For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code. Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript. We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)
Episode 010: Citizen Cybersecurity with Jesse Pollak
00:16 – Welcome to “Who’s Line of Code is it Anywhere?…” …we mean, “Greater Than Code!”
01:37 – Getting Started with Computer-ing & Security
Filippo Valsorda: I’m giving up on PGP
09:28 – Clef and Two-factor Authentication (2FA)
12:33 – Citizen Cybersecurity Due to the Rise of Mass Surveillance
Quincy Larson: How to encrypt your entire life in less than an hour
17:27 – Evaluating Service Providers
As devs, we have the opportunity to make software and tools more secure and more private or less secure and less private.” - @jessepollak
— Greater Than Code (@greaterthancode) December 8, 2016
22:29 – Password Managers and Encrypting Data at Rest (Security by Default)
Noah Zoschke: Encryption at Rest (Convox Article)
25:30 – Tools and Resources
NaCl: Networking and Cryptography library (“Salt”)
28:20 – Two-factor Authentication, Yubico
32:58 – Putting Trust in Security and the Organizations That Provide It; Centralization
38:06 – Developer Unions
42:58 – “Citizens are buying a lot of IoT devices that are being used for DDoS attacks. As citizens, are we responsible to some extent for them occurring regardless of our technical ability at the time of purchase?” – Yiorgos (George) Adamopoulos; What about retailers?
47:56 – “What are your thoughts on “benevolent” malware that looks for vulnerable devices and patches them without asking for permission from the device’s owner?” – Wesley Ellis
Reflections:
Jesse: We as a society have a responsibility to look after the people on the edges, and look after the people who don’t have the tools or don’t have the resources to do security themselves.
Mandy: Learning about security is important, even for a newbie.
Jay: We can’t just build the thing, we have to make sure that it’s usable and we have to make sure that beyond the fact that it works, that it’s going to be adopted by people and that it’s meaningful and helpful.
Sam: “Stop calling me a consumer. I am neither a gaping a mouth nor an open wallet. I am a citizen interacting in a community.” – Jeme Brelin
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Special Guest: Jesse Pollak.