IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith

One day, a busy IBM-compatible mainframe began slowing to a crawl. Hundreds of programmers noticed immediately—some even resorted to banging on the server room window whenever the system became unusable. The problem appeared after a microcode upgrade, but nothing pointed to an obvious cause.

In this episode, Jack Smith talks to Matt about an extraordinary piece of low-level troubleshooting that led deep into the internals of VM, interrupt handling and timer queues. Armed with nothing more than hex dumps, careful reasoning and a willingness to modify live memory, Matt uncovered a vendor bug and devised a temporary workaround that kept the system running until a permanent fix arrived. It's a fascinating story of how understanding a system at its lowest levels can solve problems that no diagnostic tool could explain.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-20-microcode-mayhem/

00:00 Introduction 01:07 Mainframe Tech 04:38 Microcode Issues 07:19 Timer Interrupts 15:02 Modern Comparisons 19:44 Final Insights 22:18 Conclusion

Artificial intelligence didn't invent Shadow IT—it made it invisible. In this Jack's Rant, Jack Smith explores how AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and Claude have fundamentally changed the way employees solve problems. No servers under desks. No rogue software installations. Just a browser tab and a prompt. From confidential data and AI-generated scripts to fragmented workflows and "ChatGPT says..." becoming the new expert opinion, this episode examines why AI has lowered the barrier to creating business-critical systems outside IT's view.

But this isn't a rant against AI. It's a reminder that Shadow IT has always been a symptom, not the disease. Employees don't create workarounds because they enjoy breaking policy—they do it because they're trying to get their jobs done. Instead of asking how to stop people from using AI, perhaps IT should be asking why they felt the need to use it in the first place. Because the organizations that succeed won't be the ones with the strictest AI policy, but the ones that make the secure, supported way the easiest way.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-ai-is-the-new-shadow-it/

00:00 Introduction 01:11 Shadow IT Explained 02:43 Feedback Loops 04:01 Modern Shadow IT 06:24 Trust in AI 08:25 AI Fragmentation 10:08 Leadership Solutions

Every year, the Melbourne Cup pushes Australia's betting infrastructure to its limits. In 1991, a known software bug turned one of the busiest days of the year into an IT disaster. As millions of bets poured in, CPU utilisation unexpectedly collapsed and the betting system ground to a halt at the worst possible moment.

Jack Smith is joined by veteran mainframe specialist Neale to revisit the incident, explain why the bug had been accepted for so long, how the team recovered, and what modern IT professionals can learn about technical debt, capacity planning, and the risks of carrying known defects into critical production systems.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-19-melbourne-cup-meltdown/

00:00 Introduction 00:53 Mainframe Basics 02:01 Melbourne Cup Explained 05:01 System Failure 09:06 Aftermath & Reflection 17:03 Learning from Errors 21:53 Modern Vs. Past Tech 29:51 Conclusion

Scambaiters like Kitboga, Jim Browning and Pierogi educate millions, waste scammers' time, and undoubtedly prevent people from becoming victims. As a security professional, I genuinely appreciate what they do.

But every time I watch one of these videos, I find myself asking the same question: What happened in the missing five minutes? How does a legitimate remote support session suddenly become full control over the scammer's computer? Is it a vulnerability? Poor operational security? Social engineering? Or simply the part of the story that gets left on the cutting room floor?

This isn't a criticism of scambaiters. It's an exploration of the unanswered security questions that every IT professional should be asking, and why understanding how something happened can be just as important as enjoying the outcome.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-the-missing-five-minutes/

00:00 Introduction 00:22 Scambaiter Styles 02:01 The IT Dilemma 04:23 Compromised Systems 06:48 The Editing Reality 09:00 Seeking Security Answers 09:59 Closing Thoughts

Smart cities promise better transportation, connected infrastructure, and improved services—but what happens when everything is connected a little too well? In this episode, our guest shares the story of a security assessment in a major metropolitan smart city where network segmentation had been overlooked, creating unexpected paths between public networks and critical infrastructure. One memorable discovery showed that, with nothing more than the correct IP address, it was possible to operate a parking garage barrier from the city's public Wi-Fi while riding a bus on the opposite side of town.

Together, we explore why VLANs and network segmentation remain some of the most fundamental principles in cybersecurity, how convenience can quietly undermine security, and why the smartest technology still depends on good architecture. It's a fascinating story that demonstrates how seemingly small design decisions can have city-wide consequences—and why "everything connected" should never mean "everything can talk to everything else."

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-18-one-network-to-rule-them-all/

00:00 Introduction 01:58 Smart City Chaos 10:47 Security Camera Mess 25:09 ANPR Issues 36:08 Concluding Thoughts

Opening a tab at a bowling alley shouldn't require handing over your driver's license or national ID card. Yet many businesses still ask customers to leave government-issued identity documents behind as collateral, often storing them in plain sight with little thought for privacy, physical security, or the risks involved. In this Rant, we ask a simple question: just because a practice has existed for years, does that make it acceptable?

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-can-i-keep-your-id/

00:00 Introduction 01:34 Questioning Practices 02:46 Value of ID Cards 05:13 Consequences 06:01 Secure Solutions 07:51 Broader Implications 09:35 Conclusion

No one expects a cybersecurity incident to begin in the cardboard industry. Yet as our guest Kayne McGladrey explains, cybercriminals don't care what your company manufactures—they care about opportunity. In this episode, Kayne shares how an unexpected conversation with a golf buddy led to a cybersecurity contract, and why one of the most unassuming industries turned out to have a story worth telling.

Together, we explore the incident itself, how trust and professional networks can open doors in unexpected ways, and why manufacturing organizations of every kind have become attractive targets for cyberattacks. It's a fascinating reminder that behind every product—even a simple cardboard box—there's a complex IT infrastructure that deserves to be protected.

You can read more from Kayne at https://kaynemcgladrey.com/ Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-17-cardboard-confidential/

00:00 Introduction 00:57 Cardboard Industry Focus 03:22 Manufacturing Breach 06:15 Incident Escalation 12:26 Operation Recovery 22:56 Lessons Learned 30:26 Conclusion

Once upon a time, Change Management meant raising an RFC, preparing a rollback plan, and surviving the Change Advisory Board. Today, it also means stakeholder engagement, communication plans, adoption metrics, workshops, and apparently having the emotional intelligence of a licensed therapist

Whether you're a project manager, systems engineer, change manager, or simply someone who's ever heard the phrase "we've always done it this way," this rant will probably feel uncomfortably familiar.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-the-new-change-management/

00:23 Introduction 01:23 Evolution of Change 02:39 Change Challenges 04:14 Human Factors 06:56 Practical Solutions 10:25 Conclusion

It was supposed to be a routine hiring exercise. A candidate receives a technical assignment, reviews the provided material, and prepares a solution. Then someone notices that the "anonymous" dataset isn't anonymous at all. What follows is an uncomfortable discovery involving confidential business information, questions about data handling, and an unexpected conversation with legal.

In this episode of IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith, we discuss how good intentions, poorly sanitized data, and assumptions about anonymity can quickly transform a recruitment exercise into an information security incident. Along the way, we explore data governance, confidentiality, risk management, and what organizations should do when they discover they've shared information they never intended to expose.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/gdpr-enters-the-chat/

00:00 Introduction 02:18 Security Breach 03:25 Social Engineering Risk 10:54 Company Response 12:46 Final Thoughts

Printing is one of those technologies everyone assumes should have been solved years ago — until someone can't print invoices, shipping labels stop coming out, or 50,000 customer letters suddenly disappear into a print queue somewhere. In this episode, we take a tour through the strange and surprisingly complex world of printing: from small desktop printers and office multifunction devices to enterprise print servers and industrial mass-mailing environments that still move serious business.

We explore why printing continues to survive every digital transformation, what actually happens behind the scenes when you click "Print," and why reliability suddenly becomes very important when paper turns into payroll, warehouse labels, customer communication, or operational downtime. Because nothing reminds people that IT exists faster than when the printer stops working.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-15-spooling-out-of-control/

00:00 IT Horror Stories 02:00 Industrial Printing 06:00 Printer Installation 11:00 Mission Critical Printing 15:00 High Volume Printing 17:30 DTP and Mac Systems 24:00 Printing Challenges