tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798604115389836864.post8533766451162515500..comments2024-03-13T13:04:53.453+00:00Comments on IT Security Expert Blog: HMRC Data Breach CD was NOT EncryptedSecurityExperthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02816379340772195492noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3798604115389836864.post-51826683777467318282007-11-20T17:08:00.000+00:002007-11-20T17:08:00.000+00:00The tragedy for this country is that in the Civil ...The tragedy for this country is that in the Civil Service 'staff' (AO and AA clerical grades) are forced to behave like a cross between Forest Gump and a lobotomized C3PO: they can only do what the rules made by <B>their own</B> ITSD (IT Services Department) security people allow them to, and only use the software that their ITSD permit to be installed on their PCs. <B>And woe betide them if they disobey even one little rule, <EM>even if their rules prevent them from using their own intelligence to arrive at a better solution.</EM></B><BR/><BR/>Even in junior management grades (EO, HEO), where people <B>are</B> allowed to use their brains without written permission from their line manager, the culture is one of '<B>don't say anything your superior(s) don't want to hear</B>', for the simple reason that a single individual, your line manager, has the power of life-or-death over your prospects, just as his or her LM has the same power over their prospects, and so on up the line. <BR/><BR/>Added to which, most management grades are filled with non-technical people who simply do not know how to design an IT system, cannot specify them correctly, and cannot see when they are being had for a fool. Thus the consultants and contractors they employ take the taxpayer for a ride again and again.<BR/><BR/>The other thing that kills good decision-making within the Civil Service is <B>management by committee</B>. This manages to cause a group of intelligent individuals to arrive at 'lowest common denominator' compromise decisions that they would have rejected out of hand as individuals. It also comes down to everyone agreeing with whatever the most senior grade(s) at the meeting want to have happen.<BR/><BR/>In short:<BR/><BR/>Civil Servants + IT Systems = Criminally Expensive Waste of Taxpayers' MoneyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com