MIRANDA SPEAKS OF A BRAVE NEW WORLD

they don't. The same applied, he continued, to the issue of software installation - and everything else, for that matter. The value of data in a highly specialised company like GSA is effectively incalculable. If it fell into the wrong hands, it might destroy the company.

Certain problems confronted Darryl in his crusade to purge Grimley Smith's computer system of harmful vulnerabilities: those invisible digital holes through which worms, trojans and viruses could slip unnoticed. First, he understood that people resist surrendering privileges they already enjoy - and, apart from viewing writhing naked bodies, the GSA staff enjoyed a lot. For a young techie, Darryl demonstrated a firm grasp of the psychology associated with computer use. Somehow he had to wean staff off their local administrator rights. He decided the best way to do this was incrementally. He knew that people don't like losing things they already have, but he further reasoned that equally they like receiving new toys.

So he used the next computer upgrade as an opportunity to introduce the first restrictions. Thrilled with their sparkly and ever more powerful new machines, the GSA employees were prepared to accept that they could no longer download their favourite games or pastimes whenever they chose.

Again demonstrating an innate grasp of psychology, Darryl avoided overtly draconian methods. Facebook was a problem. A lot of employees were draining resources, using the social networking site when they should have been working. But increasingly this was also what the security industry calls an attack 'vector', an instrument that virus-makers can hijack in order to spread their wares.

Darryl figured that banning Facebook altogether might lead to rebellion in the workplace, so instead he allowed access to the site between 12 and 2 p.m., when most people took their lunch. By setting the Facebook time himself, he was also able to increase his monitoring of malware and hacking attempts, to ensure that the site did not compromise company security.

Gently he introduced a system of relatively powerful central control, without alienating any of the computer users at Grimley Smith. At the heart of the new order was a complex program called Virtual Network Computing or VNC. This was Grimley Smith's very own version of Big Brother. If Darryl identified any unusual or threatening behaviour on the network, he could release the VNC from its virtual hibernation