ICT horror stories

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ICT horror stories
By Jason Kingwww.kingjason.co.uk
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ICT horror stories

• Whats the worst that can happen and how can you
  make sure it doesnt happen to you?
• A scary checklist for voluntary organisations

By Jason King of www.kingjason.co.uk
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ICT horror stories

• First, let us discuss seven real-life ICT horror
  stories that happened to a voluntary
  organisation, maybe near you

Case studies
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• A volunteer created a charitys website for
  them. He did a great job and the website became
  very popular, to the extent that most of the
  charitys new clients came via the site.
• The success of the site meant it needed to be
  updated weekly but he couldnt find time to do
  this. The charity suggested someone else help him
  but he disagreed the website was his personal
  project and looked good on his CV. He was asked
  for passwords but didnt give them out, saying
  the site was in safe hands.
• The volunteer died unexpectedly in his sleep
  after doing a charity fun run. It took the
  charity several months to find out the passwords
  and regain control of the website.
• Q. How could this disaster have been avoided?

1 In safe hands?
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• A charity had seven computers. The computers had
  three different versions of Microsoft Windows and
  three different versions of Office.
• An important legal document relating to a client
  was drafted in Microsoft Word and saved on a
  floppy disk. The disk was taken to another
  computer and changes made. It was then given to
  the director on another computer. But all that
  the director saw was a mess of random characters
  the work of weeks was gone.
• Q. What do you think happened?
• Q. How could this disaster have been avoided?

2 Were incompatible
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• A charity had four computers. Two were donated
  five years ago and two were recently given to
  them by a local college after many years of use
  in a classroom.
• All ran slowly. One had viruses. The ones
  donated by the college had no CD drives so
  software could not be installed.
• When one of the computers started crashing, the
  local computer shop asked for the Microsoft
  Windows CD that came with the computer at the
  time of purchase. The charity didnt have it.
• Q. Have you had computer equipment donated?
• Q. What are the risks and benefits?

3 They came from somewhere else
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• The Poetry Society unexpectedly lost its web
  address. Visitors to their website found not
  poetry but offers for Viagra pills and hair-loss
  treatments. The site had been legally bought by a
  Hong Kong-based company after The Poetry Society
  failed to renew its registration of the domain
  name www.poetrysoc.com.
• The society had spent five years building up the
  site to the point where it was award-winning. It
  now had to restart dozens of school initiatives
  and change all its stationery. It also faced
  costly international arbitration to secure the
  return of the domain name. The full cost of
  damage limitation was estimated at 20,000.
• Q. Do you know when your domain needs renewing?

4 Web woes hit poetry promoters
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• A charity had twelve computers, eight of which
  used Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition. While
  they were all configured to receive virus
  definitions from the server, the server itself
  wasn't scheduled to get virus definitions from
  the Internet, because whoever set it up forgot
  that small - yet vital - detail. And if the virus
  definitions are two years out of date, the
  software is useless.
• Some of the computers started acting strangely
  because the Bugbear virus in the network. It only
  got in because none of the computers were getting
  virus definition updates from the server.
• Q. What should the charity do next?
• Q. Has your computer ever caught a virus? If
  so, what did you do?

5 A common bugbear
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• A worker at a local voluntary sector group
  regularly wrote correspondence and did the
  groups accounts using her home computer.
  Unfortunately her son also used the PC. He
  installed software called 1,000 Great Games for
  Windows. After which the computer wouldnt even
  start up. Mum had to pay to take the machine to a
  computer shop to get it fixed.
• Q. Do you know how to prevent other people
  installing software on your home computer?
• Q. What other IT problems could occur when
  staff work from home?

6 Mum I broke the computer
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• A voluntary group had a computer go faulty so
  they sent it back to the manufacturer to be
  repaired. It turned out that the hard drive was
  broken so the company removed it and replaced it
  with a new one.
• When the charity switched the computer on they
  found that although it now worked perfectly well,
  all their documents were missing.
• Q. Is this a disaster or not?

7 Dell wiped my memory
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ICT horror stories

• Here is a checklist to help you avoid a similar
  disaster happening to you and your organisation

Checklist
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Money

• ICT is costly so
• include ICT costs in all your funding bids
• dont forget maintenance and insurance costs
• the lifetime of a new computer is 3 to 4 years
• you need a budget for your website
• anything that is free will have a hidden cost

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Quality isnt cheap
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Documentation

• Create a paper folder for your IT documents
• for all passwords instructions
• for your website email server PCs
• keep all the CDs that came with your computers
• Start a paper logbook of errors and faults
• state the date and time, the computer and the
  problem

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Protect against viruses

• Viruses
• install anti-virus software (Norton, McAfee, AVG,
  Symantec etc)
• configure it to automatically update virus
  definitions
• schedule regular scans
• Malware
• install Windows Defender from www.microsoft.com

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Backups

• Backup your computers
• how much work could you afford to lose? Thats
  how often you should schedule backups
• use software to automate the process
• dont just backup My Documents, what about your
  emails and your website?
• store the backups in a fire-proof safe and keep
  one off-site
• test that you can restore files if you need to

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Windows

• Use the Windows Control panel to ensure that
• Windows Firewall is switched on
• Windows Updates are set to install automatically
• each user of the computer logs in with their own
  password
• not all users have admin privileges to install
  software

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Donated hardware

• Think twice
• if the donated computers run slow, are they worth
  it?
• will you also get the software licenses and the
  original installation CDs?
• wouldnt it be better to find a relatively small
  amount of funding to purchase new machines?
• when you dispose of your old equipment, could it
  go to a community recycling scheme?

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Software

• Install software
• only if you need it for work purposes
• only if you bought it legally or own a license
  for it
• To avoid software conflicts
• install the same version on all your computers
• if you buy new computers, budget to upgrade the
  software on the older ones

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Staffing issues

• Your staff
• should receive basic training in software they
  use
• should sign up to your organisations acceptable
  use policy for its computers
• should not be able to install their own software
• If you are the accidental techie
• consider what the organisation would do without
  you
• knowledge, passwords and procedures should be
  written down, in case you leave

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You need an appropriate use policy
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Volunteers

• Volunteers should
• also sign up to the acceptable use policy
• not be given long-term IT tasks such as building
  databases or looking after the server
• not create your website unless they have the same
  skills as a paid professional

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Websites

• Avoiding website disasters
• purchase your own domain and hosting and register
  it in the name of the charity
• know the date they are due for renewal
• keep passwords and documentation safe and secure
• dont rely on your hosting company to backup the
  site, learn how to do it yourself using simple ftp

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Planning for disaster

• Before disaster strikes ensure you
• regularly take a copy of your backup off-site
• have a copy of all your passwords off-site
• have insurance
• After disaster strikes
• make a list of your priorities e.g. email,
  documents, website and consider paying for IT
  support to get them working again

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When good computers go bad

• If your computer goes wrong
• dont panic!
• dont press any buttons!!
• check its actually plugged in
• dont assume your 12 year old nephew knows how to
  fix it
• ask a professional for help

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Dont be afraid to ask for help
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Sources of advice

• Useful websites
• www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk
• www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/healthchecklists
• www.techsoup.org
• www.kingjason.co.uk/ithorrorstories
• Useful phone numbers
• The HAVS IT Team 01895 442 722
• The ICT Hub helpline 0800 652 4737

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ICT horror storiesTHEEND
By Jason Kingwww.kingjason.co.uk