Starpoint

Ok, this will make sense to anyone here about Wifi security but here goes.

I had an interview with an petroleum company in downtown Houston, we talked and the subject of Wifi came up. Now I like to think I am not the best in the world, but I do know enough to sniff out someone who is clueless.

This "IT director" got mad at me when he asked my opinion about broadcasting the SSID. This company is on the 10th floor in downtown Houston on a street that leads directly out of downtown onto the freeway. There are 2-3 parking garages/lots next to them. In other words, a wifi hacker has plenty of "campsites" and a nice way out of the city.

When he asked my opinion about broadcasting the SSID I said "It's not a smart idea, since you effectively tell everyone there is a wireless network here. Even if you run all the security in the world after that, why even tempt them?" I then said "if the broadcast is turned off, it will take a smarter person to use the methods to detect you and since they will see the broadcast is off, which is a basic security step, it should tell them that this network has some security invoked and there may be more."

The guy THOUGHT I was calling HIM stupid because he was the one that set up the network (he was the guy that knew the most about computers so he got the job... you know the type) so he was offended.

As he walked me out the door I told him I did not call him stupid, just said that advertising his wireless network is how evil hackers find you and then take advantage of your network. Then when your CEO finds out that some "simple" steps could have been taken to prevent the hack, they start questioning your tech skills.

I then reported him to the staffing company I was using and they told me they will speak to him about berating their candidates. I later got a call from the staffing company saying they told him that if they hear another abuse they will pull all candidates they are submitting plus pull the 5-8 people they have there working now.

THAT impressed me alot.

This guy did apologize to her to pass along to me but I told her to tell him to either get a clue that there are people out there who may know more about something than he does and as long as he has that attitude he will not get good people there long.

Anyway.. soapbox now stashed.

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