Thread by @HeyChelseaTroy

As any infosec person will tell you, a company's greatest security vulnerability is its people.

So I was shocked that, in 2 years of WFH, tech largely ignored meeting security—despite the fact that many techies are cohabiting partners with employees of competitors.

Like,

/1

...sure, partners talk, of course.

But it's a little different to be having a Zoom about something, and the verbatim conversation is wafting through a set of speakers with a competitor literally sitting in the room.

But yesterday, I realized why companies aren't worried.

/2

My co-presenter and I stopped in a coffee shop. A few tables over, two young men were talking. LOUDLY.

I, and presumably anyone else in that coffee shop, now know:

- How their company's payroll is secured
- What software it's in
- The NAME of the person with blanket access

/3

And I realized that I wasn't SURPRISED. In fact, in the Before Times, I overheard all sorts of things in coffee shops:

- job interviews
- health insurance enrollment conversations
- upcoming hardware releases
- discussions about someone who got fired

That's when it hit me.

/4

It's COMPLETELY plausible that WFH, even if it means a few competitors get an all-access pass, STILL results in less total info leakage than normal life where people go yell the company's private business in coffee shops.

In fact I'm reminded of this:

/5
appleinsider.com/articles/10/04…

And also, if I ever move to a new city and I want the backchannel on what's going on there, I know who I need to ask:

people who go to coffee shops and bars alone.

6/6

I HAVE A COROLLARY:

It's probably also the case that, unless a person's partner is an EXECUTIVE at a competitor, it scarcely matters WHAT they hear because companies rarely make strategic decisions based on what their ICs have to say anyway