Shark Tank: Lockdown

27.12.2005
This netadmin pilot fish has his hands full -- he manages directory services for his organization's networks, and also fields Tier 3 support calls.

"If the help desk can't figure it out, we get involved," says fish. "An administrator from the cybersecurity department came to me and said he needed an account with domain admin privileges on the DMZ network so he can perform the required security scans. I quickly set him up and got back to the other tasks I was involved in."

In fact, fish is 30 minutes away from a project task deadline. So while he's working feverishly in the server room, the security guy is sitting there too, trying to log on with his new account and having no luck.

"I was under the gun, and the cybersecurity admin kept telling me he couldn't log on," fish says. "After a few irritating moments and a password reset of his account, I bluntly said, 'I can't get to it now, I'll troubleshoot it later.' He left with his head hanging low."

But as soon as fish completes his task, he turns to the security guy's problem. He's about to head to the cybersecurity office when he notices the security guy has left his laptop in the server room. This shouldn't take long, fish figures. He sits down and pops open the laptop, intending to log in with his domain admin account to start troubleshooting. And he's stunned at what he sees.

"To my amazement, the laptop was very carefully labeled with the processor speed, memory, system name and the local system administrator's name and password," says fish.