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Has YOUR integrity been tested?

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by tennessee tuxedo 2 views

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In all my years of being in networking and IT management, I've NEVER been asked to do something so unethical. Our CFO came to me and wanted me to 'craft' a partial shutdown of our email system. Doing it is easy, I mean, I built the mail system andknow it inside out; it's not a problem (technically) to do what he wants.

The problem is that he wants to do it WITHOUT discussing it with anyone else. He wants to put together a letter from the company president and then send that out, followedby a system shut down. The problem here is that this company uses email to communicate between functional areas and shutting down email would cripple this company severely. The worst part about it, is he's covering up any paper trail or proof thathe's behind it because he doesn't want me to talk to anyone but him about it and our conversations MUST be face to face, no email, no phones.

HELLO???? Am I being setup or what???

10 replies

by road-dog

There is another possibility. Is your company in any trouble? Back up the existing email and stash a copy in the server room where management will not find it. The feds may want to see this information later.

Sounds really fishy, get something onpaper or some other documentation (legal or otherwise). I suspect that there is something larger going on.

relaxed:
operating on the outrageous belief that they're NOT out to get you.

by james r linn

...That you should be working on your resume.

Its unlikely that what your CFO asked you to do was either his first or last unethical act. Ask yourself if things hit the fan, would you want to be associated with this company?

It could be isolated to the one bad apple - but how would you know?

James

by tennessee tuxedo

I think he's definitely the bad apple in this case. I was with this company for about a year and a half before he came on. We never had experiences like the ones he's proposed. This guy is known for taking as many short-cuts and back roads as possible to achieve his so-called crowning glory. This is the kind of guy that orders termination of someone at 8:15 on Monday morning and by 9:00, that person is out the door. Other officers in the company know he's trouble, but the problem is...he'sgood friends with the President of the company and he's got the President brainwashed into thinking he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Slowly but surely (and hopefully), this guy will hang himself and be out on his ear.

by stryder

As one person said here "get it on tape". A recorded conversation between 2 people, as long as one knows of it, is still within the law in most states. It may change in the future.

Cover your butt and CARRY a tape recorder with you at all times.Don't leave home without it. Document the date and time on the tape after each conversation. You won't regret it. In some situations I would rather have had my tape recorder than my pistol.

by james r linn

at least we can hope, some day he will do something that is so messy and public that he will be fired.

I worked for an organization where I reported to the CFO, and the CIO was similar to your CFO. He was good buddies with the president, golfingpartners etc. I on the other hand came into conflict with him many times. When he made some colossul blunders and cost the company millions, he was shown the door without too much hesitation. The CFO(an engineer) was made acting CIO and suddenly life was wonderful.

You can only hope Karma works.

James

by tbragsda

WOW! I thought this would be a question about Admin rights abuse or something, but I got to agree with everyone and say this cant be good.

If this guy could give a better reason for doing this (DR, wakeup call to others of vulnerabilities, anything other than what it sounds like!) than it may not be as fishy as it seems, but with the ?cover-up? feeling of your post I would flat out refuse. If he wants this to be so clandestine, and if you refuse, who?s he going to tell.

Did he ask for this ?shutdown? to look like a (blank)? Did he ask that anything be damaged, loss of data permanently? When you say ?He wants to put together a letter from the company president and then send that out? is he saying that he wants you to spoof the Presidents email account, like send it out from the prez mailbox.

Is there anyone on the executive level (Cxx) that you can talk to? I might take it direct to the CEO or Prez about this. You could walk out of this with a medal and a bonus.

It?s something to remember though. We as Admin have sooo much control. I have been involved in sever lawsuits. Reading through emails etc. Just something to stay vigilant about.

by nonamecharlie

he won't hang himself and he won't go away..

Your only option is to tape record the conversations and leave the company...it will only get uglier.

by tomsal

That stinks. Did this CFO guy even give you a REASON for his actions?

It makes no sense.

Or should I say it makes no RATIONAL sense.

Don't care what he says about no email, no phone,etc. - I think its fishy. If you have to get a little taperecorder (one of those micro tape ones) and somehow "sneak" recording the conversations on this matter. Even if you have to put it in your pant pocket or something.

If you don't have any proof of HIS actions and "orders" he is giving you, I feel you'll be in trouble.

Get documentation on this guy - when the stuff hits the fan you don't want to be naked!

I also agree, if this is a sample of how this guy is - your best bet is to clean up your resume and move on ASAP.

(I also work foran employer where we have a guy who has all this power makes a crap load of money (several TIMES more than what me or any other manager here makes) and he just abuses his power BLATANTLY and does very little for the company - but since he's great friends with the CEO (and a great a$$ kisser) he practically walks on water).

Good luck man.

by admin

I would use normal good practices and make sure I had excellent working back-ups and off-site back-ups of everything before I did this right up to the minute I transferred from the redundant mail server that provided uninteruppted service to the users while you technically did a "Shut Down" of the e-mail service (I'm sorry, I did shut it down following standard network practices, if you need it a different way, could you please write down exactly what you want me to do so we can go over it?).
I would consider not EVEN starting any of this though, until I had the whole thing documented in some form and I would even consider forcing the hand by using letters or e-mail to follow up on each phase.

Basically, if you do this, you are screwed because he will get rid of you or hold it over you later so he can keep his tracks covered. Believe me, when something goes down that is wrong, smart people in power cover the trail, and that will affect you certainly.

I would take control and set him up to either back down, or insist on this either in writing or by not responding to memos. You will take heat for this at least for a while, but it won't be as bad as taking heat with this hanging over your head later.

by Member 36391462

I'm sure I seem like a broken record here, but I can't think of anything good that could possibly come out of this. (I'm definitely going "glass half-empty" on this one.)

In a way, searching out advice like this could serve as a sort of documentation if it ever gets to a court.

I would most certainly not "pull the plug" without an express signoff from the CFO, either via e-mail or his John Hancock on a piece of paper. On the other hand, do you want to be in a lawsuit saying "Uh, I was just following orders"?

I would strongly suggest documenting everything and speaking to the CEO about it. If possible, not in an accusatory way towards the CFO. It would be more like, "The CFO asked me to do such and such, but I did not feel it wouldbe responsible to go ahead without making you aware of the implications this could have on our business productivity." And list out those impacts.

Of course, you run the risk that the CEO is involved. (^_^)

Document, document, document. Even if it's just a running e-mail diary to yourself documenting what he said to you and when. Tape recording would be better, but we all realize that it's impractical.

Just some thoughts.

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