Am I a massive Idiot or was he overreacting /wrong IITquery

wally1990

I'll start off by admitting I'm not a massive tech head

Basically I work in an accountants and needed to sit at a different seat today while helping a team member

I have my own personal laptop that via AWS guacamole (remote access) allows me to remote log into my own work PC when needed from home (company support this and allow it) /using personal laptops is OK to remote connect

So I was sitting with the team member and took my own personal laptop, I took a local LAN cable to connect just for Internet access(because I didn't have WiFi access) and then remote logged into my work pc(like team viewer) so I was 100% using my work PC and this LAN cable from our office just for Internet access

One of the IT lads was up stairs and literally smacked me across the back of the head (in his mind probably messing but it was fairly hard ) and goes what the **** are you doing plugging a lan cable into a personal laptop

I said I needed Internet access so I can remote log in to my own PC while I'm sitting here

He said you better hope there is nothing on your laptop because our 'systems' could be downloading anything infected

I was livid he smacked me and I think he knew it because he started being all nicey nice afterwards but what about the LAN cable situation, is it correct?

He kept saying I should have known better and I was stupid

I literally don't, I just wanted Internet access so I could remote log into my actual PC

Regardless of the outcome, its bugging me.

I literally didn't know that could happen if its correct so seeking confirmation it's 100% true

AmberGold

wally1990 wrote: »

I'll start off by admitting I'm not a massive tech head

Basically I work in an accountants and needed to sit at a different seat today while helping a team member

I have my own personal laptop that via AWS guacamole (remote access) allows me to remote log into my own work PC when needed from home

So I was sitting with the team member and took my own personal laptop, I took a local LAN cable to connect just for Internet access(because I didn't have WiFi access) and then remote logged into my work pc(like team viewer) so I was 100% using my work PC and this LAN cable from our office just for Internet access

One of the IT lads was up stairs and literally smacked me across the back of the head (in his mind probably messing but it was fairly hard ) and goes what the **** are you doing plugging a lan cable into a personal laptop

I said I needed Internet access so I can remote log in to my own PC while I'm sitting here

He said you better hope there is nothing on your laptop because our 'systems' could be downloading anything infected

I was livid he smacked me and I think he knew it because he started being all nicey nice afterwards but what about the LAN cable situation, is it correct?

He kept saying I should have known better and I was stupid

I literally don't, I just wanted Internet access so I could remote log into my actual PC

Regardless of the outcome, its bugging me.

I literally didn't know that could happen if its correct so seeking confirmation it's 100% true

If there’s a code or conduct or employee manual forbidding it he’s correct.

If there’s not it’s bad practice anyway to connect anything to a work PC not related to or provided by your company.

He shouldn’t have laid a hand on you and that’s the bigger issue. Chalk it down to experience and him being a dick.

Having said that he could have formally reported the issue which could have led to a written warning so best let it go.

Brock Turnpike

Tell him if he ever lays a hand on you again, you'll put his head through the wall.

Keyzer

First off, he shouldn't have touched you - if it were up to me, I'd be straight to HR.

Onto the IS side of this story.

You absolutely should not be connecting a non-company issued laptop to the internal, corporate network - this potentially presents a huge risk of introducing something malicious to the network.

You should be connecting, via WiFi, to an internet only segregated network.

And they should have NAC implemented.

wally1990

Thanks for the feedback

Regarding the smack, yes I agree he was bang out of order and no person should ever do that

Regarding connecting my laptop, yes I now know I was wrong but it was literally due to lack of understanding and ignorance to what could /if anything happen

I just literally thought I was only getting an Internet connection and meant nothing by it

Thanks all

Both of you are very lucky you are both not on written warnings after that. In my company, either of those actions would be a case of "Do that again and it'll be P45 time".