RichM is a real person. Everything contained in this column is real.

This evolving column will live and breath with RichM's daunting new job. Your feedback helps decide the direction the column will take. It may be a bumpy ride, but it will be educational. Let's call this experiment Reality Web 2.0.

RichM, is an IT professional with over 6 years networking/security experience. In addition to having an MCSE: Security, he also holds a Master’s Degree in Information Security. He plans on sitting for the CISSP in mid-December and will then prepare and take the CEH in late spring, early summer.

Information Security is not just a job, but an unquenchable obsession for RichM. Most of his free time (on average 2-4 hours nightly) are spent learning or playing with all things related to information security. His ultimate goal is to be Chief Security Officer for a Fortune 500 company, which he hopes to attain within the next 7-10 years (if not sooner).

He apologizes in advance for the veil of anonymity, but documenting and discussing a network as vulnerable as this should be guarded as much as possible. If anything, the anonymity allows more details to be revealed and greater amounts of information to be shared.