What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

21 Replies to “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

1. 1. NSA fires most system administrators.
   2. Computer systems stop working.
   3. As a result, national security is harmed.
   4. In a panic, NSA brings in new system administrators who have only the foggiest idea how things works.
   5. In their confusion, new system administrators inadvertently create security weaknesses that hackers working for the Chinese government exploit.
   6. NSA chief says “See, I told you system administrators were a security threat!”

2. Does anybody think like I do, that foreign governments will be offering the newly unemployed SysAdmins lots of cash for whatever they’re willing to sell?

3. New headline: NSA uses layoff of 90% of sysadmins as cover for purging non-fellow travellers

4. rabbit “5. In their confusion, new system administrators inadvertently create security weaknesses that hackers working for the Chinese government exploit.”
   And you have some reason to believe the Chinese aren’t already piggybacking on the NSA system?

5. Just what we need. Hundreds of spiteful unemployed NSA employees in need of finanicial assistance. Well hello hot Chinese/Russkie spy!

6. Rabbit……4a
   Due to the panic, there is insufficient time for proper background and security checks of the new SAs.

7. The NSA is not firing its system administrators. It is reducing the number of people that have superuser access by applying a more finely grained “least privileges” security model.
   If 90% of the people calling themselves system administrators were fired – from everywhere – pretty much everything computerized would be better off.

8. No doubt they’ll eventually out-source that task to a Chinese company.

9. I doubt if there is any government (or quasi govt) organisation anywhere in the world that could not reduce its ranks by 90% without any degradation in service. On the contrary, service would likely improve. Operating military personnel excepted.

10. “I doubt if there is any government (or quasi govt) organisation anywhere in the world that could not reduce its ranks by 90% without any degradation in service. On the contrary, service would likely improve. Operating military personnel excepted.”
    You can close the comments on this thread. Niall Mor nails it all with that one statement.

11. You must have incompetent sysadmins. Usually they are among the most competent, and certainly the most trusted, people involved in a computer system.
    To rewrite the headline, “NSA fires 90% of its most trustworthy employees.”

12. Well, speaking as a sysadmin, let me just say:
    BWAHAHAhahahahahahahaha…
    Good plan, slick.

13. Good job NSA; you just turned a leak into a potential torrent.

14. Sooooooo….is this sorta like firing 90% of the firemen/women in your town,because the Boy Scouts know how to start and then put out a fire? Or firing the cops because the crooks know how to use guns better than the cops? The stupid,it burns.

15. I think whoever made this decision should google “bastard operator from hell” sometime to see what’s soon to be in store for them.

16. Nothing like giving those not yet fired, but in fear of being fired, some motivation for giving themselves a golden parachute.

17. Let me re-write that headline:
    NSA will fire 90% of untrustworthy civilian sysadmins, replacing them with many more Bradley Mannings, (who of course have super-dooper security clearance.)

18. I hear that their will be a lot of transfers from the TSA to compensation.
    After all they are the uncover specialists.

19. Maybe the NSA is getting their PRISM partners to supply the labour.
    Either that, or they’ve been given a green light for unlimited H1B temps.

20. Of course they are not actually firing anyone its just that 90% of the Sysadmins are now called Sisadmins. Don’t be silly folks this admin is not going to reduce its control mechanisms over the citizens.

21. Most trusted? Sure. Most competent? Well, more competent than whomever they’re reporting to, which a) isn’t saying much and 2) is all that’s necessary to convince the non-technical employees that they’re some kind of amazing hacker whizzes. T’isn’t true. There is a vast, pervasive institutional incompetence problem in the high tech sector, and all these news articles about Chinese hackers and 0-day exploits are the chickens coming home to roost.