Comment by bostik | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bostik | Hacker News Reader

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The criminal crews have a reputation to uphold. You don't deliver on payment, the word gets around and soon enough nobody is going to pay them.

These security software vendors have found a wonderful tacit moat: they have managed to infect various questionnaire templates by being present in a short list of "pre-vetted and known" choices in a dropdown/radiobutton menu. If you select the sane option ("other"), you get to explain to technically inept bean counters why you did so.

Repeat that for every single regulator, client auditing team, insurance company, etc. ... and soon enough someone will decide it's easier and cheaper to pick an option that gets you through the blind-leading-the-blind question karaoke with less headaches.

Remember: vast majority of so-called security products are sold to people high up in the management chain, but they are inflicted upon their victims. The incentives are perverse, and the outcomes accordingly predictable.

> If you select the sane option ("other"), you get to explain to technically inept bean counters why you did so.

Tell them it’s for preserving diversity in the field.

Funnily enough, a bit of snark can help from time to time.

For anyone browsing the thread archive in the future: you can have that quip in your back pocket and use it verbally when having to discuss the bingo sheet results with someone competent. It's a good bit of extra material, but it can not[ß] be your sole reason. The term you do want to remember is "additional benefit".

The reasons you actually write down boil down to four things. High-level technical overview of your chosen solution. Threat model. Outcomes. And compensating controls. (As cringy as that sounds.)

If you can demonstrate that you UNDERSTAND the underlying problem, and consider each bingo sheet entry an attempt at tackling a symptom, you will be on firmer ground. Focusing on threat model and the desired outcomes helps to answer the question, "what exactly are you trying to protect yourself from, and why?"

ß: I face off with auditors and non-technical security people all the time. I used to face off with regulators in the past. In my experience, both groups respond to outcome-based risk modeling. But you have to be deeply technical to be able to dissect and explain their own questions back to them in terms that map to reality and the underlying technical details.

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