Tidbits on Security

I've run across a few interesting scenarios when it comes to security in a corporate environment. My previous was extremely conscious about security, as far as end users were concerned. Very few people had administrative rights to their computer, let alone other computers in the domain. The security group was very involved. There was a host of web sites that were blocked, such as hotmail, aol mail and that sort of thing. They were really strict with that sort of thing.

Currently, my job is much more relaxed to this sort of thing. They allow people to check their home based e-mail accounts and the sort. They let people surf the web. it is a completely different culture, and as an end user is sort of relaxing. It is nice to know that I don't feel like "big brother" is constantly watching.

Now there are some other differences between the two places, that may be worth noting. My old job had probably around 1,000 entry level jobs in call centers and the like. Now, I work with mostly "professionals", and not nearly as many entry level folks. I think this speaks to the amount of trust that is put in the end users. Currently, it is easier to trust the people working there. There isn't 10 people getting fired from the call center every other day.

This all really boils down to informing users. Users that can be trusted, need to be kept informed. Security is an enterprise wide policy, not just the jobs of a handful of specialists.