Share via

Would you steal passwords?

  • Article

According to this article over at IT World, the vast majority of IT staff would consider collecting passwords to network resources and other sensitive areas of the network if they feel they were about to get fired.

Has this ever happened to you?

 

Cheers!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 30, 2008
    Can't say I've ever been the victim of that.  We deal with smaller sites which have a different level of trust.   But if I were to see myself leaving / getting terminated for any reason I see no point in it.  It just slaps in the face of professionalism and shows yourself as being terminated for all the right reasons. No I can't foresee EVER considering or wanting passwords.   The day I leave, I hope people change passwords I should know and disable my account so there is no long term blame either.  "Hey we had a major problem with blah, I wonder if he hacked us?  We think he was pretty angry." Keeps everybody happy long time.  If you're stealing passwords, I would expect to find a nice big van parked outside of your front door full of big men with shiny bracelets for you. Last time I checked it's probably a federal crime. Cheers Sean Friday Funny Guy

  • Anonymous
    August 30, 2008
    Yeah, to say a vast majority is a big slap in the face to me as a IT Professional. I would never do anything like that. If I ever did get terminated I would give them the list of password I know and tell them to change them. Just for liability reasons. Seems to me this survey they took was not done correctly. I would be interested to see who they asked.

  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2008
    I have done tech support for people that have blindly offered up their admin accounts and passwords so I could log on to troubleshoot. I always turn those down, ask them to create a temp admin account, then delete when we are done. It always surpises me how many people will trust someone with an admin account. Chris

  • Anonymous
    September 05, 2008
    As a long time contracting consultant for many small and large computer systems, as well as small and big companies, I agree with Sean it is wise to have the admin passwords changed before you leave, such as HR or the IT manager and request your personal account be disabled as soon as you walk out the door. There is no justification to intentionally hurt any former employer, regardless of the reason for a termination.