8
Networking: A Beginner's Guide
Other Network-Related Jobs
There are a wide variety of other network-related jobs, including some that do not
involve working directly with the network, such as the job of database administrator.
Organizations employ e-mail administrators, webmasters, web designers, network
support technicians, and so on. In fact, a dizzying number of different jobs are available
in the networking field.
If you've chosen to enter the field of networking, it would make sense to spend
time browsing job ads for the various networking jobs and to get a sense of what these
different types of jobs require. Once you find one that reflects your interests, you can
then analyze what additional skills, classes, or certifications you may need to enter one
of those jobs. Many opportunities are available. The important thing is to get started
and pursue your objectives.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
You may be wondering what a law that was passed by the U.S. Congress has to do with
the field of networking, and why it's discussed in this book. The reason is that this law
has an important impact on the networks of all public companies, and so it's important
for you to understand what all the fuss is about.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (usually referred to as SOX, pronounced "socks")
was an act sponsored by Senator Sarbanes and Representative Oxley in response to the
many cases of corporate wrongdoing that preceded it, such as Enron, Global Crossing,
Arthur Andersen, Tyco, and others. The act makes sweeping changes to a number
of areas of corporate governance and accounting. One change in particular is likely
to impact most networking professionals, especially those involved in day-to-day
network operations, such as network administrators.
Section 404 of the act places new requirements on public companies to annually
assess their system of internal controls, and on their outside auditors to examine the
company's internal controls and to attest to the effectiveness of the company's internal
controls over the company's use and reporting of financial information. This may
sound like a requirement that pertains only to accounting departments, and in fact, it
mostly does. However, accounting internal controls rely heavily on network system
controls--in particular, those system controls that impact important systems the
company uses for managing and reporting financial information.
Generally, outside auditors classify company systems as being either within the
scope of their audit ("in scope") or outside the scope of their audit. Systems that are in
scope include the company's accounting system, payroll system, stock administration
system, materials management system, shipping system, billing system, banking
system, and so forth. The computers and all related hardware and software that
perform those functions, or host, or run the software that performs those functions
are also in scope. Additionally, other network operations that support those systems
may also be in scope, such as the network-wide password settings, backup and restore
procedures, new and terminated user account management, and so forth.