(Trouble this morning. Had to pull and republish this episode. Sorry if you see it twice, or if it didn’t work the first time.)
I really do need to get on the orc Christmas story. So here’s a bit from the networking book.
Enterprise environments have monitoring systems. Monitoring systems alert people. Those people recognize common alerts. “The link to Farawayistan is fubar again, ignore it.” Certain alerts are expected. “The ERP team started their patches two minutes early? The line manager will be annoyed—but that’s not my problem.” They only stir themselves for rare or unfamiliar alerts.
But some alerts trigger full-on alarm. “Port scanning on the secure subnet? My week is ruined, if I’m lucky!” When a second disturbing alarm arrives moments later, the sick feeling escalates to full-on panic. The reflexive coping strategy for panic is to share it. Eventually, an angry network admin or a furious manager or an icy-cold C-level shows up at your desk demanding to know exactly what you thought you were doing and if you can give any reason why you shouldn’t be fired. Even if you keep your job the network team will identify you as a problem—and they’ll be correct. You caused problems.
Remember, the word “fired” has multiple meanings. One is “to have your employment terminated.” The second is “to be set on fire.” Either might apply.
Or you can sponsor the networking book and remain unkindled.