User crippled a network while trying to learn Nmap

networks

IT department was not pleased, but was also easily fooled

WHO, ME? Welcome to the working week, dear reader, which as always we open with a fresh instalment of “Who, Me?” – the reader-contributed column that offers an education in how not to do things at work.

This week, meet a reader we’ll Regomize as “Roger” who told us that a decade or so back he managed teams that designed electronic shop tools and associated test kit.

Roger admits he had begun to find the job a little boring, and so he sometimes found himself exploring things not strictly related to the job.

Which was how he found Nmap, the popular network mapping tool.

“One Friday afternoon, with apparently nothing better to do, I started using Nmap to poke around our internal network,” Roger admitted. He enjoyed the experience, and it sparked an idea: Why not run the tool all weekend, to get a view of the entire company’s network?

“It was a mid-sized company, with engineering, sales, marketing, admin, and even a factory,” he told The Register. “I was curious how the IT boffins had the network set up and thought it would be fun to run a massive scan of the network over the weekend and see what turned up.”

He therefore set Nmap running and left for the weekend.

When he arrived at his desk on Monday, Roger couldn’t help but notice his laptop was missing. The next thing he saw was the company’s head of IT approaching “with a haunted, slightly wild-eyed look in his eyes.”

Roger immediately recognized this was not a courtesy visit, and so asked him what had happened to his laptop.

The IT boss said he and the company’s Chief Operating Officer had both tried using a VPN to hook up to the office over the weekend but could not connect as the network was utterly fried. Troubleshooting efforts led straight to Roger’s laptop, which they promptly disconnected – at which point the network sprang back to life!

Roger then endured an interrogation about his machine.

“I played dumb,” he admitted. “It was easy enough for me to do and I didn't even have to pretend because I didn't really understand what was going on.”

He eventually mentioned a recent visit to the company’s China office and floated a theory he may have picked up a virus in his travels.

“This sent the laptop straight into IT isolation/purgatory, where the poor thing endured nearly a week of relentless virus scanning,” Roger admitted. The tech team couldn’t find anything awry and eventually gave Roger a stern talking-to about taking care while travelling before returning the machine.

With Nmap still installed.

Have your attempts at self-education ended in tears? If so, don’t leave The Register crying for new submissions to Who, Me? Click here to send us an email instead so we can share your experiences on a future Monday. ®