Moving on....

I'm FINALLY moving on from the hell place where I worked...

4 long years.... I'd be moving on to another job which is located in town. Well, ok, on the fringe of the Central Business District. I'd still be doing IT, but in a totally different industry. The job scope is pretty much like what I used to do in my first 2 jobs, covering things from the end-user to the servers in the data centre. Besides, the decent renumeration, other pull factors included being a team-lead in charge of the SG IT operations, the possibility of business-travel and other skills which I've never been given the chance to touch on..... This job is really everything which I've always wished for!!

Having raved about how excited I am about the new job, I'm actually feeling a little bit sad to be leaving XXX. This is despite the fact that I've sooooo much displeasure with them and all. On one hand, I'm really glad to be getting out of my misery, on the other hand, I'm rather sad to be leaving some of my colleagues which I've had forged pretty strong friendship with... Eg. the folks from Team XXX (soccer team-mates), my team-mates in IT Security and some other folks which we all gather to talk crap... I'd miss our POWER LUNCHES where it stretched for nearly 2hrs, our crap-talks, our football games, sweat and laughters...

However, having said that, I'd need to move on, be it for myself or for my career. Besides, its only that I won't be working alongside them. It's not as if the friendship forged in XXX stops there whenever one of us resigns...

But then again, to those whom you know who you are, I'd miss you folks.......

Should I Move On?

No, not with regard to my RS, but something else, actually...

So, how do you know if its time to move on? I guess no one can answer for sure. Wonders if the following counts?

• You dread getting to work.
• You do not think twice about taking the day off.
• You flip the Classified or Recruit (on wkends) frequently.
• You are receiving daily Job Alerts from online job-sites.
• The only reason you're smiling to your bosses is because they sign your paycheck.
• You think the company policies are a JOKE!
• You find office gatherings a 'Rah-Rah' event and try to avoid them in all ways possible.
• You are unable to answer when your boss asks you for a workplan for the upcoming year.
• You no longer bothers about the on-goings in the company/department and how they will affect you.
• You look forward to 6pm EVERYDAY....

Sounds familar?

Bloopers....

With compliments from XXX/OD/CI/SID/eOS....

Wah... how come the dept abbreviations is sooooo long? Wells, lets slowly break it down :
1. XXX = Cannot tell you what it means
2. OD = Organisation Development
3. CI = Corporate Information
4. SID = Systems & Infrastructure Department
5. eOS = eOffice Support

FYI, eOS was my ex-team, helmed by you-know-who... Well, there's this recent ban of thumbdrives in the company and in its place, they implemented something called the Clearing-House so that users can copy out their files from the secure network via this place. I shall not bore you with the technical aspects.... Bascially, by the day the ban comes into effect, there were still many problems out there, esp. with the Clearing-House itself....

Damn it, not that I wanna slam them now that I'm outta the team, but I cannot understand how come the shit comes over to ITSec when its not even our idea nor job to roll this Red Green Shit (System, actually) out...

Somehow, I felt as if I've joined the Sai Kang Team instead....

Passion or Job?

My 'new' colleague, Gary is constantly proactively imparting his knowledge of IT Security to me, a complete noob. I really appreciate his efforts in doing so and I'm trying to take in as much as I can.

But I'm not a quick learner at times and tended to forget things which I try to mitigate by writing them down. However, there exists some information such as account credentials which you shouldn't be writing down and such... more so in an extremely security conscious like XXX.

I'm recently involved in the evaluation of a solution which is pretty much a high priority project at the moment. The evaluation had concluded and I'm supposed to prepare a post-evaluation report for the management. Of course, knowing that you have a high-power audience waiting for your report, you'd surely wanna spend more efforts and time on it to produce something readable and presentable. Inevitably, this also means I've to let up on my other on-hand items.....

This is where the problem lies... I run a server vulnerability scan the other day and the report is ready. Before we pass this report to the System Administrator (SA) of the server, we need to analyse the report and prepare recommended solutions for the SA. This being my first time at it, Gary was very nice to show me the ropes and all, even to the extend of doing the analysis. However, he expects me to go thru the report too and learn from it. Not that I'm not receptive to learning new 'tricks', but I've got my bandwidth too, right? Its not that I lack the interest to learn, but I'm really tied up.....

To him, IT Security is a passion... for me, its only a job....

Software Evaluation

I was recently tasked to lead the evaluation of a software which my team is intending of recommending for use in XXX because we are going to BAN THUMBDRIVES in the organisation. Yeap, you read it right.. banning of thumdrives.

You might then be thinking : "How the hell would we transfer our files around from 1 network to the other?" There will be a 'Clearing-House' in place and you are supposed to submit your files to this house who will then transfer your files to your desired network where you will then copy those submitted files from. Don't worry if it sounds complicated for this is not the main topic of my blog entry today...

With the transfer mechanism in place, the next question would be : "How do you ensure users do not plug in authorised devices into their machines?"

This is what my blog entry's gonna be talking about today....

This software which I've been evaluating for the past 2wks is capable of blocking computer ports, files, storage-media and other recognisable-devices on the PC as defined by rules set by us. I've been tasked to evaluate software in the past but I've never really learnt the trade of proper software evaluation until now. Gary guided me along in this project and I learnt a great deal from this exercise. He taught me to try out every single function offered by the software, test out all possible scenarios which might occur in our environment, find answers to question which the management may ask, etc.....

In the process of doing so, I compiled a list of some 20 questions which was sent to the software vendor for them to help us answer (of course). When the product consultant came down for the 2nd time on Friday, we bombarded him with those compiled questions + new ones. He was able to addressed some 50% of them but had to escalate to higher support for the rest. I supposed he got pretty stressed up because he mentioned a few times that none of his other customerstested the product so extensively and in-depth. It feels as if like we've helping him to debug his product and all....

Once he revert with the other 50%, I feel confident enough to present to the others who should be presented to.

Thanks to Gary for guiding me in this evaluation..............

Close Brush with H1N1

An email was circulated XXX-wide about this foreign visitor to our premises for a meeting. He was subsequently confirmed a victim of H1N1. The 13 XXX staff in the same meeting room as that guy was immediately given Home Quarantine 'Orders' by MOH I think....

It so happened that me and 2 other colleagues had been in the same XXX shuttle bus as one of the 13 staff involved on the same day after their meeting. That makes us 3 a 'Secondary' contact. The first thought coming into my mind was, "Wow! H1N1 IS HERE!!"

It had never crossed my mind what I would do if I were to come into contact with it but now that I've been in potential contact, I'm kinda in a lost of my next steps.... I've lost my usual self for the rest of the day. When I got home, I got Zarah to buy Dettol and disinfect the necessary places, especially my chair, table, lappy, etc... I also informed my siblings to stay away from here IF they are not comfortable about me being a 'Secondary' contact. At the same time, I'm also keeping track of my body conditions for any unusual signs and ring 993 if yes.

I'd be going to Bangkok this weekend and am supposed to serve a XXX-mandated 3-days quarantine when I return, using my own AL!!! This is the part that got me mad.... I mean.... I've book this trip B4 MOH added Thailand to the list of 'affected countries'. Why penalised me for planning ahead? It would be more appropriate if XXX can impose the AL portion on staff who deliberately booked tours to 'affected countries' AFTER that country had been listed. For those like me, record the quarantined days as MC....

Good idea?

On my hands now....

1. Evaluation of a Data Loss Prevention Software
2. Evaluation of a Log Co-Relation Software
3. Evaluation of a Desktop Firewall Software
4. Setting up a Test Network for my team
5. Management of Vulnerability Scannings
6. Management of SecureAge
7. Exercise Mer****
8. Disaster Recovery Planning Exercise
9. Monthly Generation of Server Compliance Report (AV)
10. Monthly Generation of USB Insertion Report
11. Monthly Generation of File Decryption Report

There also other misc. tasks which may come my way whenever possible..... I feel so much better now that I'd doing things.... REAL THINGS.....

Letter to my BENEFACTOR

Dear Ms Kold,

Thanks for your "guidence", "help" and "mentoring" over the past 2yrs I was under your "care" where I've had enjoyed countless invaluable lessons.

I especially enjoyed how you :
1. sent emails without clear & concise instructions, resulting in me having to re-clarify.
2. sent emails without proper punctuation, grammar or spelling, wasting much time for both parties.
3. laugh heartily whenever I go to you with a problem which I was not able to solve.
4. never offered any advise besides sarcasm when approached for your views on matters.
5. never seemed to give others the basic respect by looking at them while they are talking to you.
6. does not share the "big picture" with the team, resulting in plenty of doubts amongst us.
7. does not enjoyed being questioned about the rationale of doing certain tasks assigned to me.
8. does not provide us due guidance and only know how to lay blame when things screws up.
9. scolds us via email and CC your boss whenever Pt. 8 happens.
10. implement scripts, updates, etc on the domain without informing the team, resulting in confusion when users feedback about errors arising from these actions.
11. did not attempt to share information with the team when you discover something is wrong with the servers under our team.
12. does not shield us and instead "stab" us in the back to your boss(es).
13. seemed to have a natural flair for getting your subordinates who weren't up to your standards to "voluntarily" resign.
14. embrace double-standards when dealing with users, especially those who ranked above you. for the rest of us, you treat us like nobody.
15. use your position to influence your BEST FRIEND the Snr Mgr to implement systems or policies which may be stupid, useless and most imptly, wastes time.

The list of accolades could go forever but I shan't bore you with too much. I'm just feeling kind of sad that I'm going to leave your team for IT Security. I'm not too sure if I can still keep up with my "fighting" nature once I'm over there. One thing I know for sure which makes me extremely sad, whoever I'd be reporting to over there, he/she ain't going to follow the above 15 pts I've listed.

Well, I guess I'd not go on much further as I wouldn't want tears to well up in my eyes, it'd be unglammed...

Once again, THANKS for your invaluable teachings over the past 2yrs. I shall miss working with you.



Yours Sincerely,
Uncle Law


PS : Sorry to have replaced your actual surname, Koh with Kold. Kold is a nickname we've given you due to the "Cold" outlook you've portraited.

Staff Satisfaction Survey 2009

xxx conducted their annual Staff Satisfaction Survey recently. Below's an extract of my response...



Enough said....

When is it coming?

The more I waited, the more anxious I get. The longer it drags, the more disillusioned I get. I've been waiting since last September for it....

Last July, an idiot told me : "I think your technical skills is not good enough..."

With these words, I was determined not to work work under her by next July, which is coming in another 3mths. Why was I so pissed with that idiot that I made up my mind in such a record time? Just imagine if your boss DOESN'T guide you in your work, DOESN'T help you to solve problems when you can't manage and DOESN'T show concerns for you when you showed lack of concentration at work, how are you ever able to perform at your best?

To me, a good boss is not only someone who produces results, but someone who is also able to command the respect of his/her staff. Yes, the idiot produces results but which of her staff is respectful of her? At least I'm not.... Hats off to her in areas of work. But talk about management and communications, she's POS (Piece-Of-Shit)! I cannot fathom why the SM likes her so much that even when her team's got the HIGHEST turnover rate, he still thinks she's doing a great job.

There had been talk of my department under-going a re-organisation since last October and it seemed like very close to coming true already. However, it seemed like the CEO had other ideas and am apparently 'sitting' on the proposal for the moment.

Please SIR, please approve it quickly and get me out of my misery.....

Stupidity by XXX Staff

XXX staff are at it again (as usual)... How come they always like to 'chut pattern'? This time, its about some clowns attaching classified documents when they book meeting rooms.

In case I missed out in my earlier postings, XXX is a very security-inclined organisation. They locked-down on many things. Documents are classified according to its Project Classifications, pretty much military-styled place in terms of security.

I received an email from my boss yesterday asking me "are there any new or better ways?". Reading further down the appended content in the email, it seemed that a well-intentioned staff had alerted the relevant people about a potential security loop-hole he had found. What he pointed out is a valid loop-hole whereby a user can book Rooms for his usage, at the same time attaching relevant documents to the appointment. However, users may not be aware that these Rooms' Calendar which they are actually booking for is shared and viewable by everyone, so too the attachments. Imagine if the attached document is a Top Secret thingy, isn't the content as good as exposed to the whole world?

I also gathered from the email that my department used to inform the users in the past NOT to attach documents along with the Room booking due to security issues. However, seemed like some clowns simply do not understand English. Wondering if we should switch to talking to them in 1s & 0s.... If after reminder, people are still doing it, ain't they simply asking for it?

I sometimes really can't stand the level of stupidity in XXX despite those 'esteemed' researchers being the 'cream of the crop', they are unable to practice some simple information safety.....

Yanky Land....

My 'Bro' just came back to work after attending the DEF CON convention held recently in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. His trip is fully subsidised by XXX. Lucky b*****d.... He was telling me about the convention and those weird things that those hackers do. He also talked about his follow-up vacation in New York with his wifey. Doubly lucky b*****d!!

Having heard soooooooo much from him about YankyLand makes me all the more excited about my impending trip there next month with my significant other (SO). We'll be going to the West Coast, specifically San Francisco, Los Angeles & Las Vegas (aka Sin City). This is a 12D/11N Free & Easy trip designed by Uncle Law who had no prior experience or a clue about the places he is going. He ransacked the web with his trusty Google and came up with the places to stay, visit and also how to get around, to and fro each city.

Here's some of the highlights :

• Tour to Napa & Sonoma Valleys
  
• Monterey, Carmel & The 17-Mile Drive
• Disneyland in Anaheim
  
• Grand Canyon
• Sky Diving
• Factory Outlet Malls in Las Vegas

I'm quite excited and can't really wait for end-Sept to come sooner. However, there are a few things that I'm having reservations about...

• Safety @ nite - need I elaborate further?
  
• Food - YankyLand is aka Junk-Food Paradise
• Transport - heard that it can sometimes be hard going around YankyLand without driving
  
• Shopping - feared for my legs as I expect SO to go crazy once we reach the Factory Outlet Malls

It's not the first time I'm going on a Free & Easy vacation. In fact, I've never been on packaged-holiday before. Despite that, I still feel apprehensive about each trip that I'm going because I tended to one who doesn't like last minute situational changes.

My last major trip was back in 2004 where I went to UK for a summer module as part of my Degree program. 4yrs later, I'm once again going to a faraway land, the place where you can be shot for no reasons in broad daylight....

Hope we both get to return in 1 piece each....

My Company Folks

My company, being the 'foremost' R&D organisation in SG, hires over 1400 'TOP TALENTS' from the local pool (thank goodness) but there are a sprinkling of converted FTs here and there. Today's topic is not about these FTs, so don't worry....

I've been around the company for nearly 2yrs and had seen my fair share of the uglier side of the folks in XXX (I've replaced my company initials with XXX for confidentiality). I must admit I've not seen worst peoples then those I'm now working alongside with! They are conceited, selfish and very demanding. Before you concluded that I'm bashing the entire bunch, I must admit that most of them are alright, just that there were quite a few black sheeps around in the herd.

As mentioned earlier, the folks recruited into XXX for R&D are usually the 'Cream of the Crop'. Somehow, I also don't know how, a few of these 'Cream' seemed to suffer from Big Headed-ness, Selfish-ness and are obviously very demanding towards their junior colleagues and corporate divisions. There was a case of how a high-level 'Cream' banging the table and demanding a solution from corporate staff, for proper disposal of a pen-knife blade! While another 'Cream' commented that certain items issued to users such as thumbdrives are without hooks which causes users to lose them!

I was dumbfounded when I saw these 2 cases! I can't imagine how/why would someone need to use his 'weight' to demand a solution to a simple problem? You mean you, having studied much (maybe Phd) more than your fellow colleagues, can't even think of a safe way to dispose of pen-knife blades? Do you mean the company is to also to ensure things/equipment issued to you are safely secured? I thought this is our OWN RESPONSIBILITIES?

I cannot imagine the Government, in addition to issuing us with Identity Cards, Passports, etc, they also have to ensure that we do not lose them! How? Provide every household with a safe? This is most ridiculous. I really don't know what to comment of that 'selfish' fellow.