485
bvader
7y

Long but worth it...

So I was cleaning out my Google Drive last night, and deleted some old (2 years and up) files. I also deleted my old work folder, it was for an ISP I worked for over 2 years ago. After deleting the files I had a little twinge of "Man I hope they're not still using those". But seriously, it'd be a pretty big security risk if I was still the owner of those files... right? Surely they copied them and deleted all the info from the originals. IP addresses, Cisco configs, username and passwords for various devices, pretty much everything but customer info.

Guess who I get a call from this morning... "Hi this is Debbie from 'ISP'. I was trying to access the IP Master List and I can't anymore. I was just told to call you and see if there's any way to get access to it again" (Not her real name...)

I had to put her on hold so I could almost die of laughter...

Me: "Sorry about that Debbie, I haven't worked for that company for over 2 years. Your telling me in all that time no one thought to save them locally? No one made a copy? I still had the original documents?!"

Long pause

D: "Uh... Apparently not..."

Another long pause

D: "So is there any way you can give me access to them again?"

Me: "They're gone Debbie. I deleted them all last night."

D: Very worried voice "Can... Can you check?"

This kids is why you never assume you'll always have access to a cloud stored file, make local copies!!

A little bit of background on this company, the owner's wife fired me on trumped up "time card discrepancy" issues so she could hire her freshly graduated business major son. The environment over there was pretty toxic anyway...

I feel bad for "Debbie" and the other staff there, it's going to be a very bad week for them. I also hope it doesn't impact any customers. But... It is funny as hell, especially since I warned the owner as I was clearing out my desk to save copies, and plan on them being gone soon. Apparently he never listened.

This is why you should have a plan in place... And not just wing it...

PS. First Post!

Comments
  • 53
    @bvader Quite worth the reading! Welcome to devRant! 😊
  • 36
    @illusion466 super small company and really bad (lazy) practices... The files I had were a copy from the employee I was replacing, from his personal account...
  • 7
    stupidity at it's finest
  • 4
    Wow. Just wow.
  • 7
    @bvader did they get the files back but? Cos I know Dropbox has 30 history not sure about Google drive
  • 3
    Not sure why those files where in your personal account in the first place..
  • 4
    @atomicTurtle I tried looking for a way to restore, but there's not a way to do it once the trash folder has been emptied in Drive... I even went through all my local backups just in case. No luck. I sent an email back to "Debbie" but haven't heard back yet...
  • 2
    @ppetermann Answered that above, but small company, badly managed and very poor practices..
  • 9
    Uhm, "small company, bad practices" doesn't really supply a reason, it just seems to describe the problem in a different way.

    If any of my bosses had ever asked me to takeover such files from another employees personal account, and store them in my private one I'd just have laughed at him and told him that the company had no business in having data in any of my private accounts.

    What's next, the bosses seedbox in your basement?
  • 4
    @ppetermann I can see your point. I'd never agree to something like that again. I don't know what to tell you other than it was how I had been trained at the time. It was my first IT job... What the hell did I know?
  • 19
    I would had the files backed up before deleting them to charge them for a re-accessing license and storage costs.
  • 5
    @fh3000 lol, if only
  • 11
    @illusion466 If the ISP would go to court they would have to admit their careless behaviour with customer data so...but they would be dumb enough to do so :D
  • 12
    10/10 would read again! Welcome to devRant @bvader
  • 15
    Ahh the smell of management tears and despair by the morning :3

    Welcome to DevRant!
  • 3
  • 6
    Poor debbie
  • 12
    Guess who will write a rant tomorrow...

    Hint:Debbie
  • 3
    Any news from Debbie?
  • 3
    Worth the read ahaha. Welcome to devRant!
  • 5
    @xenira Just a thank you for looking e-mail. I did happen across one of their installers though. He said it's been a very bad week apparently. Lots of running around to re-gathering over 3 years of information. Lots of yelling in the office.
  • 3
    These are my favorite kinds of stories.
  • 3
    That ISP deserves it's demise, welcome!
  • 3
    Welcome aboard captain
  • 1
    first post best post
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