and lock us out of our own proverbial home.
At D-J we deal in solutions. What do WE advise ? Well, for starters we recommend clients immediately fire IT guys recommending long and complicated passwords, or those who force employees to change it at IT’s command and directed intervals. These types are NOT security guys worth listening to. We reverse the process. We advise clients to have employees set a simple 7-9 digit password which can be changed at will or never; characters of their choice. If the employees desire 2-factor then it’s available to them; if not then not. ONE password lets them into every portal they wish (with the option to set different passwords for different portals).
And then have their IT guys work around THIS. A true customer service organization and the way it should be. If they believe additional levels of security are desirable, they can enable facial recognition technology on corporate computers or location identity to ensure that the person at the work station is the person logging in. At a minimum of fuss or encumbrance to the employee. External logins are handled by tagging a person’s phone (if he or she wants this) or by a company issued iPad or other electronic device with an inherent electronic tag (which must be reported lost or stolen within a reasonable amount of time). These tagged devices can use saved passwords and/or facial recognition technology at the employees’ discretion if desired. But the concept is that the end user must have the process relatively seamless; IT minutia is NOT his job.
We’ve found this to work splendidly and pass along this advice for free.
Diatomaceous-Johnson 