6 ms·

At our workplace it is standard & strictly enforced (called out) policy to lock your screen before leaving your computer unattended. For me this has become an a

At our workplace it is standard & strictly enforced (called out) policy to lock your screen before leaving your computer unattended. For me this has become an automatic action. I think USSTRATCOM could benefit from the same policy.

eCa 6y ago
We have the same policy, but I must confess to not follow it when working from home. On the other hand, I live alone and all entrances to my home are always locked. On the third hand, having a very young child anywhere near my work computer unsupervised would be the stuff of nightmares..
- nullserver 6y ago
  They are very fast if you walk away for a second. Smashing keyboard is great fun. One of my kids new favorite thing is to sneak into office and stay hidden. Usually I notice right away, but not always.
DanBC 6y ago
Yes, but this is human factors, isn't it? Logging out and back in has friction. It's natural that people will do it [EDIT will not log out or lock when needed]. We need a lower friction method to log off and in again, or to at least lock the computer for a few minutes.
- zrail 6y ago
  On macOS I have a hot corner set to lock the screen and I use Touch ID to log back in. It’s basically seamless.
  - nullserver 6y ago
    Touch ID is disabled via corporate policy. Locking the screen would result in many minutes of reconnecting to VPNs and setting up sessions.
    - rkangel 6y ago
      Why does locking the screen disconnect you from the VPN?
      - nullserver 6y ago
        There came a point when I stopped questioning. Productivity is not a concern for many IT security managers.
DoingIsLearning 6y ago
That is the first thing I thought, if we are to trust this info then the issue that stands out is not that a toddler did it, it's why the hell wasn't it locked in the first place. I worked in far less sentitive settings, but all these IP policies pretty much engrain this in my mind. Locking before moving away from my desk is muscle memory by now.
- boomboomsubban 6y ago
  >it's why the hell wasn't it locked in the first place. A second child is my guess. Or they were still in the room but inattentive. That kind of muscle memory would trigger when you're leaving your work area, and when working from home that would probably expand to your whole office.
29athrowaway 6y ago
For years, this was the case for me under penalty of termination. Now I always lock my screen although I work from home and nobody except me has physical access to my computer.
DoubleGlazing 6y ago
My local credit union uses a USB device (IR sensor?) that detects how close to the computer the user is, if they walk away the computer automatically locks. Surprised those devices aren't in more widespread usage.
- jsmith99 6y ago
  Windows has something similar built in. It locks your pc whenever a paired Bluetooth device (eg your phone) goes out of range
  - jaywalk 6y ago
    There is nowhere I could go in my 2600 square foot house that would be far enough to cause my phone to go out of Bluetooth range of my desktop.
    - ad404b8a372f2b9 6y ago
      Man, you're lucky. My phone goes out of range seemingly randomly while I'm standing in front of the computer.
    - ryandrake 6y ago
      It probably goes by RSSI. You might not be able to get "out of range" to the point where the connection is terminated, but the desktop can (poorly) approximate distance by measuring received signal strength.
vidarh 6y ago
Assuming it's a toddler, it's not at all a given that they were far enough away that it'd have made a difference. The keystrokes in that tweet are mostly clustered relatively close together in two groups - this looks like a kid got both hands on the keyboard and hammered a couple of times. Might well have e.g. just been lifted up on their parents lap for a moment, only for the parent to get e.g. distracted by a phone call.
dmingod666 6y ago
What about the policy of yellow sticky note with the login details stuck on the laptop. I hear that's pretty trendy. See it all the time on public transport ;)
- bluGill 6y ago
  When companies demand you change your password often that is one of the few sane ways to remember your password. (The other is an incrementing number on an otherwise unchanged password). This is for initial login, once you are in you should be using a password manager, but until you type that initial password you can't get to the manager. (Never put work logins into your personal password manager!)
aspaceman 6y ago
I've always done this as well. It was policy at one finance job, and it just stuck after that. Then I had an ex-girlfriend get quite upset with me for always locking my computers when I was away from them.
- harlanji 6y ago
  Locking computers while away in a locked office is like using PRs on a high trust team. I’m not arguing against it, but it’s one of the earliest deep feelings I had about office policies. Locking the screen in a high trust environment communicates and disturbs the vibes. Should work be high trust? Plenty of people would leave my body in a dumpster for saying yes. I’d trust a co-worker before a girlfriend though (ie. Pre-marriage, non-contractial partner). I can follow policy as it relates to contractual home partners.
  - rkangel 6y ago
    > Locking computers while away in a locked office is like using PRs on a high trust team. In our office it is encouraged because we work on projects for multiple different clients. In some cases competing clients and we are required to partition the knowledge internally. Even if it isn't quite that serious we try to keep detailed information about the project inside the project team.
  - BoiledCabbage 6y ago
    > Locking computers while away in a locked office is like using PRs on a high trust team. Making sure I follow. You're saying 'trust' within your team meaning they have all good intentions and 'trust' meaning they never overlook anything or make a mistake. So as a result you don't do PRs?
chasd00 6y ago
Didn’t NASA have to create a specific policy/procedure to keep cats from controlling space craft because of all the WFH during the pandemic?
eldelshell 6y ago
If by "strictly enforced" you mean a colleague will change your lock screen background to a goatse then that's how I learned.

eCa 6y ago

We have the same policy, but I must confess to not follow it when working from home. On the other hand, I live alone and all entrances to my home are always locked. On the third hand, having a very young child anywhere near my work computer unsupervised would be the stuff of nightmares..

nullserver 6y ago
They are very fast if you walk away for a second. Smashing keyboard is great fun. One of my kids new favorite thing is to sneak into office and stay hidden. Usually I notice right away, but not always.

DanBC 6y ago

Yes, but this is human factors, isn't it? Logging out and back in has friction. It's natural that people will do it [EDIT will not log out or lock when needed]. We need a lower friction method to log off and in again, or to at least lock the computer for a few minutes.

zrail 6y ago
On macOS I have a hot corner set to lock the screen and I use Touch ID to log back in. It’s basically seamless.
- nullserver 6y ago
  Touch ID is disabled via corporate policy. Locking the screen would result in many minutes of reconnecting to VPNs and setting up sessions.
  - rkangel 6y ago
    Why does locking the screen disconnect you from the VPN?
    - nullserver 6y ago
      There came a point when I stopped questioning. Productivity is not a concern for many IT security managers.

DoingIsLearning 6y ago

That is the first thing I thought, if we are to trust this info then the issue that stands out is not that a toddler did it, it's why the hell wasn't it locked in the first place. I worked in far less sentitive settings, but all these IP policies pretty much engrain this in my mind. Locking before moving away from my desk is muscle memory by now.

boomboomsubban 6y ago
>it's why the hell wasn't it locked in the first place. A second child is my guess. Or they were still in the room but inattentive. That kind of muscle memory would trigger when you're leaving your work area, and when working from home that would probably expand to your whole office.

29athrowaway 6y ago

For years, this was the case for me under penalty of termination. Now I always lock my screen although I work from home and nobody except me has physical access to my computer.

DoubleGlazing 6y ago

My local credit union uses a USB device (IR sensor?) that detects how close to the computer the user is, if they walk away the computer automatically locks. Surprised those devices aren't in more widespread usage.

jsmith99 6y ago
Windows has something similar built in. It locks your pc whenever a paired Bluetooth device (eg your phone) goes out of range
- jaywalk 6y ago
  There is nowhere I could go in my 2600 square foot house that would be far enough to cause my phone to go out of Bluetooth range of my desktop.
  - ad404b8a372f2b9 6y ago
    Man, you're lucky. My phone goes out of range seemingly randomly while I'm standing in front of the computer.
  - ryandrake 6y ago
    It probably goes by RSSI. You might not be able to get "out of range" to the point where the connection is terminated, but the desktop can (poorly) approximate distance by measuring received signal strength.

vidarh 6y ago

Assuming it's a toddler, it's not at all a given that they were far enough away that it'd have made a difference. The keystrokes in that tweet are mostly clustered relatively close together in two groups - this looks like a kid got both hands on the keyboard and hammered a couple of times. Might well have e.g. just been lifted up on their parents lap for a moment, only for the parent to get e.g. distracted by a phone call.

dmingod666 6y ago

What about the policy of yellow sticky note with the login details stuck on the laptop. I hear that's pretty trendy. See it all the time on public transport ;)

bluGill 6y ago
When companies demand you change your password often that is one of the few sane ways to remember your password. (The other is an incrementing number on an otherwise unchanged password). This is for initial login, once you are in you should be using a password manager, but until you type that initial password you can't get to the manager. (Never put work logins into your personal password manager!)

aspaceman 6y ago

I've always done this as well. It was policy at one finance job, and it just stuck after that. Then I had an ex-girlfriend get quite upset with me for always locking my computers when I was away from them.

harlanji 6y ago
Locking computers while away in a locked office is like using PRs on a high trust team. I’m not arguing against it, but it’s one of the earliest deep feelings I had about office policies. Locking the screen in a high trust environment communicates and disturbs the vibes. Should work be high trust? Plenty of people would leave my body in a dumpster for saying yes. I’d trust a co-worker before a girlfriend though (ie. Pre-marriage, non-contractial partner). I can follow policy as it relates to contractual home partners.
- rkangel 6y ago
  > Locking computers while away in a locked office is like using PRs on a high trust team. In our office it is encouraged because we work on projects for multiple different clients. In some cases competing clients and we are required to partition the knowledge internally. Even if it isn't quite that serious we try to keep detailed information about the project inside the project team.
- BoiledCabbage 6y ago
  > Locking computers while away in a locked office is like using PRs on a high trust team. Making sure I follow. You're saying 'trust' within your team meaning they have all good intentions and 'trust' meaning they never overlook anything or make a mistake. So as a result you don't do PRs?

chasd00 6y ago

Didn’t NASA have to create a specific policy/procedure to keep cats from controlling space craft because of all the WFH during the pandemic?

eldelshell 6y ago

If by "strictly enforced" you mean a colleague will change your lock screen background to a goatse then that's how I learned.