IT Territory has been Marked…

Behind Closed Doors

Character in the Classroom

Early Hacking?

I have heard from several staff members and a tenured librarian that there were clear indications of hacking on the cataloging department computers way back in JUNE! I found this rather interesting. When the problem was brought to the attention of Library systems (Bully-boy and his boys) , the offending computer was removed by systems staff and returned “fixed” and yet not really “fixed” as was seen in latter days. Wouldn’t it seem that the appropriate action would have been to tell everyone – then - and rebuild all possibly affected computers – then - and maybe even put some additional security in place then – then?

Why didn’t that happen – was it because there was not the appropriate oversight/systems supervision during the summer or was there an attempt to cover up the problem and hope that it went away?

Just imagine the fall semester hacking catastrophe being prevented if the proper steps had been taken in JUNE!

Why, oh why, are the incompetent bent on control and why is no one mentioning these incidents?

No Confidence Vote?

Library faculty, led by Boobie, met today – apparently to just consider voting “No confidence!” with regard to our leader, Twitchy. This is something that was clearly discussed by some of the (tenured) faculty before the meeting and they expected the rest of us to just fall in line and say “Okay!” I am guessing that this is just another (feeble) attempt to deflect questions of fault regarding our computer hacking problem. What other purpose would it have? There is no purpose that it serves other than to let the University higher-ups know we don’t think he’s doing a good job?

I strongly objected stating that it seemed a clear attempt to draw a line between the computer crisis and Twitchy rather than letting the fault lie where it belonged and taking responsibility for the problem (Bully-boy). No one seemed to be able to raise a valid argument to my objection – it was oddly quiet. I guess I didn’t understand that we weren’t supposed to question the idea. But as usual, no one else had much to say that they would say… It is as obvious to others as it is to me, isn’t it? I think so, but God forbid they would say what they think.

Selective Rebuilding

I dared question Bully-boy about when the computers in my area would be brought back to life. I had spoken to other units in Library and was told that all of their staff machines had some functionality and their student machines were now being worked on. Why the neglect of my area? I wonder?

He told me that my staff-person could take her work to another area to use a functioning machine. Not good enough, I said. No one else in Library was being relocated to work and I wanted my unit up and running.

He said that I didn’t know what I was talking about and it wasn’t true that other staff machines were working – clearly a rude response and a lie. I think the pressure is getting to him, as it should!

Pay No Attention to the Man…

The Song and Dance of Distraction is in full swing. Everyone in Library knows why the computers were compromised and yet Boobie and Bully-boy are constantly pointing the finger at Twitchy and talking about his inappropriate reaction to the crisis – not his responsibility for it. He is responsible for letting the rope out for Bully-boy to potentially hang himself and he was not disappointed, but that is about the extent of his involvement. It is comical to watch the show and disturbing at the same time.

I think they are onto something. They believe that if you just keep repeating the same thing over and over and over, people will begin to believe it, true or not and I believe that the research backs them up.

Unspoken Incompetence

It is unbelievable to me that the computer systems of Library would be put in the hands of a person with no computing education or background. Somehow Bully-boy convinced Twitchy that he could do the job but we know now that he was not really up to the job and we are all suffering for it. It is interesting how no one will point even a pinky-finger at him behind his back. If this were the business world, which some would say it is, not only would the fingers be pointed but the heads would roll as well.

Library Systems Hacked

The Library computer system has been hacked into. The ramifications of this are still unfolding but like a virulent infection, machines touched must be cleansed. In this case it means that all computers are off line and need to be rebuilt. No one has access to their work files or to the Internet.

This is a huge problem for Library. Computers are our number one tool. It is how we access our resources and provide service.

And how did this happen? The computers were not behind the University firewall? Why not, or why did we not have our own firewall? Bully-boy insisted he knew better than the University IT people. Just give him a minute of your time and he will launch into monologue designed to convince you of how incompetent they are. Now doesn’t he look foolish?