Posts by Stuart Castle

Scammers are deepfaking voices of senior US government officials, warns FBI

This has been going on a while. I saw a scambaiting video a year or so back where the scamer had a very convincing Joe Biden voice and was selling some bitcoin.

Also, the other week, on Youtube, I saw a surprsingly convincing of Kier Starmer walking around a garden, talking to the camera telling me that the UK government recommended I buy some sort of meme coin.

It was obviously fake, because I'm fairly certain the PM isn't allowed to endorse any particular product or service, and no one high up in politics would ever have anything to do with something that could be a scam.

Oh, wait.. Trump has a memecoin. In fairness, that doesn't seem to be a scam. You do get what you pay for, if you pay enough. Time with the President. Now, whether that is legally or morrally right is another matter.

You think ransomware is bad now? Wait until it infects CPUs

Re: Pay us money to unlock the other CPUs and memory.

In theory you could, but there is the issue of cost. CPUs cost hundreds, and in the case of higher end ones, thousands of pounds. There is also the problem of finding it. In even a small or medium size datacenter, you may have several machines with multiple CPUs. In a large datacenter, you may have hundreds or thousands of machines with multiple CPUs. How do you find which is affected when any tools you have for detecting viruses would need to run on the infected CPU, so would likely produce incorrect results.

Unending ransomware attacks are a symptom, not the sickness

Re: What "massive disruption" did Harrods experience?

I think the form of the disruption they experienced is largely irrelevant. Hackers gained access to internal systems, and could have done enough damage to bring Harrods (or any company) to it's knees, They could have hacked names and address, what has been ordered, card details. They could have shut down the tills in the stores, and the website. There is also the reputational damage. If people think going to Harrods might cause their card details to be stolen, and ultimately lose them potentially a lot of money, they might be less inclined to go to Harrods.

IT security, done properly, is expensive, and doesn't produce an easily quantifiable benefit (after all, if it's working, you just won't see a difference), but companies need to remember that computers are likely the heart of their business. If they are hacked, it can easily take out the company.

Microsoft boots 3% of staff in latest cull, middle managers first in line

This is a radical idea, I know, but if we (as a race) carry on cutting jobs, are we not going to get to a point where we cannot sustain ourselves economically?

Those 3% of staff Microsoft have cut will all purchase things in their local towns. The people that supply them also have employees, who will also spend money on the local area. That will reduce.

Yes, the money saved will go somewhere. Probably those who are already wealthy in returns on their various investments, but those who are wealthy generally have everything they need, so an extra few million won't make any difference to what they spend. That money will likely sit in accounts, doing nothing for any local economy.

SImilarly, the AI, or other technology Microsoft replace them with will not contribute nearly as much to the economy as thousands of people.

I hate to say this, because I think it will make people think I am some sort of looney left winger or socialist (I am neither), but I think Capitalism has failed in it's current form because it has enabled a few people to horde the bulk of the world's money.

So your [expletive] test failed. So [obscene participle] what?

Re: Been there, done that...

I've dealt with something similar. I was working in a computer lab, and was called to a student workstation because they were trying to use a system we'd set up so they could manage their own accounts on the uni's database server . The student, when he logged in, got the error "Get Back Thickyhead". Feeling rather offended, he came and got me. I apologised for the error, and explained that it didn't mean anything personal. It was just an in-joke within the team. I forget where it came from, or why we did it, but we often jokingly used it amongst the team. I couldn't see why the system was failing, so logged directly on to the admin console and performed the actions the student wanted.

Thankfully, the student was quite happy when I'd finished, and did not put in a complaint.

I went to my colleague, who maintained the system. He explained that it was actually a piece of code that would normally require about 7 things to fail before it was triggered, so the student should not have seen it. Thankfully, he updated the message to say something a little more helpful and less offensive, and also fixed the errors.

India ready to greenlight Starlink – as long as it lets New Delhi censor, snoop

He should, but he won't. Despite claiming to be, he appears not to be a free speech absolutist. He often says that if you advocate for free speech, you have to be prepared to hear or read things you don't like. This is correct. However, people who post things on X that Musk doesn't like, tend to disappear. Not banned, but their posts lose visibility. This is subtle, but it is censorship none the less.

It should be noted, however, that when he promised free speech on his services, he did not promise totally free speech. He promised free speech subject to local laws and other government requirements. He did actually say it would be subject to local laws.

Developer wrote a critical app and forgot where it ran – until it stopped running

Re: No Lifecycle Upgrades

Whenever re-install either my work computer or my home computer, I ensure any configs and data that need to be kept are backed up, but when I re-install, I re-install all software from scratch, restoring the backups when I finish.

I also install any software as and when I need it, because my needs change from time to time, so I don't have a massive list of software I install when I re-install the OS.

Windows profanity filter finally gets a ******* off switch

Re: I am reminded of Eudora

I have to admit, I don't remember Eudora having problems with IMAP. That said, I didn't use it for long. IIRC, I switched to Thunderbird fairly quickly, so it's possible I just didn't use it for long enough to encourter problems.

Nationwide power outages knock Spain, Portugal offline

Re: Good old radio

Re". iPhone users were certainly lost.

Not sure why you highlight iPhone users. All smartphones get through batteries quickly, and even if they didn't, the various mobile networks would not have lasted that long without electricity, so it's likely any mobile phone without satellite facilities was useless.

Musk's DOGE muzzled on X over tape storage baloney

Re: Only $1M?

I’m not normally a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else wonder if at least part of the reason is vulnerability to hackers. Tapes in a warehouse tend to be relatively difficult to access because someone may actually have to go there and I would hope they have serious physical security protecting them. Putting them in some sort of cloud storage would make them accessible to hackers and much easier for Russia, China or any other foreign state to access.

I can see why DOGE might quite like that.

Microsoft ducks politico questions on Copilot bundling and lack of consent

'Here is a radical idea..

How about a company offer a piece of software with a basic set of features that is entirely functional offline. They can offer it with maybe a year or two of security updates, but any development would be financed by charging a reasonable purchase price tor thr software.

They can offer optional services that can either paid for, or ad supported, but they should be opt in, with clear explanations of what you will be required to do or allow. IE how much you pay, howoften, or what personal data is shared and with who. You can have AI, office suites and other online features, and these can be paid for or free. I'd like to see any paid option disabling any tracking..

Radical idea, I know.

Note: I know that Linux has being doing this for years and is a good OS, with plenty of powerful open source software, but sometimes you need a particular commercial application.

Don't want Copilot app on your Windows 11 machine? Install this official update

I'm in two minds about AI.

On the one hand, consumer AI doesn't have a killer app. I find it handy when using my phone to use Siri to conrol the phone, and I like the fact I can use it to control some of my lights at home. But, beyond conveniance, I don't really see the use of it.

But, while I am happy to use it on either decidcated devices, or a mobile, I don't like it on computers (not even the Siri integration on macOS). Why? Because a lot of people do stuff on their computers they wouldn't necessarily want scraped into some LLM hosted in the cloud somehwere.

Microsoft seem to assume you want Copilot to scrape everything you do by default. By all means, they can offer this, but it should be opt in, with them giving an explantion of what data will be shared if you do. But the default should be that you are opted out.

Apple do ask if you want voice control for Siri as part of the OS setup, but IIRC it isn't the default. However, even they don't explain what data will be shared if you turn it on..

Apple has locked me in the same monopolistic cage Microsoft's built for Windows 10 users

Re: If you want a general purpose computer ...

RE: "I think for most people it's what they feel familiar with"

It is, and you'd be surprised how many people go for what they are familiar with even if told otherwise..

An example. A few years ago, I was providing on site AV support for a major conference on evacuation (which was every bit as boring as it sounds), and one thing they said stuck with me. No matter how clearly you signpost the emergency exits, most people when evacuating, will try and get out the way they came in..

Unless given a vert good reason to change, a lot of people will stick with what they know.

Of course, another potential cause of reluctance to change is vendor lock in. If a user has spent a significant amount of money on apps or proprietary add ons for their device, they may be relucatant to change as they feel they will be abandoning those apps and add ons..

Glitchy taxi tech blew cover on steamy dispatch dalliance

Re: NSFW iMessage videos

Sort of related, but not really.

When I first started Uni, back in 94, the web wasn't really a thing, and two of our lecturers taught us web design. Just basic HTML, as browsers weren't really capable of much more at the time. Both had us explore their own websites as an example of what could be donw.

One had a sound file (a low quality recording of Smells Like Teen Spirit) on his site. I discovered both this, and the fact that the Sun workstation I was using had quite a powerful speaker when I accidentally double clicked on the link while he was giving a lecture, which got a dirty look from him.

The trend at the time was for people to have a page on their site showing their bookmarks (I suppose with search engines not really being a thing yet, it was one way to help people navigate around the web). The other lecturer teaching us web design had some links to sites that were not what you'd call hard core porn (or even particularly soft core) but did contain a lot of photos of scantily clad ladies..

$16B health dept managed finances with single Excel spreadsheet. It hasn’t gone well

Reminds me of a story my old Computing lecturer used to tell from a time she was a Systems Analyst.

She was part of a team that, during the 80s, implemented a huge new computer system for Southwark Council. I *think* it was for Housing, but don't quote me on that. Her team spent months designing the system, and further months implementing and installing it.

A year or so after the go live date, she was passing and popped into one of the offices to see how the system was going. She didn't see a sign of the terminal they had installed so the staff could access the new system, so she asked the staff about it. Apparently, the terminal was being used. As a door stop.

Eight days later, Microsoft Outlook users still struggle on iOS devices

We have to use Outlook at work. Our Sys Admins have gone out of their way to block access to our work exchange 365 service by everything apart from Outlook.

Thankfully, I primarily use it on my work Mac or Laptop, and not my phone or iPad..

They used to support connection using the native apps on iOS and Android phones. This worked brilliantly on my iPhone. If I ever needed to set up my iPhone again, I just entered my account details once on my phone, and the accounts were available in every app I needed them, both on my phone and Apple watch (I have my Apple watch face displaying details of upcoming meetings and reminders).

I've got the Outlook app on my phone and it while it can show meetings on my watch, if I ever set up with watch or phone, installing and setting up Outlook is another step I need to do. Seems picky, I know. Especially as I don't generally set either device up again. They just work. But it does not integrate as well as I feel it should.

Cheap 'n' simple sign trickery will bamboozle self-driving cars, fresh research claims

Re: "last week^h^h^h^h decade it was a 60"

I live in a cul-de-sac. You can get into my road from both ends as a pedestrian, but any vehicles can one use one end of the road.

Until last year, whatever GPS/Mapping app I used would not direct anyone via the end of the road that is pedestrian only even if asking for pedestrian directions.

There is main road running by the end of the road. Most Satnavs would not direct anyone to go past my road at this end, tending to take a longer route to avoid a bit of road that according to the various mapping companies does not exist.

Also, down the road, the residents of a few streets have put up official looking signs advising Truck drivers to ignore their GPSs and turn back.

This is what concerns me about self driving systems. They can be excellent at navigating, but if they have out of date maps, they may well have problems. At the moment, you, as a driver, can take over, but how long will that last?

It begins: Pentagon to give AI agents a role in decision making, ops planning

I know a lot of people consider it an awful film, but did none of the Pentagon advisors and staff watch Terminiator 3? This is how Skynet started..

Maybe cancel that ChatGPT therapy session – doesn't respond well to tales of trauma

Re "The team freely admits in their paper that they know LLMs aren't capable of experiencing emotions in a human way."

What the LLM is likely expressing is how other humans reacted to a given situation, which is stored in it's dataset.

Apple drags UK government to court over 'backdoor' order

Re: Put up or shut up

Re "Apple simply can’t remotely disable it and somehow decrypt the existing encrypted backups."

I am certain I read that Apple have said that for users who leave ADP on, Apple will eventually turn it off and delete all encrypted backups..

How the collapse of local cloud provider caused biz continuity issues in UK government

Unfortunately, they can't ban Fujitsu. While they *should*, for Horizon, the problem is, the Government likely has a lot of elderly mainframes that were built by companies that are now part of Fujitsu, so they need Fujitsu for support.

Under Trump 2.0, Europe's dependence on US clouds back under the spotlight

This is the problem with the cloud. You are using someone else's computer. They (and to some extent their governemt) have control over it. You have some, but if they decide to block your access, you can't do an awful lot. If they turn it off for any reason, you can't do a lot.

This was bad enough before Trump, I don't trust Trump to not just add access charges or block every company in the UK because Kier Starmer has pissed him off..

Guess who left a database wide open, exposing chat logs, API keys, and more? Yup, DeepSeek

Re: All Live Operational Virtual Environment Systems are Go.

amanfrommars has been on The Register since the early 2000s. Their messages never make sense..

WFH with privacy? 85% of Brit bosses snoop on staff

Re: Idle hands - but whose?

It's not a case of watching their staff.. All they need is a spreadsheet listing users, and how many keystrokes/mouse movements they made. Or their "Productivity scores' if they were using teams during the period that was available. Even if you had hundreds of team members, it wouldn't take long to go through that.

Of course, that doesn't take into account that some tasks take longer than others, and anyone whos job involves long tasks will show up as less productive using measures like the ones I've listed above..

For instance, I was doing remote support during covid. I was basicaly 2nd line support, and it wasn't unheard of for me to spend a couple of hours on one task, where as the 1st liners were solving the simple problems (resetting passwords, restarting machines etc). So, of course they handled many times the amount of tickets my team did, and would show up as more productive on any sheet..

Teams used to show me as both available and away from my desk even if I was sitting at the desk typing something into Teams... Took a 45 minutes phone call to our systems team to sort the problem..

Trump nukes 60 years of anti-discrimination rules for federal contractors

Re: He's just shotgunning

I do not live in the US, but I am appalled at the apparent lack of standards in the US Supreme Court.

I'm a purchaser for my company, and as a thank you for an order, a network supplier sent me a a branded orange hi viz jacket, a branded orange ball point and an orange packet of sweets.. Probably about £40 worth of stuff. When I declared this, I was warned I should not have accepted it (I didn't, technically, it was left on my desk by a porter). These guys can apparently get away with recieving millions of dollars of of gifts, seemingly with no consequence, and not even a real emphasis on declaring the gifts..

They've only gone and made Doom run in a PDF file

Re: How much ink?

Not sure what model it was, but we used to have a large Agfa printer that took up a sizeable percentage of the available space in the room it was in. It printed out somewhere in the range of several thousand pages a minute , and it earned it's nickname, Fiery.

TBH, I'm not really sure of the specs either, as I had nothing to do with the printer, but it was bloody fast.

Next-gen Wi-Fi to trade ludicrous speed for the boring art of actually working

Re: cost

I'd quite like some reliablity.. I have an Orbi Wifi 6 system, and my mobile devices don't necessarily connect to the nearest, and often fastest Wifi AP.. The other day, I was in my living room, and my streaming box was giving terrible performance (buffering every 20 seconds). When I ran a speed test on my mobile Wifi, it gave terrible speeds.. Looking at the admin website for the Orbis, both devices had connected to an access point in the next room, when the main Orbi router was sitting on a table in the same room. Rebooted the AP in the other room, forcing everything to disconnect, and the speed was fine.

Microsoft coughs up yet more Windows 11 24H2 headaches

From my own point of view, for curosity's sake as much as anything, I'd like to find out from Windows Update why it is blocking my 24h2 on my machine..

Broadcom loses another big VMware customer: UK fintech cloud Beeks Group, and most of its 20,000 VMs

It's a good idea in theory to introduce an abstraction layer. After all, it makes it potentially much more simple to switch providers, but how much latency is introdoced? It may only be a millisecond or two, but if your application makes a lot of API calls, that could introduce significant latency. If the system is in any way time sensitive, even a millisecond or two could be a significant problem.

Claims of 'open' AIs are often open lies, research argues

In fairness, while some large enterprises do contribute as required to open source, a lot do just take from it, or even use it as a marketing opportunity (as most AI startups seem to).

Microsoft slaps Windows 11 update hold on hardware connected to eSCL devices

At this point, is there anything you can have installed on Windows that doesn't block the upgrade? We have this, Ubisoft games, various drivers.. What else?

Another 'major cyber incident' at a UK hospital, outpatients asked to stay away

Back in the 90s, I worked in our local hospitall. It was a 600 bed hospital spread over several buildings in a site that occupied a huge area. I don't know how many staff they had, but it was a lot, and most staff had at least one computer in their dept. As it was the early 90s, computers were nowhere near as rife as they are now, but they still had a lot of computers, potentially hundreds.

Although my job was invoice processing rather than anything specifically IT related, I ended up doing support on a voluntary basis because our IT staff consisted of 3 people...

Microsoft reboots Windows Recall, but users wish they could forget

I think at the moment, Microsoft (and the hardware manufactuers) is furiously trying to create a market for consumer AI that, TBH, will probably not exist for a long time, if ever. The problem is, the personal computer reached the point where it can fullfill all the average person's needs with no expansion in about the year 2004, and possibly the mid 90s.

OK, so a 2004 PC would not meet the needs of a power user or gamer, but ingoring the security concerns involved in running a 20 year old OS and software on the Internet, the average user probably would be able to work on that 2004 PC.

Gamers and other power users still do need more power than the average punter, but often even they won't really see much of an advantage in the new PC.

Now, Covid did cause a lot of companies to invest heavily in laptops so their workers could work from him, but they probaly won't be looking to upgrade for a while, so the manufacturers need something to use to sell us new PCs.. They've decided it's AI...

I don't see the need for AI in current consumer versions of windows. I certainly don't see the need for Recall, and, TBH, even if it is considered "secure" now, I still don't think it is secure because it is still storing potentially sensitive data on the drive in a format that while it may be considered secure, probably isn't, as that security will be broken. I don't like my OS potentially keylogging me.

(f Microsot insist on making Recall a feature, it needs to be opt in, and they need to make clear that it will store and process potentially sensitive data.

Security? We've heard of it: How Microsoft plans to better defend Windows

Re: Stop apps in %appdata%

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.

Bluesky too opaque about user figures for Euro watchdogs

They store data on eu citizens. Therefore, they are bound by eu regulations whether the have a company in the eu or not.

Musk agrees with fan that worries over orbital Starlink traffic a 'silly narrative'

Re: Elmo doesn't care...

Re. "Move to the operational orbit and de-orbit before the satellite runs out of propellant".

How will Starlink deal with the debris if someone else's satellite is stationed in the same orbit, is damaged, explodes and destroys some of their satellites? Satellites that are now debris? How would they cope if some of their satellites were destroyed by meteorites, leaving debris that destroyed other satellites in the same orbit? They likely wouldn't be able to control the debris remotely, and get it to de-orbit, and a large debris field may make it difficult to launch rockets from the earth.

Undergrad thought he had mastered Unix in weeks. Then he discovered rm -rf

A friend of mine used to do tech support for a small budget software company who did cheaply made games for a couple of quid a go. Bit like Mastertronic, but much smalller budgets. In fact, they did a football game whose main advertised feature was digitised sound (in fairness, this was a big thing in the late 80s/early 90s). Their digitised sound was the MD and his PA standing at one end of the office, and yelling various cries, including "Palace" into a Mic that was set up at the other end of the office, Bit of a bummer if neither of the teams playing on screen was Crystal Palace, but the cries were picked randomly, so that did happen.

One day, my friend got a panicked call from the PA saying the MD's machine had stopped working. When he got there, DOS was working fine, but Windows wouldn't start (it couldn't find win.com). When my friend looked, the Windows folder had vanished.

It turns out that in an attempt to keep his computer tidy, the MD kept all the Windows applications in the Windows folder.

He either didn't consider that Windows would need a lot of system files, or thought Windows would protect them. Windows 3.1 offered NO protection of any sort, so when he dutifully went through the Windows directory deleting all files and sub directories in DOS, he was able to do so relatively easily. He was just a bit surprised when Windows failed to start and was actually quite angry when my friend had to re-install Windows and every application on it.. Not an easy or quick job when everything was on floppies. Yes, they were cheap enough they had individual PCs, so didn't have a nice file server somewhere hosting all this stuff.

Microsoft 'resolves' and 'mitigates' Windows Server 2025 update whoopsie

Has MS been offering Windows Server upgrades as "Feature Packs" before? I've mucked around with every version of Windows Server since Windows NT, and it's not something I recall seeing.

I actually like Feature packs from a user point of view. It helps ensure us users are on the latest OS, subject to whatever teasting regime is in place at our employers.

On a server, it is a terrible idea. Yes, the servers should be on a fully patched version of whatver OS, but any upgrade of a server should be properly planned, with testing and backup procedures in place. After all, if your server upgrade goes wrong, you may need a backup to fix things. The upgrade should also be something that is intitiated by a system admin, who can just as easily dump an ISO somewhere and run the setup.exe application from it.

Winos4.0 abuses gaming apps to infect, control Windows machines

Re: Ah, gaming

Gamers sometimes do have a lot of money, and generally have machines with very high end CPUs, and GPUs. Sometimes with lots of RAM for both. All of which could he bandy for a hacker..

macOS HM Surf vuln might already be under exploit by major malware family

Re: Why I like my Mac Mini

When we went into lockdown, I was given a laptop. This laptop was a generic one, and while it was nice, it was nowhere near powerful enough for my job (I made heavy use of VMs at the time)., and we did not have the money to buy a laptop that was.

So, I used my own machine. As part of working from home, my boss wanted me to have a webcam. I always refused. Why? Because it was my PC, and it was in my bedroom. I didn't want hackers potentially being able to see and hear my private space. I still don't have a webcam on that machine, and usually no microphone on it.

Re: Why I like my Mac Mini

Ideally, I'd like to see webcams become optional extras again, but if that isn't feasible, i'd like to see a minimum standard of security introduced into Webcam design. I'd like to see the webcams designed so they have a physical lens cover, or retract into the monitor, and when the cover is on, or the device is retracted, the connection to the device is physically broken. The mechanism should be a simple switch that disengages when appropriate.. Nothing that can be changed by software.

But, that would add several pence to the build cost of the webcam, and we can't have that.

Microsoft have been pointing out vulnerabilities in other people's software for a long time. In some ways, I think it is good. After all, if a vulnerability is more visible, it's more likely to be fixed. But I think there is also a hint of Microsoft saying "See, their software is vulnerable too!".

The billionaire behind Trump's 'unhackable' phone is on a mission to fight Tesla's FSD

Re: "the result of 40 years of technology"

40 odd years ago, we had various varients of Microsoft's DOS (PC Dos, MS DOS, DRDOS etc). We also had Apple's DOS, Macintosh System 1, CP/M, Digital Research's GEM, various Unixs. We were also about to get the first releases of Windows and OS/2. Also, in an increasing amount of businesses, we were starting to network devices, with software such as Novell Netware.

OK, so we didn't have nearly as many security problems. Not even a fraction, but I do think the large part of the reasons behind that is simply that to get into a given system, hackers usually needed physical access, unless it belonged to a large company or Uni, and was networked. Most hackers would think twice if they had to break into the building first.

But it did happen.

Of course, that's not to dismiss the problems adding features have caused. Make software more complexe *does* increase the potential number of security problems. even if you

Internet Archive exposed again – this time through Zendesk

Re: With all the toxic crap they could assail

There are those who would see the Internet Archive as offensive, in much the same way there are those who see books as offensive.. The Internet Archive while being interesting, is also a good educational resource. There are those who would consider that alone to be reason enough to destroy it. There are also those who would do something like that to destract the world from what they are really doing.

Opening up the WinAmp source to all goes badly as owners delete entire repo

Re: Simplest solution

I can see where you are coming from, but most users would have no interest in, or understanding of, the source code, and companies may be reluctant to support such a law because it exposes their source code to their competitors. Why would they invest money in a given product if they know that before they've made the development costs back, their competitors will be able to make the same thing cheaper, or even free? Open source is a laudable goal, but you need to rememeber that people have costs, and our economy is founded on the basis that people can expect to make a reasonable profit on their investment..

Whether the company is a single developer or has thousands of developers across every continent, they have staff to support, buildings to rent/purchase, heat and light. Their staff have families who need to eat, and they will have other costs. This all needs paying for, and if they don't make some profit, they won't have anything to invest in future products. I say some. Big corporations often make too much profit.

Microsoft admits Outlook crashes, says impact 'mitigated'

Re: Intternationalisation!

True, and they sometimes post the most banal and pointless things to mailing lists.

A few years back, we had major problems with this at work. A few users like to write long emails and discuss everything. This was frequently started by users posting some complaint to our all staff mailing list, then everyone discussing it and clicking reply all rather than just reply.

One day, one of the users posted something about the volume of the fire alarm. Apparently it was loud enough it hurt their ears. My response, had I posted one, would have been along the lines of if you evacuated quickly when the fire alarm went off, you wouldn't be as bothered by the noise, but not wanting to start a fight that might get me fired, I didn't reply..

Of course, we had hundreds of replied to the mailing list agreeing or disagreeing and going into pages of detail to justify their opinion..

Then one of my colleagues had enough. It wasn't bothering me because after the first few emails, I put a filter on the subject so everything with that subject was junked, but he didn't do that.

He sent a reply, to the mailing list, pointing out that some of our users had very high salaries, and asking if they had nothing more important in their jobs than a fire alarm being too loud.

He was called to see our boss within the hour. Thankfully, for him, the boss agreed, but asked him to apologise to all the staff on the mailing list and warned him to think before he emailed in future.

Windows 11 migration? Upgrade engine revs up, enterprises have no choice

Re: Big if

That may not be viable. Large enterprises have an awful lot of infrastructure to replace or update if they change operating systems. Domain controllers, MDM systems, software deployment servers. Then there is sourcing the software, and training. Open source may not be an option because while it is mostly excellent, and probably would work, large companies like to have someone who is responsible (in a legal sense) for the software, and someone they can sue if it doesn't work..

That said, if they are having to buy an entire fleet of PCs, that would offset the cost of upgraded the server infrastructure.

Red team hacker on how she 'breaks into buildings and pretends to be the bad guy'

Re: "We had found the credentials for their corporate Wi-Fi network in the trash [...]" Seriously?

Re "You'd be surprised how many times, even at big companies, security is always a nuisance, until such a person is wreaking havoc at CxO level !"

I wouldn't. Where I work, most of the users are highly skilled in computing, including in security based areas. We still have a to have a technician go round the buildings with a device looking for unknown Wifi networks because some users, rather than request an extra network connection for a 2nd computer or other device they have obtained and want to use, they will buy a cheap home router, clone their office desktop PC MAC to it, then connect their office PC (and any other devices they want) to the home routers.

That said, that doesn't happen so much now. As stated above, we have a Wifi network they are supposed to use for this. We also used to get told that our Wifi signal is weak in some areas (in fairness - it is) as an excuse for bringing in their own routers, but if a user reports weak Wifi now, we will install a Wifi access point in the area they are complaining about..

Re: "We had found the credentials for their corporate Wi-Fi network in the trash [...]" Seriously?

If it's a shared building the "Corporate Wifi" will likely be shared amongst the users. We don''t know what companies occupy the building. We don't know how big the building is, or how many companies are in it. They may be large companies with their own IT support teams,, who make heavy use of the network (although these *should* have their own network that is locked down as much as possible, using the building's "corporate Wifi" mainly as a guest network) or they may be a bunch of small companies staffed by the owner and a couple of employees who just need the "Corporate Wifi" to connect their phones, tablets or laptops to the Internet..

Can't say I've been to many shared building (I used to work for a company in one, but this was *way* befoe Wifi was a thing), but I should imagine if it's just a building with dozens of individual businesses, each with one or two staff, they probably get quite a high turnover of users. Bearing in mind any tech support will likely be the cheapeast possible, it's entirely possible someone just created a generic account to access the Wifi, like you get in shops, restaurants or pubs when the owner wants to provide Wifi, but can't (or won't) pay for one of the big cloud Wifi providers to provide it..

That said, ANY network (wired or wireless) should not have any access to a network connected to any real corporate systems. Or, if it is necessary to provide access, require a VPN.