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**IcEbLAze** · February 11, 2005, 07:40

Originally posted by Kallabungo

First off, hello to all of you, as you may be able to tell im new to this whole thing and this is my first post ive read all the rules and totally agree with them and have found out a fair bit of usefull information from previous posts.

The Rules:

1. The ‘I’m new post’
Ok, so you’re new and eager to let the world know you are on the board. Well, don’t. Introduce yourself by making an intelligent first post, asking an intelligent question, or contributing a meaningful comment to a conversation. Nothing is more annoying than reading a post that says ‘Hi, I’m new here..well, Ok..bye’. ‘I’m new’ posts will not be tolerated and it’s an easy way to get banned on your first post.

Originally posted by Kallabungo

<snip>Now my biggest worry - file and printer sharing, ive read over the net that this is basically a door saying come through and hack me, is this so?
Yeah i am pretty worried seeing as now this network is my responsibility and will land on my shoulders if something goes tits up, and yes you may of gathered we have a big amount of file and printer sharing all across our network.
<snip>kallabungo

Google?

**Second** · February 11, 2005, 07:58

Originally posted by Kallabungo

I am however only 16 so yes i have oh so much to learn and ive recently realised that.

Ok i left school and got took on for a job

How about realizing that quitting school at 16 isn't the best idea...especially if something..as you say

if something goes tits up

**Kallabungo** · February 11, 2005, 08:51

ok sorry if i managed to start my first thread a bit wrong or totally but everybody does make mistakes once in a while. Yeah i was thinking of going to do 6th form or college but during the break leaving year 11 i came across this job and to be honest i thought about the circumstances of well... do i spend another few years in education learning things i dont really want to know and leave school at the same time as everybody else and struggle to look for a job or do i take this oppurtunity now give it my best, earn a professionals income and if it is a mistake go back for college.
I do believe this can go all tits up and to be honest i dont want to learn how to hack the risk of being caught from articles ive read are too great to me its not worth it, i would prefer to be a professional web designer as the years pass and hopefully one day out smart the hackers from breaking into systems and getting potentially critical information.
All i really want to know are what the exploits are as i can see many of you on here know a lot more about this than i do so i can learn more about protecting systems, if any of you are prepared to give me valuable information it would be greatly apreciated alternatively im going to have to find another source.

**IcEbLAze** · February 11, 2005, 08:58

Originally posted by Kallabungo

do i spend another few years in education learning things i dont really want to know and leave school at the same time as everybody else and struggle to look for a job or do i take this oppurtunity now give it my best, earn a professionals income and if it is a mistake go back for college.

Why not get your GED or high school equivelent test, then do your college thing on the side then. You need education in this world, no matter how good you think this job is going to pan out, you're 16 for christ sakes.

Originally posted by Kallabungo

All i really want to know are what the exploits are as i can see many of you on here know a lot more about this than i do so i can learn more about protecting systems, if any of you are prepared to give me valuable information it would be greatly apreciated alternatively im going to have to find another source.

Didn't I say google?

edit: added "[/QUOTE]"

**Kallabungo** · February 11, 2005, 09:06

could i seriously fit any of this in though? i dont know how flexible these sort of things are, i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work leave at 6:30 finally arriving back home just after 7pm, thus this leaves me with just my weekends free which i still like to fit a little bit of trials in. I dont really know how much input these courses involve or the time span.

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

**LosT** · February 11, 2005, 10:04

Originally posted by Kallabungo

could i seriously fit any of this in though? i dont know how flexible these sort of things are, i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work leave at 6:30 finally arriving back home just after 7pm, thus this leaves me with just my weekends free which i still like to fit a little bit of trials in. I dont really know how much input these courses involve or the time span.

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

Did you ever consider that you *may* be able to get a job that has a better schedule if you had more education? Just a thought.

LosT

**Second** · February 11, 2005, 10:48

Originally posted by Kallabungo

i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

Good enough for me...goodness....90 miles a day. Where do you live by the way?

**d3ad1ysp0rk** · February 11, 2005, 10:53

Originally posted by Kallabungo

could i seriously fit any of this in though? i dont know how flexible these sort of things are, i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work leave at 6:30 finally arriving back home just after 7pm, thus this leaves me with just my weekends free which i still like to fit a little bit of trials in. I dont really know how much input these courses involve or the time span.

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

Just wondering.. how much do you make hourly or yearly?

**Kallabungo** · February 11, 2005, 12:47

ok i live in lowestoft which is the most easterly point of england, and have to travel to just the otherside of norwich.

Im on £5 an hour which over the 11 hours a day gives £55 a day and my last pay slip was £1151.50 for the month

**highwizard** · February 11, 2005, 16:16

Originally posted by Kallabungo

i would prefer to be a professional web designer as the years pass and hopefully one day out smart the hackers from breaking into systems and getting potentially critical information.

I'm sure you mean "out smart criminals" from breaking into your systems, since the words hacker and criminal are not synonomous no-matter what the media says.

**Kallabungo** · February 12, 2005, 00:17

i see what you mean, sorry. Im guessing you go by the terms of hacker as in just gaining access and feeling good about it. where as the criminal puts the access they have got into stealing information and using it to their advantage.

**LosT** · February 12, 2005, 02:01

Originally posted by Kallabungo

i see what you mean, sorry. Im guessing you go by the terms of hacker as in just gaining access and feeling good about it. where as the criminal puts the access they have got into stealing information and using it to their advantage.

Actually that is incorrect as well...

LosT

**TheCotMan** · February 12, 2005, 08:37

[Warning: Long post: replies to multiple posts from this thread are contained here.]

Originally posted by Kallabungo

I left school and got took on for a job...

Others commented on this. Consider mine a "me too." You don't need a High School Diploma to get a college degree. Everyone who "drops out" has their reasons (support of self, emancipation, etc.) but you are limiting you future opportunities by not getting a GED or some sort of diploma.

Now my biggest worry - file and printer sharing, ive read over the net that this is basically a door saying come through and hack me, is this so?

This is a risk (depending on the service method) that can addressed with filtering of network traffic or appropriate stateful firewall rules. Neither are *total solutions* but are enough for most outside attempts.

Your bigger worry (than printers sharing themselves on the network) should be server/host services exposed to the real world *and* staying up-to-date on all your OS packages.

Next are issues with Worms and viruses, no need to state a suggestion here.

Yeah i am pretty worried seeing as now this network is my responsibility and will land on my shoulders if something goes tits up, and yes you may of gathered we have a big amount of file and printer sharing all across our network.

Deal with outsiders: first step filter/firewall, next define zones of trust with increasing levels of restriction. Then examine other methods for entry to your network like Social Engineering, theft, brute force attacks on passwordded services, dictionary attacks on services, use of plain-text authentication services from outside your network, etc. (very long list.)
Deal with insiders: auditing and politics, then look at technical.

I would greatly apreciate any help on what i need to look out for what people can do and how i can stop it.
We have here 39 computers with two servers, one for an independant system used for the business as a DOS program which is the heart of the company, the other server uses a wireless link through the entire office with a 2mb up and down internet connection.

Wireless? There are many ways to setup a wireless system insecure and allow outsiders into your network. Just relying on WEP is not enough. Many places use variations of VPN in addition to WEP, but even these can be problems when users tell thier laptop's OS/app to "remember my password" and their laptop gets stolen.

There are many other things to consider on making wireless more secure. Do some research with google. Look through the wireless section on these forums. (We have some skilled users in this section that I respect and there is some good content there.) Asking specific questions is better than, "How do I secure wireless?" Show you have done some research.

The best one was when a worker attempted a defrag and this totally wiped the hardrive, although no antivirus software or firewalls had picked up anything previously.

Staying up-to-date with AV defs is also necessary too. However, no amount of updates will protect you from dumbass users, or insiders who intend to cause damage.

Lastly: Get some sort of degree, diploma, or certificate-- It will help you get future jos and increase the chance of promotion and you may fill-in gaps to your learning.

[Added content: replies to other posts in this thread

Originally posted by Kallabungo

i would prefer to be a professional web designer as the years pass

I am worried about the lifespan of jobs like WebAdmin/WebMaster/WebMistress. I feel technology will eventually provide tools to make it easy enough for anyone to do it, or the WWW will become obselete or replaced with someting else.
Consider WAIS, Gopher and now WWW ... It is only a matter of time for WWW. Maybe 10 years... maybe 100... making WebAdmin a career seems risky to me over the long term.

Originally posted by Kallabungo

could i seriously fit any (degree program) in though?

You make time. Go to school in person, or use a school with "Distance Learning" or use a reputable school that does mail-based home study and occasional tests in person.
A degree/diploma/certificate says this:
* I can complete tasks within a timeline
* I am able to remember things
* I can follow directions (most important)

**Kallabungo** · February 12, 2005, 10:35

"thecotman" you have been very very helpfull to me, i now know what to look for, whereas before i was just wondering in general what the hell was going on i have a clearer view of specific points which is the only way this can be tackled. Thanks for taking the time to write such an amount but it really has proven usefull to me.

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