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by derek schauland

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I am the IT Manager for a medium sized manufacturing company. We have a password policy where the screensaver locks with password after 10 minutes.

The plant manager has requested that this be lifted or extended to 20 minutes or more for a group of plant workers. The policy has been in place for 3 years or so and has not been a big deal until the past day or two.

I responded to his request that this policy affects everyone and is in place for security measures.

My boss mentioned that he had received an email from the plant manager asking him to intervene...

I have not been told to change the policy yet, but this happens all the time when this particular manager has a roadblock. The request did not bother me, but the fact that he always wants the rules changed and refuses to accept my response is getting a bit old.

I have told my opinions to my boss about the issue, in that I feel I will get steamrolled everytime this manager wants something.

Any advice?

3 replies

by cmiller5400

This is all to common. Just state that it is a security policy, and that it will not be changed unless it is approved by the board of directors/owner. This also makes another point, your IT security policy must be approved by the highest authority (Board of Director, President, Owner etc), that way all exceptions/changes must be approved by them.

by derek schauland

Surely this happens alot. To alot of people. But having thought about the situation, perhaps meeting with this user and getting the detailed facts about how this action will infact boost productivity measurably without compromising security of data is the best move.

Surely if there are serious productivity gains to be had we should look at them, as long as the gains do not compromise security

by gadgetgirl

is the one you need to get over to him. I know from personal experience that security is seen by most to be something obstructive; you need to sit down and quietly and calmly get over your point of view.

Leave a lot of time for this; some users, despite being managers/directors, need to be held by the hand and walked through WHY security is in place, and the knock-on effect that can be felt if it fails (no to mention the company embarrassment and PR trashing)

Try your best to compromise, but only to the extent that you don't give away TOO much. The other thing to remember is that when they say to you "It'll never happen" - tell them it already has. Just google that particular circumstance and I can virtually guarantee you'll find an example on the first page!

Best of luck - and try to be as patient as possible!

GG

Edit: I just can't spell today! :D

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