giving out passwords

[PurpleGentian]

on phone so please excuse poor typing. i'm out of office today, back tomorrow. a colleague has just rang me on my personal mobile, asking for a file which is stored on my personal drive (because he didn't give me access to the project drive). he wanted my password. i said that i would log non remotely and e.mail files. colleague then got all huffy about my "lack of trust". wibu to not give him my password?

If it's on a work computer then everything on it belongs to the firm - even if you have saved personal data. If he has authority then you must let him have access.
Your employer should have rules on computer use and access.

We do this all the time BUT it is against company IT policy - so if your company has a policy, it probably says the same thing.

If it's not in place, it should be - and default recommendation for basic IT security is NOT to share passwords.

Your colleague is an eejit!

YANBU.

No no no! Passwords should never be shared with anyone! I work for a bank though so maybe our rules are stricter but we have to go through a load of training every year on the importance of data security and never sharing log on details or even letting colleagues you have known for years into the building if they have forgotten their pass.

no, I wouldnt want to give out my password as they could then log in as you and do something inappropriate and you would have no comeback as you gave out the details. We were never allowed to share passwords at work so dont do it.

I work for a building society - and we would get marched out the door if anyone found out we were disclosing passwords.
Don't do it, or ask him to get a letter from someone high up, or IT, to say it's OK.

My goodness you are definitely NOT BU. This would be gross misconduct in the last couple of places I've worked.

Absolutely not BU! A friend of mine left her pc logged on at work, and a few weeks later was pulled up for looking at porn, which IT found doing some routine stuff or something. Some twat who had it in for her had done it while she was at lunch. Fortunately all was sorted out, but she went through hell when it happened.

If you can log on and email him the files whats his fucking problem? He can get upset all he likes about it, and moan about a 'lack of trust' but you have a password for a reason and if what he needs is the files and you are giving him them, he is frankly being an arse for the sake of being an arse. Why does he even need the password under those circumstances? You've given him an alternative method to obtain the files he needs.

Sallyingforth absolutely not. You should NEVER give out your password, it will be totally against IT security policy.

You did the right thing to log on remotely and email, OP

Your lack of trust ? What about his lack of trust, not giving you access to the project drive?

I would imagine it would be against company policy to divulge your password. It's usually a disciplinary offence too.

When you e-mail the file to him, would it be a good idea to CC your boss and their boss, and some text along the lines of no I won't ever give you my password and I'm disappointed that you asked for it, and that contacting you when you are not at work would not have been necessary had the project drive been made available to you? [evil emoticon]

There was a thread recently from a poster who was being disciplined for inappropriate material that she had no knowledge of being on her work computer. YANBU.

YANBU. It's a disciplinary offence at my work to allow someone else to use your operator code & password. I work on the tills at a supermarket

WhereYouLeftIt a brilliant idea, to copy the boss in.

I work in IT and despair of people sharing passwords.

I completely disagree with sallying. Most companies (probably all) have very strict policies on this and you should never give your password out.

It can be a disciplinary offence.

I work for an IT company and we would be sacked for sharing passwords, it is written into our contracts and reminders are sent out monthly about NOT sharing passwords.

A collegue would not have the authority to ask for your password at all and shouldnt be asking either.

Sallyingforth - yes, everything on the computer belongs to the company.

However, have now double checked since my original post, and our company policy states that we should not share passwords with anyone. Only exception being if IT need temporary access.

Said colleague does not have authority to ask for passwords. And the files were e-mailed to him before he got back from his lunchbreak - sadly sent before I read that excellent suggestion from WhereYouLeftIt about cc'ing our boss in.

Pity . It's still worth raising with your boss though, as your colleague's cavalier attitude to passwords and project drive access is likely to compromise security at some stage (if it hasn't already).

Several people have disagreed with my first post.
Just to be clear I did say "if he has authority". Naturally passwords should not be shared at random but if this was an urgent matter and he had cleared it with senior management then she could be required to release it. Obviously she would then change her password.

You sallying in no circumstances should we share passwords with anyone.

If a manager wants access to your stuff they have to go through IT who can 'hack in'. But we are still not to give out passwords to anyone. Not even the MD.

Sorry words missing.

Should said but dallying.

And that's in ref to our company.