Making Everyone a Systems Administrator

by Ken Orr

Right after the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., the Cutter Business Technology Council issued a set of three "Pandemic" Council Opinions, in which we described the problems organizations faced as a result of what we initially called "mass hacking" (" Pandemic I," Vol. 2, No. 10; " Pandemic II," Vol. 2, No. 12; " Pandemic III," Vol. 3, No. 5). Mass hacking was performed by those people who were most conversant with the viruses, worms, and denial-of-service attacks that were becoming more and more of a problem. Of particular concern by the most knowledgeable among us was the threat that hackers would set up "zombie computers" that could be put in place by the thousands and called into service as a result of an event or at a specific time. Particularly vulnerable were the casual computer users whose computers were always on -- "Aunt Mary with a cable modem or DSL," as one of the Council members put it.