4 ms·

It is just plain rude to apply his previous employer's actions, who employ over 30k people, solely on him.

by sdinsn 7y ago

mhluongo 7y ago
He's the one asking for your data, trust, and money. A little scrutiny is warranted.
- sdinsn 7y ago
  That applies to every B2B company pretty much. Did he also ask other companies for access to their code?
thundergolfer 7y ago
Who said anything about “solely”? It’s entirely reasonable to have the concerns OP had.
dekhn 7y ago
Since I was effectively the CTO for a startup that cared about the security of its messaging, I think I made a reasoned judgement about the nature of the security of their product, offered a way that he could help increase my confidence that he wasn't just sending a copy of my unecrypted email (the email has to be unencrypted for their scanner to work) off wherever. I don't really find that rude. A cloud customer certainly can go to a cloud provider, say "you know, it's possible you have rogue internal actors, I've read articles that said you've fired SREs before who snooped on user data, can I see your audits that show you deal with insider risk properly?"
- sdinsn 7y ago
  I encourage you to go to cloud providers and ask to see their code. They will laugh in your face.
CWuestefeld 7y ago
If the NSA guy is selling himself based on his past experience, then he himself is the one dragging those issues into the conversation.
- dekhn 7y ago
  Yes, he sells himself on that experience (I had already done due diligence on a previous company he founded, sqrrl, which was organized around open source software, but touted the NSA creds): Oren Falkowitz CEO and Co-founder Oren Falkowitz co-founded Area 1 Security to discover and eliminate targeted phishing attacks before they cause damage to organizations. Previously, he held senior positions at the National Security Agency (NSA) and United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), where he focused on Computer Network Operations & Big Data. That’s where he realized the immense need for preemptive cybersecurity.
- sdinsn 7y ago
  > those issues What issues?
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
audiometry 7y ago
I think it's acceptable to wonder if the ex-employee's attitudes and beliefs are similar to the organization he spent the bulk of his time working at.
- sdinsn 7y ago
  Then perhaps ask him about his attitudes and beliefs- not for access to his code.
  - tripzilch 7y ago
    They told him about their attitudes and beliefs: "The NSA did nothing wrong". Honestly, why are you defending someone who believes that??
tripzilch 7y ago
Yeah you should be able to work for whatever unethical employer you like, and defend their actions without consequence. /s

It is just plain rude to apply his previous employer's actions, who employ over 30k people, solely on him.

by sdinsn 7y ago

It is just plain rude to apply his previous employer's actions, who employ over 30k people, solely on him.

mhluongo 7y ago

He's the one asking for your data, trust, and money. A little scrutiny is warranted.

sdinsn 7y ago
That applies to every B2B company pretty much. Did he also ask other companies for access to their code?

thundergolfer 7y ago

Who said anything about “solely”? It’s entirely reasonable to have the concerns OP had.

dekhn 7y ago

Since I was effectively the CTO for a startup that cared about the security of its messaging, I think I made a reasoned judgement about the nature of the security of their product, offered a way that he could help increase my confidence that he wasn't just sending a copy of my unecrypted email (the email has to be unencrypted for their scanner to work) off wherever. I don't really find that rude. A cloud customer certainly can go to a cloud provider, say "you know, it's possible you have rogue internal actors, I've read articles that said you've fired SREs before who snooped on user data, can I see your audits that show you deal with insider risk properly?"

sdinsn 7y ago
I encourage you to go to cloud providers and ask to see their code. They will laugh in your face.

CWuestefeld 7y ago

If the NSA guy is selling himself based on his past experience, then he himself is the one dragging those issues into the conversation.

dekhn 7y ago
Yes, he sells himself on that experience (I had already done due diligence on a previous company he founded, sqrrl, which was organized around open source software, but touted the NSA creds): Oren Falkowitz CEO and Co-founder Oren Falkowitz co-founded Area 1 Security to discover and eliminate targeted phishing attacks before they cause damage to organizations. Previously, he held senior positions at the National Security Agency (NSA) and United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM), where he focused on Computer Network Operations & Big Data. That’s where he realized the immense need for preemptive cybersecurity.
sdinsn 7y ago
> those issues What issues?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

audiometry 7y ago

I think it's acceptable to wonder if the ex-employee's attitudes and beliefs are similar to the organization he spent the bulk of his time working at.

sdinsn 7y ago
Then perhaps ask him about his attitudes and beliefs- not for access to his code.
- tripzilch 7y ago
  They told him about their attitudes and beliefs: "The NSA did nothing wrong". Honestly, why are you defending someone who believes that??

tripzilch 7y ago

Yeah you should be able to work for whatever unethical employer you like, and defend their actions without consequence. /s