Ironic.....

[freeatlast]

In 2011 I lost my job at a storage company due to improper internet use. In other words, another employee who did not like me managed to use my work computer to access non-work-related web sites anytime I was away from my desk (lunch, vacation days) and even set up a phony Facebook account which she would access from my desk at any opportunity. Then, while I was off to attend a family member's funeral she went to the owner of the company and told her that my computer history showed that I had visited Facebook and some other sites (this one included) and got me fired.

I started a new job this week as a receptionist for a car dealership. My supervisor told me that it was pretty slow and boring in the evenings and on Saturday and advised me to bring a book ... and ... that I was welcome to surf the internet and visit Facebook and this site to keep myself entertained

[eltf177]

Good for you, and I hope your back-stabbing co-irker got what they deserved!

[Cia]

So your bosses were to stupid to notice that the sites were accessed when you weren't even at your desk? Idiots.

[Chromatix]

Well, if they were only going on the browser history, timestamps might not have been available.

[eltf177]

I got the impression the "investigation" wasn't a very thorough one, if there was one at all...

[Seshat]

Note for the future: always log off your account when you're not at the computer. If you don't have a separate account; get the admin to make one. If there is no admin, and you're being given admin account access, make a personal account and always, always use it.

It won't prevent you from being fired for no real reason, but it will make jerks have to work harder at it.


Edit to add: No, I don't do that on my home computer.

[taxguykarl]

At the very least lock your computer when away.
I agree with eltf, someone was looking for a reason to dump freeatlast.

[freeatlast]

Our computers were password protected and I always locked it when leaving my desk. The problem was that the passwords assigned corresponded with our station numbers. I worked in station 4 - so guess what the password was I asked to change it and was told no.

[OneMoreTime]

That doen't sound very "protected" if the password corresponded with your workstation number!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

At the swamp, all the user IDs employees use to sign on to the handheld scanners are a four-digit number starting at 9000 (changed to keep my ass out of a sling).

The passwords are....the same four-digit number. Thus, I can sign on to a scanner as a manager or as a peon just by knowing their ID.

I win the lousy security sweepstakes.

[Tama]

The lousy security sweepstakes belongs to some company that my accounting professor worked at.

Some numbnuts apparently left the doors unlocked...

It was broken into...

AND NOTHING WAS STOLEN!

The professor admitted this should have been a clue that he wouldn't be working there much longer.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Potentially dangerous one averted at The Client today.

I was helping a user with a password issue for an app on our [LowNet] system (which is the network from which users can access the Internet), and during the midst of it all, her LowNet account got locked out, and then while I was trying to get it unlocked (which wasn't working right for some reason), she suddenly says her [SecNet] (which is a secure network without Internet access) account is locked out too.

While I'm untangling the mess this call has turned into, the user suddenly tells me she doesn't know why it wasn't working, "I've got the same password on both."

(record needle scratch)

J2K: "You have the same password on both LowNet and SecNet?"
Her: "Yes."
J2K: "That's a security violation. You'll need to change the password on at least one of them."

Now, as it happened, to untangle the mess on her call, I ended up having to reset her passwords on both networks. I can only hope that she listened and set her passwords to be different. If she didn't, and she gets caught, she could wind up in big trouble. The kind that could get her security clearance revoked. Which would cause her to lose her job.

[iradney]

If your computer doesn't have a password, or a password that is easy to guess, then when you leave your desk, take your mouse with you Most places use wireless mouses these days...

[Blue Ginger]

If your computer doesn't have a password, or a password that is easy to guess, then when you leave your desk, take your mouse with you Most places use wireless mouses these days...

Which is fun when you swap everyone's mice around.

10 desks + matching wireless mice = lots of fun for us watching the chaos.

[wolfie]

Sort of like the PC Jr. with its wireless keyboard - when it was used in a school setting, it didn't take long for some students to figure out that if they pointed the IR emitter at the receiver on another student's machine, they could type on that student's machine. Didn't take too long before wired keyboards became the order of the day.