Who says the help desk is just a place for young IT professionals to do password resets all day?

The help desk can be a career-stop full of adventure—with questions both repetitive and reptilian.

IT pros who started their careers at the help desk answered IT Brew’s question of the week: What is the strangest help desk ticket you’ve ever received?

The answers did not disappoint, and one involved a lizard.

Brian Blasius, infrastructure engineer, Hyland: I remember, one time, I got a work order from someone saying their son had somehow accumulated a bunch of “A” keys, probably from school, and they swapped out all the keys on their keyboard with As. So, we had to set up a new keyboard.

Chris Archer, director of cloud native platforms, Cardinal Health: I had someone who called to tell me their cupholder was broken, referring to their CD tray, in our distribution center.

Read more here.—BH

Do you work in IT or have information about your IT department you want to share? Email [email protected].

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Omne trium perfectum, but for cybersecurity.

The Latin saying that “everything that comes in threes is perfect” fits the bill for Cisco Talos Intelligence Group’s 2023 Year In Review Report, led by the evolution of ransomware attacks, advanced persistent threats (APTs), and commodity loader deployment.

IT Brew caught up with Nick Biasini, the company’s head of outreach, to discuss the findings.

Big time. Ransomware attacks boomed in 2023 for a simple reason, Biasini told us: “There’s a lot of money to be made.” But it’s a bit deeper than just money. Cumulative leaks and a spike in ransomware development are allowing attackers to put together their own “cobbled together” versions of software.

“They really have been able to leverage the capabilities out there that allow them to launch these attacks,” Biasini said.

Attackers are increasingly using tactics that threaten to leak data rather than encrypting it and holding it for ransom in that way. In part, this is because new actors are looking at data extortion plays only. And “small groups…largely don’t have the expertise or the tooling in place to do the data side of things,” Biasini said.

Read more here.—EH

Do you work in IT or have information about your IT department you want to share? Email [email protected].

Today’s top IT reads.

Stat: 30. That’s the number of countries into which Samsung is expanding its smartphone repair program, bringing the total number of countries to 43. (Ars Technica)

Quote: “In disrupting the BlackCat ransomware group, the Justice Department has once again hacked the hackers.”—US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on the seizure of multiple sites belonging to ransomware gang ALPHV (PC Mag)

Read: Streaming giants Warner Bros. Discover and Paramount Global may be thinking about forming a media monstrosity. (Axios)

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