In 'Bullshit Jobs: A Theory', David Graeber argues that a significant portion of jobs in modern society are meaningless and contribute little to no value. He categorizes these jobs into five types: flunkies, goons, duct tapers, box tickers, and taskmasters. Graeber contends that these jobs are not only inefficient but also psychologically destructive, leading to chronic misery and social divisions. The book is based on his 2013 essay 'On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs' and includes testimonials from workers who feel their jobs are pointless. Graeber suggests solutions such as unions and universal basic income to address the issue of meaningless work.
In 'Talking to Strangers', Malcolm Gladwell delves into the challenges and misunderstandings that occur when we interact with people we do not know. The book explores various high-profile cases, such as the death of Sandra Bland, the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, and the interactions between Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler. Gladwell argues that our default assumption to trust strangers until proven otherwise often leads to disastrous outcomes. He discusses the 'default to truth' theory and how our perceptions of strangers can be skewed by preconceived notions and stereotypes. The book provides insights into human psychology and communication, highlighting the importance of being aware of our assumptions when dealing with strangers.
Interview with Dave Lewis
Organizations believe they have a firm grip on security with SSO and corporate IT policies, but in reality, shadow IT lurks in the background—expanding attack surfaces and exposing sensitive data. Employees bypass security controls for the sake of convenience, while SSO fails to provide the comprehensive security net organizations expect. Talk about the critical weaknesses in traditional SSO implementations, how shadow IT thrives under the radar, and why enterprises continue to experience data breaches despite security investments. Can cover real-world examples of security failures, highlight the role of human behavior in risk, and provide actionable strategies to regain control over enterprise security.
This segment is sponsored by 1Password. Visit https://securityweekly.com/1password to learn more about them!
Topic Segment: Is AI taking our jerbs or not?
I listened to most of a debate between Marcus Hutchins and Daniel Miessler over whether generative AI will be good enough to replace a lot of jobs (Daniel's take), or so bad that it won't take any (Marcus's take). I got frustrated though, because I feel like some foundational assumptions were ignored, and not enough examples were shared or prepared.
Assumption #1: Jobs exist because work needs to be done. This is a false assumption. Check out a book called "Bullshit Jobs" to go down this particular rabbit hole.
Assumption #2: The primary task of a job is the job. This is rarely the case, unless you work in the service industry. How much of a developer's job is writing code? A lot less than you think. Employees spend a massive amount of time communicating with other employees, via meetings, emails, Slack chats - can AI replace this? Maybe all that communication is wasteful and inefficient? Could be, but for every job AI supposedly replaces, it becomes someone else's job to manage that AI agent. Does all of middle management become expert prompt engineers, or do they also disappear with no employees to manage?
Assumption #3: Jobs aren't already being replaced. They are, they're just not terribly visible jobs. That contractor your marketing team was using to build blog/SEO content? He's probably gone. The in-house or contract graphic designer? Probably gone. There's a whole swath of jobs out there, where quality isn't very important, but work needs to be produced, and those jobs are being actively replaced with generative AI. With that said, I don't see any full time jobs that require quality work and a lot of communication with other employees getting replaced. Yet? Ever? That's the question.
The Enterprise News
In this week's enterprise security news,
- Not much interesting funding to discuss
- Securonix acquires ThreatQuotient
- Cellebrite acquires Corellium (that sounds a lot like a rock bought a stone or a gem or something)
- Yet another free vulnerability database
- ChatGPT can now clandestinely record meetings
- Threat detection resources
- a VERY expensive Zoom call (for the victim)
- Should we stop using SOC2s?
- Should we give up on least privilege?
- How much did it cost to change HBO to HBO Max, then to Max, then back to HBO Max?
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Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/esw-413
Enterprise Security Weekly (Audio) 
