6 ms·

What I find curious in this article is that they gloss over that this is also a people management problem. Sure you can put restrictive policies in place but ap

by daenney 10y ago

What I find curious in this article is that they gloss over that this is also a people management problem. Sure you can put restrictive policies in place but apparently things went down at Citibank that caused so much ire for the person in question to take action like that. I like to think that even though people see sysadmins are grumpy rage-machines in a basement most are super-decent people caring deeply for the systems under their control. Perhaps I've got a too rosy view of my fellow engineers. I'd be very curious to hear what went on there on the people side of things. What led to this person feeling so angry that they would take an action like this. I'm also curious how it could even get so far. I have the benefit of being able to regularly talk to my manager so even if we did performance reviews in that way they wouldn't come as a surprise.

reitoei 10y ago
> What led to this person feeling so angry that they would take an action like this I'd be interested to hear it too, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter one iota.
- consp 10y ago
  I disagree: If the employee is committed to his/her job and (ab)used by 'upper management', it is likely they reflect that on their job, up to the point of abuse. A healthy work environment is as needed as compartmentalization and other schemes to manage abuse. We do not know the extend and circumstances of the employee and his/her related story and the story of the company, so no judgement on that.
- havetocharge 10y ago
  If it does not matter, why are you interested?
  - knodi123 10y ago
    who wouldn't be? humans love drama.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
chatmasta 10y ago
People have different reactions to bad news, especially life altering news like "you're about to be fired." These reactions stem from personality differences that form early in development and throughout life. Someone could be a great team member, love their peers, and still react badly to the news they might be fired soon. I don't think any amount of "people management" can fix someone who is already a bad egg, "configured" to react poorly to bad news. Some people will be out for revenge no matter what. The more important thing to analyze here might be the technical measures in place to respond to configuration files being wiped out. Sure, an "insider" could maliciously wipe out the files... but couldn't a technical glitch just as easily do the same? The important lesson from this should be including adequate detection measures to immediately know when configuration files have been changed outside of the normal build process, and the ability to rollback when changes are detected. One person should not be able to do any more damage than a technical glitch.
- mfoy_ 10y ago
  With organizations like banks and such, usually all your logins stop working just as security shows up and escorts you out... that's how you find out you've been fired. If he left his review thinking "they're going to fire me" then there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line. There's a reason employers don't say "We're firing you at the end of the week... so uh... play nice until then, k?"
  - kpil 10y ago
    They do actually, in many places. At least if you are 'rightsized' and not fired for misconduct.
alt2319 10y ago
> I'd be very curious to hear what went on there on the people side of things. It's important to study that in these cases. I was convicted in a similar case and am actually a chapter in a CERT book, but they never reached out to me for my input, so they're completely oblivious to my motives and missing key facts about the case. I'd write more about it or speak at conferences but I've been able to bury that past and move on. Maybe some day. I think he had a similar case to mine where he felt he was stuck in a situation with his manager(s) and felt like he had no recourse. HR should be involved in employee reviews and should provide a way for the employee to give feedback on his own review. Another aspect of it is education about the law. I see case after case where the defendant had no idea he could face federal charges at all, much less one that can result in such stiff penalties. (The penalties he was facing were much, much worse if he had been tried and convicted rather than taking this plea deal.) That could easily be part of any degree program and/or employee orientation.
- mfoy_ 10y ago
  Don't leave us hanging; I'm really curious to hear what your side of the story was now!
- jakobegger 10y ago
  I'd love to hear your story.
- ElijahLynn 10y ago
  You should let it out someday and share it with the community!
- lsllc 10y ago
  There's also the Terry Childs story: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2653004/misadventures/why-san-francisco-s-network-admin-went-rogue.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/2653004/misadventures/why-s...
- pc86 10y ago
  > I think he had a similar case to mine where he felt he was stuck in a situation with his manager(s) and felt like he had no recourse. Still no excuse to take down 90% of a company's connectivity.
pdpi 10y ago
If you follow the link to the justice department website, you'll see that the guy saw himself as a martyr. "They was firing me. I just beat them to it. Nothing personal, the upper management need to see what they guys on the floor is capable of doing when they keep getting mistreated. I took one for the team. Sorry if I made my peers look bad, but sometimes it take something like what I did to wake the upper management up.”
- tedunangst 10y ago
  Yeah, I bet everyone left was super angry at management...
  - brazzledazzle 10y ago
    Especially when management introduces several layers of bureaucracy in an attempt to prevent it in the future.
- daenney 10y ago
  I did read that part, it's even quoted in the article posted. However, you don't go from happy trotting elf in candy rainbow land to martyr by the flip of a switch (at least not that I know of). So regardless I'd still want to understand what contributed to creating an environment that caused someone to retaliate like this.

by daenney 10y ago

reitoei 10y ago

> What led to this person feeling so angry that they would take an action like this I'd be interested to hear it too, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter one iota.

consp 10y ago
I disagree: If the employee is committed to his/her job and (ab)used by 'upper management', it is likely they reflect that on their job, up to the point of abuse. A healthy work environment is as needed as compartmentalization and other schemes to manage abuse. We do not know the extend and circumstances of the employee and his/her related story and the story of the company, so no judgement on that.
havetocharge 10y ago
If it does not matter, why are you interested?
- knodi123 10y ago
  who wouldn't be? humans love drama.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

chatmasta 10y ago

People have different reactions to bad news, especially life altering news like "you're about to be fired." These reactions stem from personality differences that form early in development and throughout life. Someone could be a great team member, love their peers, and still react badly to the news they might be fired soon. I don't think any amount of "people management" can fix someone who is already a bad egg, "configured" to react poorly to bad news. Some people will be out for revenge no matter what. The more important thing to analyze here might be the technical measures in place to respond to configuration files being wiped out. Sure, an "insider" could maliciously wipe out the files... but couldn't a technical glitch just as easily do the same? The important lesson from this should be including adequate detection measures to immediately know when configuration files have been changed outside of the normal build process, and the ability to rollback when changes are detected. One person should not be able to do any more damage than a technical glitch.

mfoy_ 10y ago
With organizations like banks and such, usually all your logins stop working just as security shows up and escorts you out... that's how you find out you've been fired. If he left his review thinking "they're going to fire me" then there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line. There's a reason employers don't say "We're firing you at the end of the week... so uh... play nice until then, k?"
- kpil 10y ago
  They do actually, in many places. At least if you are 'rightsized' and not fired for misconduct.

alt2319 10y ago

> I'd be very curious to hear what went on there on the people side of things. It's important to study that in these cases. I was convicted in a similar case and am actually a chapter in a CERT book, but they never reached out to me for my input, so they're completely oblivious to my motives and missing key facts about the case. I'd write more about it or speak at conferences but I've been able to bury that past and move on. Maybe some day. I think he had a similar case to mine where he felt he was stuck in a situation with his manager(s) and felt like he had no recourse. HR should be involved in employee reviews and should provide a way for the employee to give feedback on his own review. Another aspect of it is education about the law. I see case after case where the defendant had no idea he could face federal charges at all, much less one that can result in such stiff penalties. (The penalties he was facing were much, much worse if he had been tried and convicted rather than taking this plea deal.) That could easily be part of any degree program and/or employee orientation.

mfoy_ 10y ago
Don't leave us hanging; I'm really curious to hear what your side of the story was now!
jakobegger 10y ago
I'd love to hear your story.
ElijahLynn 10y ago
You should let it out someday and share it with the community!
lsllc 10y ago
There's also the Terry Childs story: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2653004/misadventures/why-san-francisco-s-network-admin-went-rogue.html http://www.infoworld.com/article/2653004/misadventures/why-s...
pc86 10y ago
> I think he had a similar case to mine where he felt he was stuck in a situation with his manager(s) and felt like he had no recourse. Still no excuse to take down 90% of a company's connectivity.

pdpi 10y ago

If you follow the link to the justice department website, you'll see that the guy saw himself as a martyr. "They was firing me. I just beat them to it. Nothing personal, the upper management need to see what they guys on the floor is capable of doing when they keep getting mistreated. I took one for the team. Sorry if I made my peers look bad, but sometimes it take something like what I did to wake the upper management up.”

tedunangst 10y ago
Yeah, I bet everyone left was super angry at management...
- brazzledazzle 10y ago
  Especially when management introduces several layers of bureaucracy in an attempt to prevent it in the future.
daenney 10y ago
I did read that part, it's even quoted in the article posted. However, you don't go from happy trotting elf in candy rainbow land to martyr by the flip of a switch (at least not that I know of). So regardless I'd still want to understand what contributed to creating an environment that caused someone to retaliate like this.