When I ask IT professionals why their users have blank passwords or use words like “password” for their password, the IT professional explains “my boss told me I had to leave it that way!”

The same goes for restricting Instant Messenger, or blocking web streaming sites that allow users to watch video and eat up the organization’s precious bandwidth. Then there are the issues of employees bringing in personal notebooks and connecting them to the network without any prior anti-virus checking.

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An IT professional discovered an unauthorized computer on the network!  “I know all our computer names and I knew this one did not belong.  I immediately called our consultants thinking we were being compromised. They said the computer was in our office.  I searched through the office and found that one of the (employees) brought in a (outside representative) into the office and set her up in one of our offices. She was allowed to plug her laptop in to our network and proceeded to access the internet.”   I frequently come across offices that freely offer for visitors to “plug in to the network” to check e-mail or access the Internet. Same with offering visitors wireless access.  The people offering access to complete strangers obviously have no idea of the danger.

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