The IT Industry’s Dirty Little Secret

Don’t get too excited. The IT Industry’s ‘Dirty Little Secret’ isn’t as sexy as it sounds. It will not inspire a juicy new reality show. The dirty little truth is that it’s far from sexy, and every day it continues to throw mud on the reputation of the industry as a whole.

The IT Industry is full of Hacks.

Not ‘Hackers.’ Those are cyber crooks who hack into your network – like it or not, they are generally very good at their job: evil, but competent.

This is about the hacks, quacks and charlatans who roam among us in the Charlotte IT Support Community pretending they are ‘experts’ in IT services. In Texas, they call that kind of posing ‘All Hat – No Cattle.’

Information Technology is an unregulated industry. Anybody can call themselves an IT provider.

How do you start an IT company and what do you need?

1) Get a business license.
2) Claim you are an IT company.
3) Put up a sign (optional).

That’s all there is to it. It helps to know a little about computers and networks, and that’s exactly what these charlatan IT companies know: A little. Typically, very little. They may know the ‘ABCs’ of IT but are very foggy on the ‘Ds through Zs.’ Some hold themselves out as IT Managed Services Providers (MSPs), which they typically are not. Most of these ‘IT guys’ work on the ‘Break/Fix’ (B/F) model, which means that when something breaks, they come to fix it on an hourly rate basis. This model rarely sees to ongoing security needs.

So, where do these hacks come from? I’m sure there are many stories about the origins of these. The most common that we have seen involves something like the following scenario:

You start a small business. One of your employees working in a different capacity ‘knows a little’ about computers and manages to keep things going. It’s not without problems, but it works well enough for now. The company grows and eventually reach a crossroads: Either hire an outside Managed IT Services Provider or promote that ‘knows a little’ employee into full-time in-house IT support.

So now a person of questionable competence becomes the IT Manager. The company continues to grow and the IT Manager hires competent subordinates, who undoubtedly wonder why that idiot is their boss (ever been there before?). It’s an example of the tenets of ‘The Peter Principle’ wherein you keep promoting someone until they reach a level at which they are not competent.

Time comes when the IT Manager is fired or quits and starts his own IT consulting services company.
Even though he may have accidentally acquired a little more knowledge during his tenure at his former company, he is still basically an idiot.

Here at ITFirm.com it is not unusual that we ride to the rescue of both the in-house incompetents as well as the know-nothing hacks who frequently get in over their heads.

We often meet with CEOs and administrators who had no idea how bad their IT was until something hits the fan. Recently, we responded to a call from a company that had been the victim of a Ransomware attack. Their IT guy had no idea what to do. Fortunately, we do know what to do, but are dependent on what we find when we get there. Typically, we isolate the virus, wipe the infected devices clean and reinstall the data from the backup system.

The problem was: There were NO backups - nothing to work with. There were only local backups which were also encrypted by the Ransomware. We offered what forensic data retrieval we could do, but this unfortunate company chose paying the ransom and crossing their fingers – hoping they would get access to their data back (many do not).

It is a sad state of affairs, but many CEOs and administrators are clueless as to what the true state of their network is. This is rarely the case if they made the initial investment to go with a legitimate, experienced Managed Services Provider (MSP). Anybody can put up a flashy website and call themselves an MSP – or even a simple IT/Computer service (there IS a difference).

As the client, your due-diligence is required to sort through the hacks to single out the Top-Tier MSPs providers. There’s an old saying in sales: “You have to dig through a lot of dirt to find the diamonds.”

How do you pick a good IT company?

You choose an IT provider the way you choose other important vendors – do your homework. How long have they been in business? Check everywhere for reviews – Yelp, Google+, the Better Business Bureau, etc. Ask for client references.

Sit across the table from your prospective IT provider, size them up, look them in the eye, and ask probing questions. Then analyze what they say and how they say it. Ask them for a written copy of their Help Desk policies and procedures. If they dodge and weave, or admit that they don’t have them written down, tread carefully with them – or just drop them from consideration – IT is not a ‘wing it’ industry.

For an informed examination of the quality of your network and security measures, we at ITFirm.com routinely offer a FREE Comprehensive Network and Cybersecurity Assessment (see the bottom of this page for how to arrange yours). We do this with a non-intrusive full network scan. It does not examine or even look at your data. Think of your network as a labyrinth of rooms where data is stored. We don’t go into the rooms – we only make sure the doors have good locks (and are used) and the hallways are clear. It is rare that we find a bulletproof system. We document everything in a report we deliver to you that is yours to keep.