Hackers take down county Harris P-25 Phase II system

[mmckenna]

Even with a daily change management meeting with IT, we still have issues and problems that fall through the cracks.

Yeah, the system is far from perfect. But they hate it when we point that out. They expect the operations to fit into their methods, not the methods adapt to our operations.

However, the biggest issue for us is retirement of current employees without replacement. The fear is that it may become actual IT workers running the radio system through attrition, and some sites are going contractor/vended out soon.

We have an unofficial pact at work, there's a couple of us all about the same age that have been here a long time, and no one wants to be the one left working that holds all the institutional knowledge. Unofficially we're all going to retire the same day. No idea what that day is yet, still a few years out, but they'll need to figure something out.

Only when something crashes and burns will it get any better.

While I hate it when that sort of stuff happens, it is usually the only thing that gets the senior leadership to actually sit down and listen.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

(snip)



We have an unofficial pact at work, there's a couple of us all about the same age that have been here a long time, and no one wants to be the one left working that holds all the institutional knowledge. Unofficially we're all going to retire the same day. No idea what that day is yet, still a few years out, but they'll need to figure something out.



(snip)

You should all form a consultancy and raise your pay rate 4 or 5 times. Each can pick their preferred specialty.

 

[mmckenna]

You should all form a consultancy and raise your pay rate 4 or 5 times. Each can pick their preferred specialty.

That's usually the way it works.

 

[monitor142]

You should all form a consultancy and raise your pay rate 4 or 5 times. Each can pick their preferred specialty.

And that's when you come back as an hourly contractor. No need for the benefits anymore...just don't exceed the permissible hours of the retirement system : )

 

[wa8pyr]

It took a change they approved taking down some of our services to change that. Now, after asking for 2 years, I finally have one of my guys on the change management team that meets weekly. We've been able to stop a few changes that would have been blindly approved and would have knocked some of our systems off line.

We had a similar problem here. The system core is in the state data center, and some IT jackwagon unplugged a critical network switch; put the entire state into site trunking for a considerable period of time.

This has happened at least a couple of times that I can recall. Hasn't happened recently, I suspect because the last time it happened the perpetrator was spanked or something....

 

[mmckenna]

some IT jackwagon unplugged a critical network switch; put the entire state into site trunking for a considerable period of time.

Not surprising.

I had a similar jackwagon decide to re-sort the channels on a shared T-1 circuit without asking or telling me. I watched one of our sites drop and I went to check the CSU. Sure enough there he was with his laptop consoled into the box. I asked him "what the hell did you do?"
He then proceeded to tell his manager it wasn't him, even though I caught him red-handed jacked into the CSU.
I asked him for his log file so I could put everything back that he changed. He refused to give it to me and I assume deleted it.

I'm not convinced that shared infrastructure is the best way to do this. There needs to be some clear dividing lines, as opposed to IT managers that assume that it can all be smashed into one system.

I think one of the best and worst things that has happened to LMR radio is IP.

 

[eorange]

And this is the 'pretty good change management system'? Yikes, sure doesn't sound like it. It also sounds like there isn't clear accountability and I'm guessing no problem management. How often does this crap happen?

 

[mmckenna]

And this is the 'pretty good change management system'? Yikes, sure doesn't sound like it.

It works when it's functioning correctly. It's much improved over the last few years.

It also sounds like there isn't clear accountability and I'm guessing no problem management. How often does this crap happen?

Two words:
Public.
Sector.

Takes a while, but eventually they are removed, or get fed up and leave and take their crap somewhere else.

 

[eorange]

I was actually going to mention something about public vs private but didn't want to assume. Agree & thanks for the context.

 

[WB5UOM]

When you have people say that their new mega million radio system is a computer that does 'radio things' and
you have IT folk that get subscriber software and tell you a radio is just a computer....you know trouble is ahead.....

 

[KevinC]

When you have people say that their new mega million radio system is a computer that does 'radio things' and
you have IT folk that get subscriber software and tell you a radio is just a computer....you know trouble is ahead.....

One manager of a very large system in my area says "It's a computer that leaks RF".

 

[davidgcet]

Many years ago some well meaning IT person that runs the "automatic force feed updates to all computers on the network" decided that updating the radio console PC's to the latests/greatest windows version was a wise idea.

about 15 years ago the local PD IT guy wanted a copy of Centracom Gold software. i asked him why and he said he was replacing all the computers in dispatch and consolidating each down to 1 machine with multiple screens and running VM for each software. i informed him he was NOT touching the dispatch machine and he tried to tell me i had no say when it came to computers at his facility. i asked what about 911 and he said he was replacing it as well, he did not care who owned the machines it was his right. i called the local AT&T tech that maintained that system as well as the county 911 director that was over both since the county provided them. We met up there, needless to say IT lost that battle and after that day he refused to even acknowledge either of us when we were on site.