Should I try to convince my boss that he needs to get lower his security a lot?

[ironpony]

In my new job, what's really frustrating is that there are so many passwords and security codes to every little thing we do, and it gets the point, where it's difficult to get much work done, or make any real progress, especially when the websites and computers we have to work with are constantly telling us the codes are out of date, but the one person who is suppose to know about it all at work, insists they are not.

And this leads to dead ends and delays constantly, making my job a lot harder.

I feel like telling my boss that he needs to lower the security and give all his employees access to everything without passwords, codes, and trusts the employees that he hired.

I mean I don't know why he has all this security.  He is not James Bond, or Bill Gates, and there is no one is going to want to steal from his because the risk just isn't worth the reward.

But should I try to convince my boss that he needs to lower his security because it's crippling the work, or no?

[Wiseman2]

You'll need the right pass code to tell him that.🙈🙉🙊

[elaine567]

You are new, you have just showed up, who are you to tell the boss to do anything?
Is anyone else having  problems with these passwords/codes? 

[d0nnivain]

No you should not tell him that.  He has those security measures for a reason.  If you complain that they are slowing you down, he will conclude that you are not the right person for the job. He may also think that you want to expose him to industrial espionage.  At the very least if you say anything along these lines you will put a target on your back & be placed under greater scrutiny.   

Instead of telling your boss how to do his job / run his company, you need to become more proficient at your job, which includes mastering the passwords.  

[Shining One]

You should not tell your boss to lower security. The odds are likely that he didn't come up with the security protocols himself. They are probably tailored to meet certain security standards, which get audited by third party security specialists in order to be certified.

Using my current company as an example, if we allowed employees to log in without passwords, we would fail our yearly PCI audit and lose at least 80% of our clients. Maintaining PCI certification is written into our contracts with them.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Shining One

[ironpony]

Oh okay, well why does each one of us workers need a separate account with their own passwords, for different things?  Why don't we just all use the same account?  That way there are no secrets between us all, and there is actually more security, rather than all the workers having their own accounts, which seems even less secure in comparison.

I guess it just comes off as prententious because the higher ups who made the rules, are trying to make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be, and no one is interested in stealing anything or industrial espionage.  I think criminals have better things to do with their time, than to steal work from a company that would not benefit them in any way.

Edited October 8, 2020 by ironpony

[Veronica73]

I don't know what you are doing, but it is highly unusual for workers to share 1 account. 1-makes it hard to keep track of how people are using the system. 2-if somebody gives out the account information to someone else, there is no way to know for sure who it was. 3-whenever somebody quits or gets fired, everybody would have to learn a new password. I mean seriously, I have so many logins and passwords for my job that I don't share with anybody else. I've worked several different places and never has anybody shared accounts or passwords with other people.

[ironpony]

But how do you keep track of how people are using the sysem, if everyone has a private account?  Isn't it harder to keep track of a person's account, if you they have their own private password, and have it PRIVATE for you to keep track of them therefore?  Isn't it therefore easier to keep track of everyone, if they are all out in the open?

[Shining One]

15 minutes ago, ironpony said:

But how do you keep track of how people are using the sysem, if everyone has a private account?  Isn't it harder to keep track of a person's account, if you they have their own private password, and have it PRIVATE for you to keep track of them therefore?  Isn't it therefore easier to keep track of everyone, if they are all out in the open?

I won't go into every detail, but the IT team has the tools necessary to audit the various systems and determine who does what. We don't need to know the user's password in order to audit them.

[Veronica73]

1 hour ago, ironpony said:

But how do you keep track of how people are using the sysem, if everyone has a private account?  Isn't it harder to keep track of a person's account, if you they have their own private password, and have it PRIVATE for you to keep track of them therefore?  Isn't it therefore easier to keep track of everyone, if they are all out in the open?

No, of course not. Assume anything you do on the computer can be seen by the IT people.

[ironpony]

Oh okay, but if we do not need a password then why even bother to have them at all then, if they can just audit anyway?

[Veronica73]

Ummmm.....most people need a password. The people monitoring the IT security don't. Because it is their system. They have to be able to audit it.

[Veronica73]

Also, didn't you just start there recently? Why are you thinking that you know better than the boss and the IT security people?

[ironpony]

7 hours ago, Veronica73 said:

Ummmm.....most people need a password. The people monitoring the IT security don't. Because it is their system. They have to be able to audit it.

But why do you need a password, as oppose to just typing in your name to log in and that's it?  Why a secret password, especially if it doesn't even work most of the time?

[d0nnivain]

13 hours ago, ironpony said:

Oh okay, well why does each one of us workers need a separate account with their own passwords, for different things?  Why don't we just all use the same account?  That way there are no secrets between us all, and there is actually more security, rather than all the workers having their own accounts, which seems even less secure in comparison.

 

So that your usage can be tracked.  Then know when you go in the system & how long you are there.  They are monitoring key strokes & tracking productivity.  Plus your passwords get you certain access.  Other employees have different access.  For example you can't see payroll while others can.  

Because you all have unique access, IT can generate a report about what you did on any given day month & a different report for each employee.  My husband is a manager & he runs these reports on the people in his department every month.  He can tell exactly how long each one spent on any given task.  

It is more secure this way.  You are just not used to seeing the big picture.  

Edited October 9, 2020 by d0nnivain

[ironpony]

Oh okay, well the passwords and codes are not working a lot of the time, so maybe if the company can make them work, without making the job a lot harder, than I would be seeing things better.  The problems with computers and cybernetics is that if you rely on them too much, they become too faulty, when you ask too much of them.

For example, a co-worker of mine thought I was done using a computer set up, so he switched it off, and told me it's time to go home for the day.  I was not done and this causes the harddrive to freeze and a file became 'corrupted' as a result, that I was working on.  Now I have to deal with trying to get it un-corrupted next week instead of doing other work I should be doing.

The more you rely on cybernetics, the more something like that is going to go wrong.  That is just one recent example, but problems like that happpen all the time, when you rely on artificial intelligence to be smarter than it actually is, and put too much work on it.

[Dork Vader]

On 10/7/2020 at 8:36 PM, ironpony said:

In my new job, what's really frustrating is that there are so many passwords and security codes to every little thing we do, and it gets the point, where it's difficult to get much work done, or make any real progress, especially when the websites and computers we have to work with are constantly telling us the codes are out of date, but the one person who is suppose to know about it all at work, insists they are not.

And this leads to dead ends and delays constantly, making my job a lot harder.

I feel like telling my boss that he needs to lower the security and give all his employees access to everything without passwords, codes, and trusts the employees that he hired.

I mean I don't know why he has all this security.  He is not James Bond, or Bill Gates, and there is no one is going to want to steal from his because the risk just isn't worth the reward.

But should I try to convince my boss that he needs to lower his security because it's crippling the work, or no?

Have you tried suggesting that they have an IT security company come in and review the system, then set things up? Perhaps talk to him about how the endless passwords slow down your productivity. I would phrase at as I completely understand security is important and we should not sacrifice it, but I was wondering if there was a way we could streamline the process?

I own businesses and I take no offense or issue when employees bring these type of things up with me. No matter what is causing the problem and slowing them down. I like to know what is causing it and what if anything I can do to improve it. Even if it's just quality of life changes that make my employees jobs easier I'm always open to suggestions. Even if I can't make the changes they want I'll explain why things are the way they are. 

[ShyViolet]

On 10/7/2020 at 11:36 PM, ironpony said:

But should I try to convince my boss that he needs to lower his security because it's crippling the work, or no?

It is not your place to try and "convince" your boss of anything, especially if you are new there.  You should definitely bring up your concerns to your boss and ASK the reasons for all the passwords.  Give your opinion in a very gentle way.  But whatever answer they give you, you'll have to accept that.  Don't push the issue.

[ironpony]

Well it was pointed out that I should call the boss whenever I have a question or concern, so I started calling him whenever I have one, but I get the feeling that he is getting annoyed at all the calls though, if I keep calling him for every question that comes up. But is it better to still ask every question, then not ask at all?