Office politics are always a joy to deal with. So what happens when it affects or compromises security? Good things don’t happen, that’s what. Let’s face it, office politics occur in every office regardless of the industry. It could be corporate, non-profit, government, military or whatever else you can imagine. Just like traffic on the highway, it’s a factor that must be dealt with and its effects minimized to limit interference. Easier said than done, trust me, I know.
In most cases, office politics is a result of poor promotion and employee rating systems which are biased and lack depth. The control is focused on one individual, the manager, who promotes adulation. Meanwhile, the manger engages in this behavior with their boss who is also an enabler. It turns into a vicious cycle comprising “good ole boy” networks and favoritism.
However, there is another method considered to be an enabler of office politics, management indecisiveness with lack of focus. If your management and executive team can’t make decisions or enforce decisions they do make, office politics and internal strife will escalate. One of the key contributing factors to this is when executives and management stagnant in one position for too long. There must be turnover and change in most cases for an organization to rebuild, take new direction and/or improve.
What does this have to do with security? If your security operations are suffering because other IT groups fail to cooperate due to power struggle or office politics you will be on the hook for failed security audits or compromises. “They wouldn’t give me access or equipment” is not the answer you want to give auditors or lawyers. However, giving this answer with evidence of your attempts to gain access or procure equipment required to secure company or government assets is a different story. One of the best approaches to change is for a negative impact to occur. Hope for a compromise or a massive audit failure due to security controls. It’s like a dangerous intersection with stops signs. Citizens ask for a stop light, but local officials won’t commit the funds to install one. However, when someone gets killed at the intersection action is take to install the traffic light and quell the public outrage. Promote your dangerous intersection as a point of concern and wait for the accident that gets you what you need. In the meantime, don’t get your nose too dirty.
