The Evolutionary IT Blog » Tech Humor

Marketing Fail = Funny

jguarino — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:34:45 +0000

Sometimes the email “marketing” I receive make me chuckle intensely. =) I received this sp@m message in my email inbox for “advanced” technology training.

Marketing FAIL!

Although I never respond to spam, I imagine an equally facetious retort like…

Hi [Field:FirstName],

Although your [Field:training_that_i_don't_want] opportunity sounds exciting – I think I’ll pass. If your courses are anywhere as good as your “marketing” I’m not interested.

Thank you,
[Field:FirstName] [Field:LastName]

=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)

Do you have any gems to share from your own experience?

Malware in space! Oh my!

jguarino — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:58:44 +0000

In my nearly 20 years in IT Security I have seen some strange things — but this takes the cake. When I saw the coverage that the ISS (International Space Station) had been infected with malware I had to laugh. Malware in space!? Is this a bad sci-fi movie? My laughter isn’t driven by anything other than my deep frustration and personal experience with helping customers with these very real issues. Malware has a quantifiable economic and social impact and it begs addressing everywhere, even in space. =P Here are a few interesting and thought provoking security stats to be mindful of:

According to the FBI Computer Crime Survey 2005 -

Frequency of attacks. Nearly nine out of 10 organizations experienced computer security incidents in a year’s time; 20% of them indicated they had experienced 20 or more attacks.
Types of attacks. Viruses (83.7%) and spyware (79.5%) headed the list. More than one in five organizations said they experienced port scans and network or data sabotage.
Financial impact. Over 64% of the respondents incurred a loss. Viruses and worms cost the most, accounting for $12 million of the $32 million in total losses.

According to a study from TrendMicro -

It is estimated that PC Viruses cost businesses approximately $55 Billion in damages in 2003.

According to Anti-malware vendor Panda Labs -

Approximately 11 percent of computers around the world are part of these botnets, and they are responsible for 85 percent of all spam sent.

So the costs and impacts are very real and especially at a place like NASA where the research I am sure is quite sensitive. What could they have done better? Well, in this case NASA should have been looking to make some clear improvements such as:

Further locked down desktop configuration
Proactive patch management + centrally managed anti-malware solution
Least privilege
Content filtering or UTM device
End user security training
Comprehensive security review
Etc, etc.

HAL would like to inform you of an infection... =P

The article states, “NASA also said in Friday’s report that all laptops on board the ISS were being loaded with anti-virus software.” Lol! (Laugh in utter frustration) Yeah, that might be a good idea! =P

Tom@.net – Mr. Postel is smiling at you…

jguarino — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:50:08 +0000

Sometime life just gives us unexpected comedy nuggets in the most random of places. For example, the other day I was walking home from a client and I stumbled upon a company car with the following logo on its backside:

Tom isn't getting his email... =P

Tom

Tom@.net

508.555.1212 (obfuscated to protect the innocent)

What is wrong here you ask? If you are not technically inclined you may not notice immediately what is wrong with this email address, so please let me explain. Tom, I am sure went through much trouble to buy a domain, build a website and even setup an email address with his cool new company name. However, when he had it printed on his company car he didn’t properly specify the email address. Tom may be wondering why he isn’t getting much mail? This is because he specified a gTLD (Generic Top Level Domain) and not his own registered company domain tom@somedomain.net (correct) vs tom@.net (incorrect). We can be assured that the venerable John Postel (one of the founding fathers of key internet technologies such as DNS) is rolling over in his grave…laughing. =P

Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement = Humorous

jguarino — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:00:35 +0000

Sometimes the IT world is just plain funny. For anyone who has had the sometimes painful experience of working with Windows Vista, you may have seen this post install option (upon initial boot up). You are gently asked to join the Microsoft customer experience improvement program with the screen below. But there is one stinging problem, you are not being asked, you are being told! You are going to help improve Vista or… well, that is your only option! Take a look at the screen shot below to see what I mean:

Can someone please tell me what these programmers where thinking with having the “OK” button blocked by default. One has to click Join first and then “I don’t …” to get the “OK” button to function. I guess its just the way they roll over in Redmond…