Tale from the Front Lines
I received a frantic call from a user yesterday. Apparently someone had taken over her computer and was opening files, folders, and applications, and generally wreaking havoc. I hurried to her cubicle and found she was telling the truth: windows were opening pell-mell on the screen, and as fast as she could close them, new ones popped open and applications apparently launched themselves.
Two thoughts immediately popped into my mind: Virus or hacker. Something was searching through her computer. But we have a firewall and anti-virus software. Was she the victim of some social engineering?
Did anything unusual happen lately? I asked. She shook her head. No strange phone calls?
Uh-uh, she said. Then she looked thoughtful. A-ha, I thought. Well, she said, I did spill my lemonade on the keyboard. NAME WITHHELD UPON REQUEST

Quote of the Month: A Sentence to Say, A Lifetime to Understand
A consultant we spoke to for a story, when asked How can you judge a consultant if you yourself dont know thetechnology? gave the following one-sentence reply:
Thats a great question because what happens, even though you dont know how it needs to be done, a lot of times whats been typical for larger companies is they go through the criteria of whats the end game, and if and when they can articulate that to the consulting companies theyre interviewing and get them to foster the dialog that brings in not only the business players who are sponsoring the project and the need for advanced services and skills, but brings in all the parties that will make it happen, from their side, so they realize from the stakeholder sponsoring it through the IT group working with the group in identifying the skills that are necessary and whats lacking, the identification of the road map, how to produce the deliverables, in order to be able to deliver the project on time, I think it becomes clear in terms of how much diligence is exhibited by the people who are representing the consulting company, and on an interview by interview basis, if you have a constructed matrix that allows them to be able to indicate, these are the 10 criteria were seeking, and going through the checklist, pitting each of the groups against each other, thats the way Ive seen it been done in my experience.