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Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

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Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#111
post #68

Since you are in the EU, have you asked them if they have confirmed with their DPO that the suggested data collection and processing is GDPR compliant?

> Since you are in the EU, have you asked them if they have confirmed with their DPO that the suggested data collection and processing is GDPR compliant?

That was one of the six concerns I raised with Drata. Their reply was: "Feel free to reach out to your Drata administrator internally with concerns. Do note, that when your company contracted with Drata, any edits or redlines they provided will prevail for all employees of your company."

Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#112
A monitoring agent is used on platforms such as UpWork, where you often deal with untrusted contractors for hourly contracts. That is a part of the contract that both sides need to agree on before starting any work.

The screenshots can then be as part of the dispute resolution process, and can also protect the contractor in case of disputes from unscrupulous companies.

The agent captures screenshots every few minutes, and the contractor can review and redact any screenshots before sending them.

Adding a monitoring agent for an existing contractor is a major change in the contract terms, and not something that I would consider acceptable.

It's not normal, and not something you should agree to.

Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#114
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Network segmentation with vlan is what I would do.

Yep, exactly. I used to put client devices on a segregated network and tunnel their traffic out to pfSense running on a cheap cloud box somewhere. Worked well. (I should say that intentional monitoring of my private comms was never a concern for me when I freelanced, but I was somewhat worried about infections in my clients' devices moving laterally to my home network.)

Who the fuck has time to do that?

Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#115
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you been met with such expectations often? I have been a developer for more than 3 decades, and I have never even heard about it before.

It almost happened to me once, some dude appeared at my desk and said he will install it now, I said ok, but this isn't MacOS like he assumed as I replaced it with linux (I got CTO approval first). He said he will be back in five and I never saw him again.

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Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#116

A monitoring agent is used on platforms such as UpWork, where you often deal with untrusted contractors for hourly contracts. That is a part of the contract that both sides need to agree on before starting any work. The screenshots can then be as part of the dispute resolution process, and can also protect the contractor in case of disputes from unscrupulous companies. The agent captures screenshots every few minutes…

This is ridiculous. Whomever came up with this practice has their head in the clouds. Whether the work was done to a satisfactory standard or not should be the only measure, the journey there shouldn't matter a toss.

Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#118
post #42

Install it on a spare laptop.

I recently did something similar.

The ironic thing is that I work for a privacy-focused startup where such a practice is in total opposition to personal values held dearly by most people who work there. They claimed (and I assume that it's the truth) that this requirement was forced on them by the insurance industry. Apparently insurers are at the moment super-focused on cybersecurity threats and it's simply impossible for them to obtain general commercial insurance without having this in place. Going without the insurance means greatly diminished valuations and prospects for an exit.

So I installed the agent on a webserver that I have that has absolutely no data other than the static files that it serves to the web and that consequently are by definition public. So far they haven't noticed that it's not my actual work machine, and I expect that, with this being a mere box-ticking-exercise that they don't really care about and are on some level even opposed to, they have zero intention of taking it beyond "don't ask don't tell".

The thing I'm slightly worried about is that the agent logs logins and failed login-attempts. The problem is that employers who under normal circumstances never look at that data might suddenly get the idea of looking into it when employment disputes come up. So I'm a bit worried about creating an audit trail that basically says I never log in to my machine.

Maybe I need a cron job which, with a small amount of random variance, logs into the machine in the mornings and out again in the evening, but that would be crossing a line, legally speaking. With the current state of affairs I can plausibly plead negligence (I meant to install it on my personal device and just didn't notice that I was actually connected to the server when I hit "install"), but with an elaborate setup involving cron jobs and such, I'm clearly establishing that I'm acting in bad faith.

Re: Ask HN: My client want an agent on my laptop. Is this the new normal?

#120
post #97

You mention you are in the EU. That's important because the GDPR applies. Even if you are working for a US company. The details come down to what exactly the software is spying on (I won't look at their website): if it's too invasive, even on a company-provided computer (as many other commenter suggested), it can run afoul of the GDPR (i.e. illegal). There have been some cases already on that [1], and looking up some…

> You mention you are in the EU. That's important because the GDPR applies.

They have some lawyer speak in their "Data Processing Addendum" that is unclear to me. I suspect it is designed to enable a loop-hole in GDPR. I'm not an expert. It would cost me a fortune to get a law firm specializing in GDPR to dissect it. Drata declined to comment on my concerns about this.

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