IFSM 304 Week 6 Discussion
A pressing ethical issue that organizations face today revolves around the potential for malicious intent and harmful actions either from within or without. Specifically, this discussion will focus on the insider threat using an example known as “saboteurs.” These individuals exhibit various indicators, including conflicts with colleagues, warnings from the human resources department, and allegations of engaging in drug-related activities during normal business hours (Shaw & Fischer, 2005) and intend to sabotage daily operations. I will begin with the saboteur who will be known as “Sabo” for discussion purposes who was quite cordial to me – a fresh new NOC employee who was gifted the graveyard shift – at the time. “Sabo” oversaw the hotel management system (HMS) and was the sole system administrator. The HMS
was an all-in-one system that functioned as a control panel and database for in-room entertainment (e.g. uploading new movies and other types of content) and tracked guest purchases for several resort properties that had contracted the services to us. “Sabo” had trained me to troubleshoot minor issues as an operator without having to escalate to him as Tier 2 since I worked the graveyard shift. Most of the time, a soft reboot on the HMS would
resolve any delays or issues that were common, and I would not have to need to engage him. I worked with him for a few months and escalated to him four times. During those times that “Sabo” was escalated, he drove in to the headend and would resolve it with his elevated permissions and institutional knowledge. After resolving the problem, we would chit chat and tell stories. “Sabo” was a
good guy in my book, and I never had any issues with him, but I had heard stories from the other hotel support technicians and from my own colleagues
in the NOC. One day, just a little bit before the end of my shift at 10 AM, “Sabo” arrived at the office with his usual cordiality to me, but noticed a stark contrast when
he was called into our managers office and then the silent brooding walks to HR. After a half-hour, he came back down and shook my hand and said, “Nice working with you.” and left with his backpack. An hour later, our entire HMS system went down. “Sabo” had retained all his equipment and remote access and resolved to take down what was once “his.” Let me reiterate that he was the sole individual with privileged access to and intimate knowledge of the HMS system, he had a clear understanding
