This is the time of year when everyone shares their horror stories. That’s right, Cybersecurity Awareness Month! IT is no different and never at a loss for some one-upmanship when the topic comes up. From holey firewalls to leaky plumbing in the ceiling above a data center, not to mention the terrors of the IoT, there are enough IT horror stories to send chills up the back of the most seasoned IT professional. Here are some favorites that would make great scary movies.
The nail-biting action thriller
A petrochemical company enjoyed the benefits of providing an equipment service contractor with a network connection to some catalytic gear for periodic monitoring and maintenance. Things were great, the company could count on an extended warranty and periodic upkeep. Later they found out that the link was wide open and just about anyone could have come into the network over an unauthenticated connection. By adjusting a few properties on the gear’s operating temperature, they could have created a huge bomb in the middle of the plant.
The romantic comedy
A new administrator starts their job in a secure government facility. They ask their group manager for the privileged passwords for the SYSTEM and SYS accounts. The manager leads them into their office, closes the door and takes out a Post-it note pad and a felt pen. They write the information down, then cover it over with their hand and tell the admin that they will need to memorize them and then the paper will immediately go into the burn bag. As the admin braces for a long string of cryptic characters, the paper is revealed: “MANAGER” and “CHANGE_ON_INSTALL,” the default passwords for the Oracle installation.
The documentary
This one is a re-make. An oldie, but a goodie. A trip into the archives of the Uplogix blog. And it comes with a free Halloween-themed infographic. Check it out!
There is a good chance that your network has a sleeping army of undead devices out there just waiting to be commanded into action. Not zombies, but console servers. Used for years for remote access to devices connected by some form of out-of-band link, these unassuming devices sit quietly doing nothing at all until finally commanded to arise.
Give your console servers the brains they need to work for you all day, every day with Uplogix. We have evolved out-of-band to deliver reliable network management automation and enhanced security from these former zombies. It’s so cool, it’s spooky.
Uplogix can be deployed in a variety of ways depending on your existing infrastructure and network management needs. Replace your old console servers with our advanced Local Manager appliances, keep them in place and let Uplogix be their brain, or run Uplogix virtually and manage devices over the LAN.
