6 ms·

That's teaching people to lock their machines on leaving the desk. Could also be a thing like redefining while with if. Just one thing should aways occur. Tel

That's teaching people to lock their machines on leaving the desk. Could also be a thing like redefining while with if. Just one thing should aways occur. Tell the people what you messed up after they got confused. Pranks should not be harmful.

black6 5y ago
There is a OPSEC fairy at work who will rotate your desktop 90 or 180 degrees or some other benign reminder that you failed to secure your workstation before leaving your desk.
- 4ggr0 5y ago
  We would send a mail from their pc to the whole team with a text along the lines of "Hey together, I will buy croissants for everyone tomorrow." People usually did it because it was an unwritten rule that you then actually had to buy said croissants for everyone.
  - gjvc 5y ago
    see, now that's more like it -- croissant supply pranks I can get behind; meddling (however slight) with tools, not so much.
    - 4ggr0 5y ago
      Well, we had both extremes, just to disclose that. The mild version was promising croissants with another mail account, but I also once came back to see that my wallpaper had been changed to a still from a gay porn movie. I think my visible confusion and slight shock was quite entertaining. Of course the second prank can only be done with co-workers you know well, otherwise you could probably end up having to talk to HR.
- coldpie 5y ago
  Secure from what? Do you have random people walking around your office?
  - kevinmchugh 5y ago
    I've worked in offices big enough that the people who worked upstairs looked were total strangers to me. Social engineering into a building is often not that hard.
- nostoc 5y ago
  For anyone who reads this and think it's funny, it is, but do this in the wrong workplace and you'll be the unemployed OPSEC fairy.
  - jtms 5y ago
    If someone is in OPSEC they generally have a broad license to actually, you know, do their job.
    - nostoc 5y ago
      The "OPSEC fairy" as referenced in previous post is typically a random coworker, so no, they generally not have a broad license do tinker with your workstation. An actual OPSEC person would not go and change your desktop's background, or send an email for free donuts to all your coworkers. An actual OPSEC person would just write you up for a security violation.
- Moodles 5y ago
  People did something similar to this at my previous job and I always thought it was security theatre. For one thing, there are card swipe in. Second, engineering was upstairs in a restricted area. So you're concerned about a tailgater who opportunistically puts malware on your laptop when you're 100 feet away for a couple minutes without anyone noticing? Or you're concerned about a colleague who's an insider threat... Who is already an insider threat? It's not like there was anything on my laptop which was more sensitive than any other engineer there anyway. It was classic busywork.
  - kevinmchugh 5y ago
    It's often easier to build a norm for everyone than just the people it really needs to apply to. Managers, salespeople, corp dev, customer representatives all might have sensitive information on their machines. Information that even other employees aren't supposed to see. Rather than trying to enumerate who those people are and teach them, you might assume everyone will eventually have sensitive information, and encourage the mild prank.
unionpivo 5y ago
The standard way, where i worked for, was to invite whole department/company (depending on size) to a beer. And we held them to it.
- mvanbaak 5y ago
  Where I worked before it was normal to send resignation mail to $manager of user.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    more modern day is to make asinine posts on whatever social platform user left open
rad_gruchalski 5y ago
> That's teaching people to lock their machines on leaving the desk. No, that’s being a dick. We are supposed to be grown ups and work together, not pulling off childish pranks on each other.
- piaste 5y ago
  Who said you're working or grown ups? It's a great prank for college students as well.
- skinkestek 5y ago
  Well, we've had a rule between grown ups at some places I worked at that whenever someone left a machine unlocked a minor prank was acceptable and even encouraged. Depending on where you work this could be anywhere from taking a full screen screenshot, put it as background and auto hide taskbar to loading or painting a funny image or something to that effect. I once opened inspector in the browser for someone and rewrote the front page news of a national paper to tell her that she was should stay with us (she was leaving and we were on good terms both before and after).
  - hnlmorg 5y ago
    Most of the places I've worked at have had a their own theme for what your desktop background should be set at. One place it was Justin Bieber. Another it was a footballer. It was never anything offensive but still generated a laugh whenever anyone came back and realised they'd been "beibered".
    - lalaithion 5y ago
      I've had my personal computer's background be this picture for about 5 years now, since I forgot to lock it once, and just haven't bothered to change it https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fpics%2Fcomments%2Fd79p45%2Fdid_you_know_that_this_is_bill_gates_sexy_pose%2F&psig=AOvVaw3vxSDu91ncqlG0frbUraqW&ust=1641663450226000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCJCh0oiXoPUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAP https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit...

black6 5y ago

There is a OPSEC fairy at work who will rotate your desktop 90 or 180 degrees or some other benign reminder that you failed to secure your workstation before leaving your desk.

4ggr0 5y ago
We would send a mail from their pc to the whole team with a text along the lines of "Hey together, I will buy croissants for everyone tomorrow." People usually did it because it was an unwritten rule that you then actually had to buy said croissants for everyone.
- gjvc 5y ago
  see, now that's more like it -- croissant supply pranks I can get behind; meddling (however slight) with tools, not so much.
  - 4ggr0 5y ago
    Well, we had both extremes, just to disclose that. The mild version was promising croissants with another mail account, but I also once came back to see that my wallpaper had been changed to a still from a gay porn movie. I think my visible confusion and slight shock was quite entertaining. Of course the second prank can only be done with co-workers you know well, otherwise you could probably end up having to talk to HR.
coldpie 5y ago
Secure from what? Do you have random people walking around your office?
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  I've worked in offices big enough that the people who worked upstairs looked were total strangers to me. Social engineering into a building is often not that hard.
nostoc 5y ago
For anyone who reads this and think it's funny, it is, but do this in the wrong workplace and you'll be the unemployed OPSEC fairy.
- jtms 5y ago
  If someone is in OPSEC they generally have a broad license to actually, you know, do their job.
  - nostoc 5y ago
    The "OPSEC fairy" as referenced in previous post is typically a random coworker, so no, they generally not have a broad license do tinker with your workstation. An actual OPSEC person would not go and change your desktop's background, or send an email for free donuts to all your coworkers. An actual OPSEC person would just write you up for a security violation.
Moodles 5y ago
People did something similar to this at my previous job and I always thought it was security theatre. For one thing, there are card swipe in. Second, engineering was upstairs in a restricted area. So you're concerned about a tailgater who opportunistically puts malware on your laptop when you're 100 feet away for a couple minutes without anyone noticing? Or you're concerned about a colleague who's an insider threat... Who is already an insider threat? It's not like there was anything on my laptop which was more sensitive than any other engineer there anyway. It was classic busywork.
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  It's often easier to build a norm for everyone than just the people it really needs to apply to. Managers, salespeople, corp dev, customer representatives all might have sensitive information on their machines. Information that even other employees aren't supposed to see. Rather than trying to enumerate who those people are and teach them, you might assume everyone will eventually have sensitive information, and encourage the mild prank.

unionpivo 5y ago

The standard way, where i worked for, was to invite whole department/company (depending on size) to a beer. And we held them to it.

mvanbaak 5y ago
Where I worked before it was normal to send resignation mail to $manager of user.
- dylan604 5y ago
  more modern day is to make asinine posts on whatever social platform user left open

rad_gruchalski 5y ago

> That's teaching people to lock their machines on leaving the desk. No, that’s being a dick. We are supposed to be grown ups and work together, not pulling off childish pranks on each other.

piaste 5y ago
Who said you're working or grown ups? It's a great prank for college students as well.
skinkestek 5y ago
Well, we've had a rule between grown ups at some places I worked at that whenever someone left a machine unlocked a minor prank was acceptable and even encouraged. Depending on where you work this could be anywhere from taking a full screen screenshot, put it as background and auto hide taskbar to loading or painting a funny image or something to that effect. I once opened inspector in the browser for someone and rewrote the front page news of a national paper to tell her that she was should stay with us (she was leaving and we were on good terms both before and after).
- hnlmorg 5y ago
  Most of the places I've worked at have had a their own theme for what your desktop background should be set at. One place it was Justin Bieber. Another it was a footballer. It was never anything offensive but still generated a laugh whenever anyone came back and realised they'd been "beibered".
  - lalaithion 5y ago
    I've had my personal computer's background be this picture for about 5 years now, since I forgot to lock it once, and just haven't bothered to change it https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fpics%2Fcomments%2Fd79p45%2Fdid_you_know_that_this_is_bill_gates_sexy_pose%2F&psig=AOvVaw3vxSDu91ncqlG0frbUraqW&ust=1641663450226000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCJCh0oiXoPUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAP https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit...