Employee termination and information security

Letting an employee go can be a dirty job, but a company's information technology (IT) department must help do it.

It is necessary to involve IT in the employee termination process because a former employee who still has access to a company's network and proprietary corporate data is a security threat.

Moreover, it is smart to conserve certain technological resources, data, and logs in the event that the former employee or company itself decides to pursue litigation.

Finally, it is essential to integrate IT into the process to help ensure that employee termination controls are comprehensive enough to meet relevant Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.

Information security and data retention policies must be company-specific and tailored to the laws under which the company operates. Nevertheless, there are at least three broad principles to which a company should adhere when and after terminating an employee.

Prompt notification of termination

Every company should have a strictly enforced policy that clearly states who is to notify whom when someone's employment is ending or has ended. This policy should also mandate that these notifications be given immediately.

An information security contact should be among those who are notified, and this person's responsibilities should entail researching, documenting, and revoking an employee's access to the company's electronically stored proprietary information and its information systems.

Prudent revocation of access

In the case of a terminated employee, IT should immediately revoke all computer, network, and data access the former employee has. Remote access should also be removed, and the former employee should be dispossessed of all company-owned property, including technological resources like a notebook computer and intellectual property like corporate files containing customer, sales, and marketing information.

However, in the case of an employee whose end of employment is only imminent, IT should consult with the employee's manager, Human Resources, and other key decision-makers to determine the appropriate manner in which to stagger the revocation of access over the person's remaining days of employment.

Just as the granting of access and security clearances should be documented for future reference, the revocation of access should also be documented, especially for legal purposes. The goal, of course, should always be to revoke access in ways that makes good business sense financially, technologically, and legally.

Preemptive preservation of data

Every company should have data redundancy and retention policies that satisfy its business needs and adhere to applicable laws. Such policies address the backup, restoration, and preservation of corporate data in general.

However, a company should also enact policies that detail when and how IT should go about preserving potentially and particularly sensitive data, records, logs, and other materials that could be of legal significance were the company and former employee to wage a legal battle. It is especially important to do this in the case of a former employee who held a high-level position or left the company under a cloud of suspicion.

Mark McLaughlin of Computer Forensics International notes,

"An IT staff should only preserve subject data to the extent they are trained to do so. Creating a backup image of software for later deployment or archive is different than creating an evidentiary image. All evidentiary images must be non-invasive, meaning the original data must not be altered in any way. Further, chain of custody is very important when handling evidence. Not only should narratives of who did what and when be created, but the physical control of the resulting evidence must be secured. I've personally handled several cases, and heard of thousands more, where IT departments or even law firms have ventured into uncharted waters to save a buck and cost the company big!"

It all comes down to teamwork.

The appropriation and application of these three principles should be the collective work of the company's executive staff, IT and HR departments, and legal counsel that specializes in computer forensics and the laws governing the company's use of computing technology.

The results of this cooperative effort should be greater protection of corporate data as well as better preparedness for litigation regarding corporate data theft, hacking, and other forms of illegal or ill-advised uses of computing technology.

(NOTE: The original title of this article is "Employee Termination from an I.T. Perspective.")

iAMrj * richard jones

Daddy, do better

My three daughters reign supreme among the reasons I am blessed to be me. Many people have enriched my life, but none like those "little women" who simply call me Daddy. They inspire me more than anyone to be a positive presence in their and others' lives. I love them more than words could ever convey, and I take incalculable delight in watching and helping them grow.

Regrettably, I have not always felt that way. There was a time when I believed that siring three daughters was a curse. I also was the kind of man I hope they will always avoid. I was manipulative and mean, and I used and abused women in just about every way imaginable. However, the more I looked into my daughters' eyes, the more I longed for them to see me as a father of which they could be proud. Yet, the more I listened to them, the more I learned the abysmal degree to which I was a disappointment and disgrace to them.

They told me about the nightmares, headaches, and tummy aches that ensued my fits of rage. One even told me that she was no longer proud to call me Daddy, an admission that nearly ripped my soul to shreds. They did not care about getting things, but how all in the family might get along. Although I was distant even when I was close to them, they did not want me gone. They wanted me to get better; to do better; to be a better person and not just a so-called better man.

Like many abusive men, I thought I was a dynamite dad even though I was a pathetic partner. So, my initial reaction to the chastisement of my children was denial, defensiveness, and downright seething anger. I accused their mother of poisoning their minds because I refused to believe that they could feel and express such disapprobation without adult assistance. Consequently, I adopted a me-against-them mentality that only made me more antagonistic and jealous as a parent and delayed my deliverance from the evils of domestic violence.

Still, my daughters persisted in challenging me to change. Their criticism was constructive, too, because they vented wholesome expectations and not just their woeful frustrations. One day our middle child even read to me an excellent children's book about conflict resolution when she noticed that I was becoming angry with their mother. Yes, they wanted a different daddy - their father to become a new man rather than a new man to become their father.

I wish I had changed sooner than later, but the day finally came when their speaking up and speaking out suddenly galvanized me into getting myself together. What I once perceived as insulting comments became inspiring critiques as I remembered saints of ol' reinterpretation of the biblical expression "a child shall lead them." Their loving me was leading me to a radical revision of me.

They were loving me to wholeness. Their healing presence in my life was helping me overcome the malady and madness of being a misogynist and male chauvinist pig. I made life hell on earth for many of the women who opened their hearts to me, but "the devil" that "made me do it" was not some fire-breathing, pitch-fork-carrying, soul-chasing, havoc-wreaking, metaphysical overlord of postmortem retribution. It was a steady diet of formative and formidable social experiences that etched into my subconscious a demeaning and demanding attitude toward women and self-serving beliefs about what it means to be male in general and "a man" in particular. My initial roles as a "hu-man" were scripted by negative social forces I could not resist until I recognized them.

My daughters' unrelenting love for me not only transformed my pitiful perspective on parenting, but also the way I think of and treat women altogether. They were resplendent rays of sun under which my heart warmed to the idea of fatherhood, and as I reached a profound awareness of their solidarity with all "sistas," I awakened to the powerful and practical realization that I could not give them proper respect without also showing the same respect to all women. Moreover, I was making indelible impressions on them as the first man to love and be loved by them, and I no longer wanted to bequeath to them negative images and ideas of femininity, masculinity, love, friendship, and human relationships in general.

It was not enough for my daughters to reach out with such love. I had to reach back and reciprocate it. In so doing, I learned to love them and others for who they are and, sometimes, despite how they are. I learned to look beyond others' faults and see their need for someone, including me, to always help bring out the best in them. I learned to respect those who do little or nothing to earn respect. I learned that true love is the motivation and means by which I can make the most of whatever moments I share with others. I learned that to love is to choose hope instead of hate; forgiveness instead of bitterness; selflessness instead of selfishness; kindness instead of cruelty; strength of character instead of weakness of mind. I learned that I cannot be much of anything unless love is everything to me.

It is not because they are cute and cuddly that my daughters are daddy's girls. It is because they are bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. Consequently, I would not love them any less even if they were the most stubborn and obstinate children. However, they are as good to and for me as anyone in my life. I just had to humble myself and then parent. When I relinquished the role of the know-it-all-and-have-it-all dad, I became receptive to their incomparably good influence as children with hearts made of heaven's gold. I learned that it is truly a blessing to have children because they are treasures in earthen vessels, and they, too, can bless and enrich my life.


iAMrj * richard jones

Abuse me, lose me

It is much easier to try to avoid an abusive relationship altogether than to get out of one. Everything from fear of retaliation to feeling helpless can make it extremely difficult for a victim of abuse to sever ties with their abuser. Unemployment, underemployment, codependency, and not wanting the children to suffer -- though they probably already are suffering! -- can also discourage the victim from just walking away. Even worst, the likelihood of being publicly humiliated, maimed, or perhaps even murdered by their abuser can simply paralyze the victim.

Such are compelling reasons to do everything within your power to steer clear of an intimate relationship with anyone who is abusive. And doing so must began with you rejecting the oft-unspoken assumption that "it's a thin line between love and hate." Not only are love and hate separate and distinct ways of viewing and treating people, but the "line" between these attitudes and approaches to people and relationships is as vast as the universe itself.

It is not love that drives someone to hurt you. It is not love that compels someone to attempt to control you. On the contrary, true love brings out the best in us even during the worst of times. It also provides us with motivation and a manner of making the most of whatever moments we share. Thus, if your partner claims to love you, it is only fitting that they follow-up their declaration of love by doing things that build you up rather than tear you down.

Your own health and happiness are far more important than having a wife, husband, or honey. Yes, you are just as significant as your significant other, and a diminished you is detrimental to you, your relationships, and every good thing you desire. Therefore, love yourself enough to liberate yourself from such need of acceptance that you lose yourself in gaining it. Love yourself and others by doing what, first and foremost, is best for you.

Never allow anyone to isolate you from your family, friends, and acquaintances. These people can be vital sources of affirmation, strength, support, wisdom, and protection, and no one except you and them should determine the nature of those relationships. You should not neglect your partner just to appease others, and you should not burn any bridges only to be burned by an abuser.

Be independent as well as interdependent in your relationship. Do not relinquish control of your thoughts, feelings, desires, and personal means of economic and emotional empowerment. Always reserve the right to be yourself, to do your own thing, to take care of yourself, and to make other choices that are different from what your partner might choose. Do not dummy-down for your partner, and avoid becoming so dependent on your partner that you cease to think for yourself or make decisions that are purely your own.

If your partner truly respects you, your partner will not attempt to force you to do anything, but will respect your freedom and dignity as a human being. If your partner sees and values you as their partner, they will not try to impose their will on you, but will offer insight into matters without attempting to intimidate you into conforming to their opinion.

You are not anyone's property because you are a person and not a thing. No one owns you, so do not act or allow yourself to be treated as though you literally belong to your partner. Do not carry on in the relationship like a domesticated slave obligated to do massa's will. Your partner does not have any rights to you or over you. Be your own person and love freely, if at all; for love, to be, must be free.

Be yourself, be true yourself, and honor your partner's need to do the same. In so doing, focus on who your partner is rather than who or what you would like for partner to be. In other words, do not allow yourself to fall in love with a figment of your imagination because your relationship can only languish in jeopardy if it is founded on a lie.

Rely on much observation and not mere conversation to learn your partner's true personality, priorities, and pursuits. Moreover, do not pressure your partner to pretend by constantly telling them how you want them to act. Watch how they act while always bearing in mind that a person is what they consistently do (and do not do!), especially when they are peeved or under pressure.

Be very careful about telling your partner, especially a prospective partner, what you want in a lover and relationship because what you say can and often will be used against you. Do not try to ensure that your partner says, does, and gives you just what you want. Instead, relax, be patient, and enjoy their company while seeing what they actually have to offer. Note as much about the actual person as you do their potential, and do not expect them to "change for the better." Do not help anyone deceive you by talking too much.

Express your emotions, but do not succumb to emotionalism. Emotions broken from the cage of sound reasoning and reality checks will cloud your judgment and spoil your actions. Follow your heart, but the facts as well. Acknowledge whatever disparity exists between what you desire and what you have -- between what you think the relationship should be and what it actually is. If you find too great a gap between what the relationship is and what you need it to be, exit it before it becomes the worst thing you have ever had. Do not permit your emotions to run amok in and over your life. Do not feel your way into a living hell.

Have below-zero tolerance for disrespect -- things like dishonesty, "polite put-downs," outright name-calling, tongue thrashings, guilt trips, being cursed out, threats of violence or abandonment, slapping, grabbing, and other forms of assaultive contact. At the slightest sign that your partner is moving toward demeaning or dictating to you, kindly but sternly warn your partner that you will not allow yourself to be mistreated or just end the relationship.

Under no circumstance should you conduct yourself like the boy that cried wolf and sound so many false alarms that your partner simply ignores you. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Do not settle for anything less than honesty, respect, good communication, and the kind of problem solving that can strengthen the relationship. Make sure that your actions as well as your words say, "If you abuse me, you will lose me."

Always bear in mind that to forgive someone and even continue loving them does not mean that you have to maintain a close relationship with them. Sometimes a long distance relationship, or no relationship at all, is best for all.

Moreover, understand the difference between explanations and excuses. Perhaps everything can be explained, but not all explanations, even some of the best ones, are acceptable excuses. This means that you do not have to excuse your partner's misbehavior just because there may be explanations for it. Regardless of how much you care for your partner, there might come a time when you will need to flee your relationship even while extending forgiveness.

You do not have to live with everyone you love. More specifically, to love your partner unconditionally does not mean that you cannot attach conditions to any aspect of your relationship. Unconditional love means that you will always care for the person, want what is best for them, and perhaps do what you reasonably can to help them do, have, and become every good thing they desire. Nevertheless, whether you seek or sustain an intimate relationship with them should depend on how well you treat one another.

Believing otherwise will only make you feel obligated to stay with your partner and try to make the relationship work regardless of how you are treated. Consequently, you should adhere to this principle: 'We shall be lovers for as long as we are loving. If we cease to be loving, we shall cease to be lovers although I may always love you.'

Misery might love company, but you do not have to be the one who entertains it. If being with your partner becomes more of a bane than blessing, get out the relationship as soon as possible, especially if either of you is doing more to incinerate the relationship than to improve it.

It is the nature of love to give us hope. So, you may wish to reconcile with your partner after a time of separation. Just understand that it is best to get away from an abuser as soon as you can and get back with them only if they demonstrate in many ways, over a long period, that they have truly learned better ways of coping with interpersonal conflict and dealing with difficulties.

However, avoid cycles of abuse in which an abuser develops the deadly habit of showing signs of progress, only to regress, confess, and expect you to continue putting up with their mess. Be courageous enough to cut your losses and cut the ties of intimacy with your partner when you notice a pattern of abuse. It is better to have loved and lost than to lose your mind, health, or life trying to love a loser.

You may be a victim of abuse, but you do not have to be a fool for it. Learn and change whatever you may be doing either to choose abusive partners or to encourage and contribute to abuse and domestic violence in your relationships. When appropriate, take responsibility and change yourself as well as your situation.

You will never have a perfect relationship. Nonetheless, you do not have to settle for a pathetic and perilous relationship. Indeed, it is possible to cultivate a perfectly imperfect relationship in which no one commits offenses so grievous that those offenses cannot be redressed by confession, forgiveness, and a sincere commitment to better ways of living.

Still, if even your dream relationship degenerates into a living nightmare, do what you must to end the relationship before it ends you. Get out of the abusive relationship before something happens that you cannot get over. Stop intimate partner abuse before it stops you.


iAMrj * richard jones

Would you protest these songs?

The socially conscious American Sociological Association recently released the names of what it believes are "essential protest song." The list was compiled by the editors of the ASA sponsored journal "Contexts," and it consists of the following selections:

1. "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Lyrics by James Weldon Johnson; music by J. Rosamand Johnson. Key lyric: "We have come over a way that with tears has been watered / We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered." Known as the "Black National Anthem" - the antidote to "America, the Beautiful."
   
2. "Which Side Are You On?" By Florence Reece. "Don't scab for the bosses, don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance unless we organize." Written during the labor struggles in Harlan County, Kentucky, in the 1930s, it was later adopted by the civil rights movement.
   
3. "Strange Fruit." Performed by Billie Holiday. By Abel Meeropol (who later adopted the children of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg). "Pastoral scene of the gallant south / The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth." A chilling protest against lynching. Maybe the greatest protest song of all time.
   
4. "Pastures of Plenty." By Woody Guthrie. "Every state in this union us migrants has been /'Long the edge of your cities you'll see us, and then / We've come with the dust and we're gone in the wind." Guthrie's ode to America's migrant workers.
   
5. "The Times They Are A-Changin'." By Bob Dylan. "There's a battle outside and it's raging / It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls." Tough call between this and Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," "Only a Pawn in Their Game," "Masters of War," "With God on Our Side," etc., etc.
   
6. "We Shall Overcome." Adapted from a gospel song, the anthem of the civil rights movement. "Deep in my heart, I do believe / We shall overcome some day." Infinitely adaptable.
   
7. "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round." Also adapted from a Negro spiritual. "I'm gonna keep on walkin', keep on talkin' / Fightin' for my equal rights." Another powerful civil rights anthem.
   
8. "I Ain't Marching Anymore." By Phil Ochs. "It's always the old to lead us to the war / It's always the young to fall / Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun / Tell me is it worth it all?" An antiwar classic, complete with a revisionist history of American militarism.
   
9. "For What It's Worth." Performed by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. By Stephen Stills. "There's something happening here / What it is ain't exactly clear / There's a man with a gun over there / Telling me I've got to beware." Eerily foreboding.
   
10. "Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)." By James Brown. "Now we demand a chance to do things for ourself / We're tired of beatin' our head against the wall and workin' for someone else." A Black Power anthem by the Godfather of Soul.
    
11. "Respect." Performed by Aretha Franklin. By Otis Redding. "I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone / Ain't gonna do you wrong 'cause I don't wanna / All I'm askin' is for a little respect when you come home." The personal is political.
    
12. "Redemption Song." By Bob Marley. "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery / None but ourselves can free our minds." Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" is also a contender.
    
13. "Imagine." By John Lennon. "Imagine no possessions / I wonder if you can / No need for greed or hunger / A brotherhood of man." Lennon as utopian socialist.
    
14. "Fight the Power." By Public Enemy. "Got to give us what we want / Gotta give us what we need / Our freedom of speech is freedom or death / We got to fight the powers that be." An exuberant hip-hop call to arms.

My list of "essential protest songs" would include "War" (1970), a Motown classic by recording artist Edwin Starr. This protest song about the Vietnam War was one of the first Motown songs to make a powerful political statement: "It ain't nothing but a heartbreaker / War / Friend only to the undertaker / War."

What selections would you make? What protest songs would you list?

iAMrj * richard jones

Real fathers play through their pain

I injured my right foot on my birthday, which was last Thursday, March 30. My friend, Kandise, and her daughter, Johlie, were visiting from Virginia. After having lunch with some of my coworkers, we toured the Detroit Zoo. We were leaving, when I decided to race Johlie to the main exit. I wanted to win one for "the old folk," and ended up pulling a muscle in my foot.

Needless to say, I was in pain all night. Neither a foot massage nor an ankle wrap provided relief. I had to suck it up, though, because the next day I had to attend a daddy-daughter dance with my youngest daughter, 11-year-old Ivana.

The dance is sponsored every year by Ivana's Girl Scout "cult," as her big sisters are so fond of calling it. So, there I was, limping, gingerly leaping, and even somehow leading some of the girls with some of my suave dance moves. For real though, even though I cannot dance at all, I thoroughly enjoyed the indoor beach party and was pleased that Ivana was pleased with my effort.

Then came Saturday. I could barely walk by then, but, again, I had to "play through the pain." This time because my niece Briana held her birthday party at a ROLLER SKATING rink. You better know it: I skated like I was practicing to watch Senior Olympics tryouts! Round and round I went, my foot screaming at each turn, "Ya know, it sure would be nice if you were to lift me every once in a while!"

There was a time when I would have used my foot injury as a ready excuse not to do something with my daughters and niece that I really was not up to. However, I have come to a place in my life where I take such joy in them that that joy also gives me strength to just "keep on keepin' on."

A couple of days ago, Ivana left this cute message in my guestbook on www.iamrj.com:

"I love my daddy very dearly. He is the most changed man I have ever met. He was never really a mean daddy. Just a little troubled. He's really nice, funny and smart now. Mr. Computerman. He takes me and my sisters shopping and everything. Now that's what you call a real man! Haheha, I’m funny, aren't I! My dad is super super super nice and everything. Once again, he's like super daddy!"

Yes, Ivana, a "real man," a real father takes his children "shopping and everything." And, like a great mom, he often does so regardless of how he feels and whatever else is going in his life. Sure, there are times when even a "super daddy" must reschedule or postpone an outing, but his love for his children drives him do everything within his power to try to keep his word to them.

It is not always easy or convenient for a father, especially a divorcee like me living outside "the home," to spend time with his children. Still, we must because it can and often does make a positive difference in their and our lives.

iAMrj * richard jones