Live data from Hacker News

How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

quora.com

1–10 of 26 posts

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#4
I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well. They use a mix of paying their employees well, having a company culture around innovation, a good security system, and contract promissing to sue you to death if you rat.

Take the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies in europe): they have individual scanner gates at each entrances. You can't get in without your whole body being trapped in a tube, alone. You can move anywhere without the proper clearance, and often somebody going with you. Each room is locked out with a card system. All the corridors look the same, so an attacker would have a hard time going somewhere specifically. The IT system is seriously locked down. Yet in all rooms you'll find prototypes, scale models and pictures, so that everybody is proud to work here and feel a sense of responsibility.

Protecting industrial secrets is not an apple thing.

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#5
post #4

I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well. They use a mix of paying their employees well, having a company culture around innovation, a good security system, and contract promissing to sue you to death if you rat. Take the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies in europe): they have individual scanner gates at each entrances. You can't get in without your whole body…

Apple makes mass market products by the zillions and has a long external supply chain. They can't put everyone in tubes.

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#6
post #4

I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well. They use a mix of paying their employees well, having a company culture around innovation, a good security system, and contract promissing to sue you to death if you rat. Take the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies in europe): they have individual scanner gates at each entrances. You can't get in without your whole body…

CNES isn’t working on consumer products used by billions of people, which where popular enough to generate a market for media publications devoted to only talk about them. The comparison is completely clueless. Where you to spill the beans on some new CNES innovation in a bar, the best you can aspire to is a “cool story bro” remark from some drunk fella sitting next to you. Try doing that when you’re an Apple engineer working on the iPhone and your beer burps will be the pullquote of a Bloomberg piece in two hours.

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#7
post #5
post #4

I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well. They use a mix of paying their employees well, having a company culture around innovation, a good security system, and contract promissing to sue you to death if you rat. Take the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies in europe): they have individual scanner gates at each entrances. You can't get in without your whole body…

Apple makes mass market products by the zillions and has a long external supply chain. They can't put everyone in tubes.

And, 99% of people don't care about the secrets that CNES is hiding. Most people are actually interested in Apple's next product, making it much hard to keep a secret.

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#8
post #4

I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well. They use a mix of paying their employees well, having a company culture around innovation, a good security system, and contract promissing to sue you to death if you rat. Take the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies in europe): they have individual scanner gates at each entrances. You can't get in without your whole body…

So you're saying security at this marketing driven consumer products company isn't so special, because government agencies developing top secret military technology are far more secure? Well, I suppose you're right but I don't think that's the sort of comparison most people would make.

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#9
post #4

I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well. They use a mix of paying their employees well, having a company culture around innovation, a good security system, and contract promissing to sue you to death if you rat. Take the CNES (National Centre for Space Studies in europe): they have individual scanner gates at each entrances. You can't get in without your whole body…

>I don't see what so special about apple. A lot of entities manage to keep secrets very well.

A lot of entities where everybody and their dog (including all the media) care and want to get the scoop about their latest products?

Or places like CNES, where 90% of people have never even heard of or care about?

Re: How does Apple keep secrets so well? (2012)

#10
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple makes mass market products by the zillions and has a long external supply chain. They can't put everyone in tubes.

And, 99% of people don't care about the secrets that CNES is hiding. Most people are actually interested in Apple's next product, making it much hard to keep a secret.

I was also sort of hoping for suggestions on how Apple can efficiently put more people in tubes.
Post reply on HN