Well.
Today* was fueled by caffeine and adrenaline.
If you're any sort of system administrator, or know any system administrators, you know what I'm talking about.
If you aren't and don't, the short version is that *multiple* pieces of software that form the foundation of large parts of the web were announced to have security vulnerabilities, and there was a mad dash to get things patched before (more) hell broke loose. It started yesterday, escalated several times, and is probably not actually over.
The unavoidable question is: so, is this was our lives are just like now? A life of running fire drills?
To start at the ending, my answers are (and please, realize that these are coming at the end of a long, over-stimulated day, and I'm talking about stuff that's still ongoing, for which we definitely don't have the complete story):
* Sorta, but this was already kinda what our lives were like
* Bad things will happen, probably with some increased frequency, going forward
* The basic problem is, as it always has been, and always will be: people
* Life will go on
Now: I'm not a professional system administrator: I have been in the past, but now I'm a professor. I know quite a fair bit about computer and network security, including doing research in the area, but I'm not an infosec professional. I still play a small but significant role in administering my research group's computing infrastructure, as well as the testbed infrastructures we run for computer scientists, which have tens of thousands of users. So, take this piece with these grains of salt.
Fundamentally, I *like* administering computer systems - it's what drew me to computing research in the first place, and it's why I administer a bunch of stuff at home that I really would be, objectively speaking, better off not administering.
I also *like* working on teams with smart, competent, resourceful people, which is why I don't just computer at home by myself, I work with other faculty, with research staff, with students.
Administering computer systems is a social activity.
* Okay, yesterday. I slept all evening, then wrote for several hours, so technically it was yesterday. But please, let a tired man have his literary devices.
Rob Ricci
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2026-10-22 09:49:06 UTC
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"content": "Well.\n\nToday* was fueled by caffeine and adrenaline.\n\nIf you're any sort of system administrator, or know any system administrators, you know what I'm talking about.\n\nIf you aren't and don't, the short version is that *multiple* pieces of software that form the foundation of large parts of the web were announced to have security vulnerabilities, and there was a mad dash to get things patched before (more) hell broke loose. It started yesterday, escalated several times, and is probably not actually over.\n\nThe unavoidable question is: so, is this was our lives are just like now? A life of running fire drills?\n\nTo start at the ending, my answers are (and please, realize that these are coming at the end of a long, over-stimulated day, and I'm talking about stuff that's still ongoing, for which we definitely don't have the complete story):\n\n* Sorta, but this was already kinda what our lives were like\n* Bad things will happen, probably with some increased frequency, going forward\n* The basic problem is, as it always has been, and always will be: people\n* Life will go on\n\nNow: I'm not a professional system administrator: I have been in the past, but now I'm a professor. I know quite a fair bit about computer and network security, including doing research in the area, but I'm not an infosec professional. I still play a small but significant role in administering my research group's computing infrastructure, as well as the testbed infrastructures we run for computer scientists, which have tens of thousands of users. So, take this piece with these grains of salt.\n\nFundamentally, I *like* administering computer systems - it's what drew me to computing research in the first place, and it's why I administer a bunch of stuff at home that I really would be, objectively speaking, better off not administering.\n\nI also *like* working on teams with smart, competent, resourceful people, which is why I don't just computer at home by myself, I work with other faculty, with research staff, with students.\n\nAdministering computer systems is a social activity.\n\n* Okay, yesterday. I slept all evening, then wrote for several hours, so technically it was yesterday. But please, let a tired man have his literary devices.",
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