24 February, 2008

Wide open

In principle, it's a great idea for a website to draw on a master stylesheet and store repeatedly-used images in a common directory, but it's a bit of a bugger when one needs to design a new section from a geographical location lacking editing access to those central directories.
Hence, whilst I'd usually work at home out-of-hours (when I must, not by choice!), I've had to spend a significant chunk of the weekend at my office PC.  It's remarkably productive to work without the interruptions of colleagues, e-mail and the phone, and with the incentive of being able to go home as soon as I finish.

I have a electronic pass card for my usual office building (a literal carte blanche, as it's plain, unmarked white), but such technology hasn't quite reached my temporary accommodation, so I normally need to borrow a key from Security.

However, the officer on duty today told me of a deceptively simple way to enter the building at any time, without a key. That's really handy, and I'm grateful for the advice, but I could have been anyone. I didn't recognise the security officer, he didn't know me (I suppose there's a tiny chance that other officers had described me, but why would they?), and we hadn't reached a point in the conversation at which I'd offer some ID.

I only have free access to three floors of corridors, communal spaces and my own office, of course, but it'd still be possible for me to return at a quiet moment and, if I was so inclined, take a microwave or shared printer from an unlocked post room or break into individual offices at my leisure. It's not just a matter of computers and other valuables, either – 'in season', offices could contain exam papers.

I'm not sure what to do; it'd be irresponsible and possibly a disciplinary issue for me to just ignore such a gaping security risk, but I can't think of a way to report it without incriminating someone who was only trying to help. I'm certainly not going to do that.