Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

cbc.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 49 posts

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#11

Post by rishabhd »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #3

It's crazy to think what is basically a branch of the NSA (sorry Echelon member states) has the will and means to go on strike. Those kinds of tendencies would likely disqualify you from the job here.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but doesn't it exposes workers to OPSEC issues? I mean, if it is a strike, there must be a way to identify how is it being organized/ co-ordinated via some social media/ messaging apps leaving them wide open for other nation state actors to identify who-n-who of CSE. That is assuming CSE employees are not profiled actively before this.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#12

Post by rishabhd »

neom wrote: post #9
tasubotadas wrote: post #5

>At issue is a change to the market allowance — a wage supplement negotiated to close pay gaps with workers doing similar work in the private sector. It's a benefit often used to attract employees into highly technical jobs in the public service So... quit and work in the private sector then?

As a Canadian, I would much prefer our government pays comparable private sector salaries.

In India, they ramped up salaries after years of delayed pay commissions. Now cyber security guys in Government (even on contractual terms) are paid better than their private counterparts on average. For instance a malware reverse engineer might be paid around INR 600,000 (just starting out) - INR 40,00,000 (technical managers) on average in private sector. In Government, they vary between INR 10,00,000 - INR 50,00,000 per year along with a lot of extra perks. The downside is that positions are few, the hiring process is painfully slow and involves a lot of bureaucracy.

There is a woeful lack of cyber security acumen in government to actually amp up their hiring practices and strategy.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#13

Post by MattGaiser »

rishabhd wrote: post #11
boomboomsubban wrote: post #3

It's crazy to think what is basically a branch of the NSA (sorry Echelon member states) has the will and means to go on strike. Those kinds of tendencies would likely disqualify you from the job here.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but doesn't it exposes workers to OPSEC issues? I mean, if it is a strike, there must be a way to identify how is it being organized/ co-ordinated via some social media/ messaging apps leaving them wide open for other nation state actors to identify who-n-who of CSE. That is assuming CSE employees are not profiled actively before this.

They have over 100 employees listed on LinkedIn. I am not sure employment there is all that secret.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#14

Post by sneak »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #3

It's crazy to think what is basically a branch of the NSA (sorry Echelon member states) has the will and means to go on strike. Those kinds of tendencies would likely disqualify you from the job here.

Yes, it seems that from a logically consistent point of view, anyone in the military (including military intelligence) striking should probably be accurately classified as treason.

People in the military aren't "free", by the rules of the military, in the way that private citizens are - the military is a dictatorship, and disobeying is, under their rules, a crime.

I, too, was surprised that this is a thing that can happen.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#15

Post by MattGaiser »

sneak wrote: post #14
boomboomsubban wrote: post #3

It's crazy to think what is basically a branch of the NSA (sorry Echelon member states) has the will and means to go on strike. Those kinds of tendencies would likely disqualify you from the job here.

Yes, it seems that from a logically consistent point of view, anyone in the military (including military intelligence) striking should probably be accurately classified as treason. People in the military aren't "free", by the rules of the military, in the way that private citizens are - the military is a dictatorship, and disobeying is, under their rules, a crime. I, too, was surprised that this is a thing that can h…

CSE is solidly civilian.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#16

Post by sneak »

MattGaiser wrote: post #15
sneak wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it seems that from a logically consistent point of view, anyone in the military (including military intelligence) striking should probably be accurately classified as treason. People in the military aren't "free", by the rules of the military, in the way that private citizens are - the military is a dictatorship, and disobeying is, under their rules, a crime. I, too, was surprised that this is a thing that can h…

CSE is solidly civilian.

Interesting. Military intelligence outside of the military? That's... unexpected.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#17

Post by thaumasiotes »

downrightmike wrote: post #8
logicchains wrote: post #6

Sounds like they weren't doing a very good job, otherwise they could have just used the information they gathered to blackmail whatever Canada's version of congress is into giving them more money like their counterpart US spy agencies do.

Odds are that these people are way smarter than you and obviously have taken a course that allows them to not compromise their ethics, and hopefully serves to create a stronger workforce and a more secure world.

I'm not sure forced attendance in an ethics course has as much of an effect as you would like it to.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#19

Post by viraptor »

rishabhd wrote: post #11
boomboomsubban wrote: post #3

It's crazy to think what is basically a branch of the NSA (sorry Echelon member states) has the will and means to go on strike. Those kinds of tendencies would likely disqualify you from the job here.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but doesn't it exposes workers to OPSEC issues? I mean, if it is a strike, there must be a way to identify how is it being organized/ co-ordinated via some social media/ messaging apps leaving them wide open for other nation state actors to identify who-n-who of CSE. That is assuming CSE employees are not profiled actively before this.

The people who need to stay secret are likely paid enough. Most of the standard workers don't need to be secret. You can find them in presentations online, and other places.

Re: Hundreds of workers at cybersecurity agency vote to strike

#20

Post by syshum »

admax88q wrote: post #18
sneak wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Military intelligence outside of the military? That's... unexpected.

The CIA and NSA are also civilian.

the NSA is "civilian" in name only, to get around that pesky constitution that the government hates soo much.

the NSA is a division of the DoD, it is based on a Military Base, and it has many military officers in high ranking positions

if it acts like a duck, talks likes a Duck, calling it s something else does not make it anything other than a duck, this NSA for all practical purpose is part of the military.

They say it is military when they need it to be, and civilian when they need it to be based on what oversight and regulations, and constitutional limits they are trying to get around at any given time

Post reply on HN