TDE, Instant File Initialization, and Treating the Patient

So maybe you read the post title, and you already have an idea where this post is going… In the heat of the moment, I didn’t. Long story short – we had a client who was having some ugly excessive autogrowths causing a nasty cycle. Their autogrowth wouldn’t complete within the timeout period for the … Read more

DBAs Beware: “Hacker destroys VFEmail service, wipes backups”

My headline is borrowed from a headline on Malwarebytes blog post. In fact, many headlines like it are across the internet right now. This post is going to sound fairly similar to an earlier post I published, “Ex-Admin Deletes All Customer Data and Wipes Servers“. It’s from June of 2017, about a hosting provider who … Read more

Hey DBAs: Be Prepared

I’m a big fan of bringing ideas and concept in from other industries to the world of technologists, particularly those of us in professions operating in and around data. I’ve written posts before about lessons from aviation, a string of failures at the Secret Service, some corollaries to farming or our gardens at home, some experiences … Read more

“Ex-Admin Deletes All Customer Data and Wipes Servers”

My headline is borrowed from a headline on bleepingcomputer.com. This just happened to a Dutch hosting provider in 2017. You can read the article. Actually, you must read the article. If you didn’t here’s the basic gist: An administrator quits or was fired or whatever. He or she didn’t get their access terminated right away. He … Read more