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Comment: The pilot's life is at risk, too (Score 1) 342

by xmarkd400x (#32017662) Attached to: FAA Says No More Minesweeper Or Solitaire In Cockpit
If the plane crashes, the pilot dies too. If the Pilot feels like doing something that isn't going to jeapordize the flight by reading a book or playing a game that s/he can put down, fine by me.

I'd rather have a pilot whose mind is sharpened by a game than dulled by cloud watching.

Comment: Re:Physical Security is a big issue (Score 2, Insightful) 325

by xmarkd400x (#27689245) Attached to: Researchers Show How To Take Control of Windows 7
Your "problem" has already been solved. Encrypt the hard drive. Companies don't care about losing sensitive data other than the monetary and reputation loss. If you lose a hard drive with private info on it, you only have to report a "breach" if it's encrypted.

Somebody with physical access can just use a boot CD and do what they want anyways.

Comment: Analogy (Score 5, Funny) 230

by xmarkd400x (#26447591) Attached to: RIAA Backs Down In Austin, Texas

Kid: "Mommy, can I go to the store by myself?"
Mom: "No, son."

5 minutes later

Kid: "Daddy, can I go to the store by myself?"
Dad: "Sure, son. Here's a dollar. Get a candy bar".

1 minute later

Mom: "SO I HEARD YOU WENT BEHIND MY BACK AND ASKED YOUR FATHER TO GO TO THE STORE"
Kid: "I just mentioned it to him. I don't want to go anymore. Thanks, bye!"

Mom: *Result Pending*

Businesses

+ - Test Environment/Data Business Problem

Submitted by xmarkd400x
xmarkd400x (1120317) writes "Hello. This is my first post to /., but I have been a reader for a while. Most of the posts on here seem intelligent (maybe that was my first mistake!) so I figured I would give these forums a shot.

I recently graduated from college with a CS degree, and I am now working for a large insurance company. I have been tasked with generating a report/professional recommendation about a test environment and test data. I will try to describe the situation as best I can, following with (hopefully) intelligent questions.

We currently have an environment where many different sorts of applications run. Some are web applications; some are internal applications, etc. We have a development environment, a test environment, and a production environment.

The production environment is a piecemeal hodgepodge of databases, web servers, load balancers, and other machines. The test environment is representative of the production environment, but it is smaller and different sections scale differently. The development environment really isn't important to this discussion.

We attempt to do both load and functional testing in the test environment; however, the two teams often run into each other and cause test results to be invalid. Also, when the two teams set up for tests, they will often over-write each others data, causing lost time and productivity.

The solution is two-fold. The performance test team wants a dedicated environment, but upper management doesn't want to spend the money. Secondly, the performance team needs a LOT of test data, but the production data is difficult to copy due to the variety of databases as well as the existence of sensitive information.

My questions are these:
  • Is it a "best practice" to have a test environment that equals the production environment in every way possible?
  • Are there any known tools for copying and obfuscating sensitive data (i.e. from production to test)?
Thank you in advance for your responses,
Mark"

The sooner you make your first 5000 mistakes, the sooner you will be able to correct them. -- Nicolaides

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