Security? We've heard of it: How Microsoft plans to better defend Windows The sound of cyber security professionals spraying their screens with coffee could be heard this week as Microsoft claimed, "security is our top priority," as it talked up its Secure Future Initiative (SFI) once again and explained how Windows could be secured. In a post that did not mention the word "CrowdStrike" and instead …
There used to be a Syantec product called GoBack, that could rewind your system to a certain point in time.
MS copied it and used to let you to boot up to previous restore points, a "last known good" scenario.
I guess neither of these is still around? I tend not to use Windows much anymore.
Live patching hallelujah (whoo)
Live patching hallelujah (whoo)
Live patching hallelujah (whoo)
‘Cause Uptime Funk gon’ give it to ya
‘Cause Uptime Funk gon’ give it to ya
‘Cause Uptime Funk gon’ give it to ya
Saturday night and servers alright
Don’t reboot it just patch (come on)
Don’t reboot it just patch
Don’t reboot it just patch
Don’t reboot it just patch
Don’t reboot it just patch
Don’t reboot it just patch
Hey, hey, hey, oh
Where have I heard that one before?*
I do wonder how many 'top priorities' there are, and how swiftly they get replaced by the one next in line. Time was when having an empowered workforce was a 'top priority', oh, and 'safety is our top priority' is another one I recall from a while ago. Then, of course 'Customers are our top priority' usually comes around after a data breach.
It would be really nice if some company actually admitted that there are lots of essential things they should be doing, like: security, safety, honesty, anti-bullying, anti-sexual harassment, anti-bribery, equality, (add to the list as you wish), and that they all matter. But I'll not be holding my breath.
*Rhetorical question, no answer required.
The extra spit-take thing about this is that their crazy-ass AI push REQUIRES security to be tossed out the window, bathwater, baby, the entire damn tub. 'Empowered workforce' is just an eyerolling 'uh huh', but MS going 'security is our top priority' is the guy who rents machine guns to Florida Man saying 'gun safety is our top priority'.
If security is a top priority and SFI is more than a marketing gag i'd have expected some design documents for public review before 34k engineers start on the implementation.
Oh, i forgot Micros~1 is the industry leader and knows security by obscurity is best practice. /s
In a previous job I was asked to do 10 x projects by a given department within a year and told them that it would only be possible to do three of them in that timeframe given resources available and other constraints.
I asked them to prioritise them from 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest priority. List comes back with them all marked as 10. I return the list with them all marked as 1. "You can't do that, they're all equally high priority" was the blustery response. My retort was, if they're all of an equal "priority" then 1 is as meaningful as 10. I asked for them to try again, they refused and I arbitrarily decided to do the three that made most sense to me.
The real test of any manager is how they react to being told by an underling that they are wrong about something important. (Note: it can often be beneficial to your personal health and career prospects if the first person to find out is someone else.)*
I have had managers who were really not very, sympathetic, to being informed of their mistakes. Strangely, the ones I could trust rarely needed telling.**
*Not very friendly, but practical. Of course, being a kind manager may not be compatible with experimenting on your co-workers.
**Hmm maybe there is an actual correlation here, someone could do a Business Studies Ph.D. on not being a complete gobsh*te of a manager and correlating that with productivity.
I had a manager who used to be in Tech sales, and used to go to customers for work engagements on Windows. I said we had a problem on the mainframe and described it in one sentence. He said "tell me more, as I have a technical background" so I did. He was lost on the second sentence, as he didn't know about the mainframe hardware environment. He thought I was being deliberately obtuse, so later he asked my colleague, who gave an even more complex response. From then on I was doomed because I had shown him how little he actually knew, and he never asked me again.
My next boss was great. She trusted us to get on with things, and would ask for a 1 sentence description of a problem so she could tell her boss about if needed. I would pop my head round her door and say "You need to know there is a problem at customer xxxx. We are working on it, I'll give you an update before your meeting with your boss". She said this was great - if her boss asked her she could say "we know about it - we are working on it"
A good manager would prioritise the list themselves before giving it to you to give back.
Years ago, my employer went through a big priority refresh, asking all our "customers" to list their priorities. Some did it properly. Others, realising their priorities would be set against others, just returned their wish list with everything set to top priority.
I do wonder how many 'top priorities' there are, and how swiftly they get replaced by the one next in line.
This is Microsoft whose slogan a few years ago was "Mobile first, cloud first".
Showing they are as unaware of the meaning of the word 'first' as they are of the word 'security'.
I'm certain I read somewhere int he MS Developer documentation years back that you weren't suppose to put any apps in %appdata%, yet it is allowed, and several MS apps do it by default. I suppose the advantage of doing it this way is that the user can install their own apps without needed admin rights, but how many apps truly need installing? Things like config files and registry entries CAN be created by the apps themselves on first run. Make the app portable, that way the user can run it from whereever they want, and can create any icons they want.
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