Nice chat, Major. When I said I'm from the old school, take that literally, as I've been in the work force since 1963. Today, technology is still my profession -- and also my hobby, as I never get enough of it. I've lived through the eras of "work for us for life and we'll take care of you for life" to "what have you done for us lately." That's why I’ve embraced entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career for the last 25 years. I’m pleased to see, however, that your company still retains people of quality, experience and longevity. Perhaps, as you say, the article may be enabling – but only to those who have less than honorable intentions to begin with and are easily tempted to push the envelope in less than honorable ways. These types bring no favor to any employer and should be discharged, even if they are company “stars.” But, management sometimes turns a blind eye to such misconduct because they are solely focused on quarter-to-quarter results to please shareholders and have ways of covering malfeasance. It is unlikely that the WSJ will ever publish such content again, but with the recent sale to Murdoch, we may see more tabloid-style articles like this. If so, they will lose longtime subscribers like me and the world will lose a truly great publication. Also, technology columnists Lee Gomes and Walter Mossberg will have to find other employment; look for them at your company’s next job fair. Rather than clog this blog, reach me at my web site: robertewilson.name and click the eMail button. Otherwise, we can continue our enjoyable dialog here at the discretion of the forum moderator(s). “Ground Control to Major Tom, Take your protein pills and put your helmet on” -- Space Oddity, 1972, David Bowie, aka Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars, aka glitter rock

Good analogy about bombmaking, Major Tom. What it all boils down to me is the human factor and whether ethics still matter in the workplace. I'm from the old school and still believe in such but there is no loyalty on either side of the fence these days. Look around your company and count the number of people that have worked there for 5 years -- or even 2 years. Most companies I provide technical services seem to have a revolving door. In most cases, I have more tenancy with any given client than 80% of their entire IT department. Company rules are just words. What matters -- and cannot be truly be controlled -- is the intent and behavior of personnel. Like police departments, no action can be taken unless threats are made or a violation of company policies actually occurs. If anything good comes from publishing this article, it should serve as a wakeup call to admins to tighten security. Uncounted servers have been hacked simply because no one applied critical patches and fixes immediately upon release or were lax in controlling access. It was always "We'll get to it manana..." "Earth below us, drifting falling..." -- from "Major Tom (Coming Home)", Peter Schilling, 1989

Jimmy, A cogent debate here. This august publication reports on more than just business matters and I am a subscriber myself to the Online Journal. I was initially surprised by the appearance of the article, but after reading it, it occurred to me that, if there were no willing IT people divulging these open "secrets," there would have been nothing for the reporter to write. I agree with you that perhaps the article was misguided, but these "tips" can be found on hundreds of sites via any major search engine. The means to circumvent corporate policies and procedures is out there and has been for a long time -- but it requires the will to do so.

Don't blame the WSJ, as sources of the information reported in the article came from -- IT people themselves! Now, IT admins & staff will have to deal with the aftermath.

This is especially true if you maintain a home office. They sneak up behind you on noiseless paws then pounce in your lap while coding, on the phone or live on webcam. There is no harder boss to work for than a cat -- when they want attention, they want it NOW!