The field of research is a team sport. Long gone are the days when one individual could make the change, the discovery of the century, and win the big prize. Today, we stand on the shoulders of giants, of giant teams, of collaborations, and only jointly can we reach our (research) goals. But when push comes to shove, are you willing to take one for the team?
Actually, this is a serious question. Recently, we detected that a colleague's home computer had been compromised by "Infostealer", which was exfiltrating credentials from Google Chrome. The PC was thoroughly infected and all the passwords ever typed on it were exposed and stolen. Following that detection, we sent a direct message and asked our colleague to not only reinstall the PC, but also change all the passwords ever used on it. But the latter request was ignored. And an important password linked to a test instance of a critical CERN computing service was among the passwords compromised. The attackers were quick to realise that blunder and started (trying to) take over that test instance. Fortunately, the production instance was spared…
Thus, a simple incident at home was carried over into CERN, putting CERN at risk. Despite the fact that we explicitly asked the colleague to make sure that:
Admittedly, this is a tedious and cumbersome task. Who remembers all the passwords ever used on their device apart from those that are most regularly used? (Check out your Chrome password store!) And who is prepared to go through that list and reset them all? Who actually wants to reinstall that infected device, given that this might imply loss of precious data (if no back-up exists) and some significant work to reinstall its operating system and applications? Who is willing to take that punch for the team?
Evidently, the initial problem was homegrown. Some inattentiveness, some forgotten "STOP - THINK − DON'T CLICK" while browsing or opening emails, some reluctance to keep the PC up-to-date, or some kids or partners using the same PC and committing their own blunder… Bad luck. But the consequences go beyond "home". They affect CERN. And the colleague concerned should assume their responsibilities: reinstall, change passwords, take the punch.
But instead, avoidance. Head in the sand. Letting fate take its course. A compromised test system. A near miss for its production system. Putting CERN at risk… What would you do? Are you a team player?
