Contractors asking for admin access but not knowing basic IT
Unqualified contractors frequently request full administrative control over infrastructure while failing to understand basic IT tools like firewalls, virtualization, or web servers. This leaves companies vulnerable because these contractors do not know how their requested changes will impact production systems.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Writing formal warnings to business owners outlining security concerns and liability
- 2Provisioning isolated, sandboxed servers in a DMZ with restricted access to see if the contractor can actually deliver
- 3Demanding that contractors submit their technical requirements in writing before granting any permissions
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“He had never heard of Fortinet firewalls and wanted to know about switching it to a Cisco or other "more well known brand ". He was not familiar with virtualization or how it worked.”source ↗
“I asked him if he needed a Windows or Linux server and he did not know. I asked if he would need Nginx, Apache or IIS and he didn't know what any of those were.”source ↗
“They don't know what they want, how to do it, or the impact of it.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 30Why are contractor and window replacement quotes so absurdly high?
- 49How to handle a bad contractor who won't fix poor work
- 2Why am I scared to reject contractor bids?
- 3How to find and hire reliable contractors after property damage
- 2Why won't HVAC contractors follow my Manual J report?
- 4Is newly finished contractor work actually acceptable?