Question for IT guys

[sammyjenkis]

I recently started a new job at a large corporation. They seem to be pretty strict about computer security. They do not allow people to put cd/dvd's in or plug any USB devices into computers.

My question revolves around upgrading RAM in my machine. Technically, I am supposed to put in a request, have it approved by my manager, and then IT would charge hundreds of dollars for it to be done. Not gonna happen. I have the RAM myself and I am experienced with installing it - is that something that would be detectable by the IT department? Is it likely that any type of change to my computer configuration will set off a red flag that will get me on trouble?

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Bleed S & G]

I recently started a new job at a large corporation. They seem to be pretty strict about computer security. They do not allow people to put cd/dvd's in or plug any USB devices into computers.

My question revolves around upgrading RAM in my machine. Technically, I am supposed to put in a request, have it approved by my manager, and then IT would charge hundreds of dollars for it to be done. Not gonna happen. I have the RAM myself and I am experienced with installing it - is that something that would be detectable by the IT department? Is it likely that any type of change to my computer configuration will set off a red flag that will get me on trouble?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Paging OCB..

My two cents:

I recently started a new job at a large corporation. They seem to be pretty strict about computer security.

Stop right there. It's a new job, and they're strict on security. Why not go through the proper channels if you must upgrade? Basically, why risk it?

Pretty sure OCB is an IT guy though.. since I know my answer dosen't help at all - just felt like post padding.

 

[t_BuckeyeScott]

System Memory is easily detectable on machines in a network. Why in the world would you put your own memory on a work pc anwyway? And what would happen if you didn't seat it right and you shorted the mb. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[FrancisSoyer]

System Memory is easily detectable on machines in a network. Why in the world would you put your own memory on a work pc anwyway? And what would happen if you didn't seat it right and you shorted the mb. Doesn't seem worth it to me.

I would have to agree. If it's not your computer then you shouldn't open the case for any reason. Let the IT guys do their thing. I don't work in IT but some of the guys I share an office with do. They get really tired of people trying to go under the radar like this.

 

[Muck]

BS&G hit the nail on the head. Why risk it.

That being said as a former IT guy I can say that there damn near every company has their own unique policy so it's hard to answer your questions.

If I were a betting man I'd put money on "they probably won't notice" (only because they probably won't look) however I'd also put money on..."one day you'll come in to work and your machine will be gone because it's lease was up & they replaced it".

Your RAM will then get stripped out and used for something else.

 

[Mike80]

I recently started a new job at a large corporation. They seem to be pretty strict about computer security. They do not allow people to put cd/dvd's in or plug any USB devices into computers.

My question revolves around upgrading RAM in my machine. Technically, I am supposed to put in a request, have it approved by my manager, and then IT would charge hundreds of dollars for it to be done. Not gonna happen. I have the RAM myself and I am experienced with installing it - is that something that would be detectable by the IT department? Is it likely that any type of change to my computer configuration will set off a red flag that will get me on trouble?

Any insight would be appreciated.

Shake yourself. System memory is easily detectable on both Windows and LINUX platforms. Not to mention if they are that strict about what you bring into the network they likely have some sort of hardware and software baseline which you would be violating.

It's a new job and if they are that strict (it really sounds like the military with those rules), you shouldn't risk it. There are easier ways to get fired, but this is a surefire way of getting it done.

 

[Mac]

I say rattle the bush. Scrap that maCHine and just bring in your own.

 

[sammyjenkis]

Jeez, what a bunch of spoil-sports.



I'll just start my own company - with hookers, and blackjack. Actually, forget the company and blackjack...


Thanks for the input, all. I guess I'll just not get myself fired, then.

 

[CleveBucks]

I could produce a report showing the amount of RAM on every computer on my network in about 10 seconds. Whether I would notice a change is another story. Are all/most of the computers identical or is it a random mishmash of different makes/models? And why would you want to risk pissing off an IT department that you know is very strict when you're the new guy?

I wish I could charge hundreds of dollars for a RAM upgrade.

 

[Dryden]

My question revolves around upgrading RAM in my machine. Technically, I am supposed to put in a request, have it approved by my manager, and then IT would charge hundreds of dollars for it to be done. Not gonna happen. I have the RAM myself and I am experienced with installing it - is that something that would be detectable by the IT department? Is it likely that any type of change to my computer configuration will set off a red flag that will get me on trouble?

Anything you do is detectable. If your particular IT staff has intrusion detection enabled on the mobo with a supported case, they'll even be able to determine if you cracked the case just to look inside. Every Web site you visit, every IM you send, etc is likely recorded.

Physical hardware changes are the easiest to detect. At my company I threw a free app named SpiceWorks on a backup AD member to monitor the network. SpiceWorks can inventory any connected PC based on a schedule I set, can be configured to use credentials associated with any user account in the Windows Active Directory/Domain, including Administrator, or use native Linux credentials for the *nix servers, and can build reports and email them to me, or directly page me, if anything changes.

I use this software to detect wild changes on servers, such as the FTP server going from 16% disk usage to 60% disk usage (somebody did something stupid), or a workstation not reporting an I: drive anymore (a RAM-disk drive failed or needs a new battery), or a desktop going from 2Gb RAM to 1Gb (somebody just opened the machine and stole hardware). In fact, on the very first page of the reporting tool is a summary of every major change detected on every PC on the network over the entire history the software has been running. Since this software uses native Windows credentials to login and pull data using Windows native system calls, I can even pull things out of the registry without leaving my office, such as new registry keys (whether employees are installing their own software), or which MSFT registration keys are in use on a particular PC (to keep my volume licensing in check and know what I installed where last month when I was too busy to write it down).

Do not crack the case on your PC at work or modify the hardware. You will get caught and you could very easily lose your job over it.

 

[Dryden]

Here's another one for you to think about, just so you know the lengths your IT dept will go to in monitoring what you do. This is a screencap of a program I run on all of the Linux firewalls on the network edge. This software is called nTop. The screen attached just shows one snapshot in time off one firewall for a single fiber optic circuit/metro Ethernet handoff.

I had to blackout a bunch of stuff to hide some of our client names, but what you see here is a list of a bunch of remote hosts our firewall is connecting to in realtime. All of this appear as hyperlinks in a Web browser and can be sorted and clicked-through to find who is responsible for the connection on the local side. I've used this utility a bunch over the years to determine when things like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Pandora are becoming a problem. I prefer not to be a bandwidth-Nazi and have to throw these things out at the router, but will do it if they're becoming a distraction. This is just one simple tool of many I use to determine what's going on.

We have terminated employees over information I've culled from nTop reports before, such as when a customer service rep spends six hours of her work day on eHarmony while calling her new boyfriend to arrange their first meeting.

 

[OCBucksFan]

My thoughts, never open your corporate system. Here's a simple reason, if your machine starts acting up, and your IT staff comes over and notices it is different from the inventory, they are going to blame you, and depending on how strict your IT dept is, probably right you up. My company ran systems management server, and if you changed anything on one of our systems, I was notified immediately, and would then go poking around and asking questions. Most of the time when a system is opened, it usually means someone is taking stuff out, not putting stuff in.

 

[exhawg]

As an IT guy I hate it when users do shit like this. Few things piss me off more than when someone from outside of IT comes in and tries to tell me how to do my job. Chances are you don't want to get on the IT shit list. Noted we lock down out computers, but we have been cool to add RAM and install software that users may need when they ask us to do it. There is something wrong if your IT is charging hundreds of dollars to upgrade RAM. We've been adding 2 GB to several laptops over the past months for whatever cost CDW charges us for the RAM. Right now $42.

 

[Muck]

As an IT guy I hate it when users do shit like this. Few things piss me off more than when someone from outside of IT comes in and tries to tell me how to do my job. Chances are you don't want to get on the IT shit list.

Why? The worst know it alls are the ones who invariably fuck up their machine. Then you get to sigh & shake your head while fixing their fuck up.

I never let a user get under my skin.

 

[Gatorubet]

Crack it and add the RAM. If you get fired, hire a lawyer by the hour to fight it.