And what is the alternative? Hiring a Licensed Software Security professional? Oh wait, those don't exist. It's software, so literally anything you do can never be considered negligent. So it goes.
The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What are the chances that, as an MFA in Music, she has a rock solid background in mathematics? Unlikely? There is no standard math requirement for music majors, and that's pretty well known. > Would we be having this conversation if she had no degree? (Of course not.) Yes, even more so! A chief security officer with no degree presiding over the security of a nation's credit data?! I mean, she's already under scruti…
Does it change your views if I restate this as (using just her public LinkedIn profile): "A chief security officer with 15 years of experience and peer accolades in the fields of banking-grade security and human data management" Typically, this is where most people don't even ask what a degree is. However, as you indicate "no degree" is unacceptable: Which domain-relevant degree programs, initiated 20+ years ago and…
Anything remotely technical. Remember, we wouldn't be having this conversation if Equifax wasn't making embarrassing amateur mistakes with everyone's personal data. Their CSO appears incompetent.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
LinkedIn shows endorsements by tens of people at each of her jobs in the specific labels "Information Security", "Disaster Recovery", and "Business Continuity". By that basis, she is perfectly qualified to handle this breach LinkedIn endorsements are as meaningful as Facebook likes.
Of course her LinkedIn profile does not correctly reflect her experience and qualifications. Yet here we are, on Hacker News, with people calling her out for not having security experience based on her LinkedIn profile having an Art degree, rather than a Science degree. I agree wholeheartedly with you that LinkedIn is as meaningful as Facebook. We absolutely should not be here evaluating her qualifications based on h…
Nobody is outright saying she doesn't have the experience. Clearly some employees at Equifax were ignoring security vulnerabilities. The first person you look at is the CSO.
The Linkedin doesn't paint the whole picture but it could indicate something and that what's being pointed out.
This isn't an attack on a single person it's an attempt to figure out how the biggest breach of user information in history went down.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#24One of the best developers and architects I've ever known has a Ph.D. in Music Composition. Never took a formal CS course in his life - yet he was one of the best. I suggest not being too quick to judge people by their degrees.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#25Would the breach appear worse if her degree was in CS or not? Seems the HN community is trying to correlate her degree to the breach and this is virtually impossible. Her MFA did not cause the breach nor is their an identifiable correlation.
Optics. Equifax has pretty clearly demonstrated that it does not care at all about security. There was the breach, then the news that their "random PINs" were just timestamps, then there was the admin/admin credentials for an employee portal. It's a pretty bad look.
This is Hacker News, though. Is it news that the CSO has a degree in Music? No, not without further investigation, which didn't occur prior to the bait-titled link to her LinkedIn profile.
That's my only point here. Her degree is irrelevant to the point of uselessness for determining whether she's qualified, and whether fault for this incident lies with her judgement calls, or with others.
Maybe we'll find out that she's been writing internal memos for years about the security catastrophes and they've been willfully ignored by the CEO and the Board of Directors. Hell, she has an MFA in Music, so she there's a non-zero chance she wrote them a song about how they'll all be burned at the stake someday if they don't listen to her. This is no less likely an outcome.
We literally have no information to accompany the bare facts of her profile. Hacker News is not Hacker "link to a list of facts with a clickbait, personal-attack title and hope that someone else investigates if they're newsworthy" News. There is no news here without further investigation, and no one has done that in this thread. This should never have been posted as-is.
EDIT: If you were doing a post-mortem of an incident and a manager came in and said "Well, obviously that incident occurred, we let the guy with a Music degree do production work", they'll probably end up being fired under a cloud of HR violations, because they likely have a habit of invoking personal attributes in an inappropriate context. Don't be That Guy. Personal attributes - and optics - are not relevant to a post-mortem. Work behaviors, intentions, statements, and judgements are.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it change your views if I restate this as (using just her public LinkedIn profile): "A chief security officer with 15 years of experience and peer accolades in the fields of banking-grade security and human data management" Typically, this is where most people don't even ask what a degree is. However, as you indicate "no degree" is unacceptable: Which domain-relevant degree programs, initiated 20+ years ago and…
Anything remotely technical. Remember, we wouldn't be having this conversation if Equifax wasn't making embarrassing amateur mistakes with everyone's personal data. Their CSO appears incompetent.
Which qualifications does a "remotely technical" degree meet to operate security at Equifax that a "non-technical" degree does not?
You imply that Music is a non-technical degree, which is arguable, but it's certainly an Arts degree rather than a Science degree. If that's the distinction by which you draw the line, you're wrong to do so. If you reject job applicants to a technical role on that basis someday, that's more overlooked high-value opportunities for others to hire instead :)
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would it be less offensive to the HN community if her degree was in Math? And, then, given that Music is entirely dependent on mathematical principles, and Music Theory especially: What are the chances that, as an MFA in Music, she has a rock solid background in mathematics? Does that make her choice of degree less distasteful? Would we be having this conversation if she had no degree? (Of course not.)
Math is not arithmetic. What are the odds she can prove basic theorems in undergrad math like rank-nullity or intermediate value?
What are the odds someone who can prove whatever those things are can also talk about harmonic resonance equations and the practical matters of designing instrument-compatible chording arrangements, two topics entrenched heavily in mathematics (and physics, and materials science, and human usability concerns) but with a completely different specific focus?
The odds are near zero. Everyone learns their own domain. Quoting random properties of a specific subdomain of a branch of all possible learning demonstrates your knowledge, not disproves theirs.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Optics. Equifax has pretty clearly demonstrated that it does not care at all about security. There was the breach, then the news that their "random PINs" were just timestamps, then there was the admin/admin credentials for an employee portal. It's a pretty bad look.
This is Hacker News, though. Is it news that the CSO has a degree in Music? No, not without further investigation, which didn't occur prior to the bait-titled link to her LinkedIn profile. That's my only point here. Her degree is irrelevant to the point of uselessness for determining whether she's qualified, and whether fault for this incident lies with her judgement calls, or with others. Maybe we'll find out that s…
>This is Hacker News, though. Is it news that the CSO has a degree in Music? No, not without further investigation, which didn't occur prior to the bait-titled link to her LinkedIn profile.
First off, the title was literally a fact. There was no opinion or "click bait" added to the title.
Second, yes this is absolutely news. The Chief Security Officer of a company who has very private details of tens of millions of US citizens received two degrees in a music field. Some might find it news because it's, in my opinion, quite interesting she was able to go from studying music to becoming the CSO of a major and very important company. Some people might find it to be news because it most certainly could cause questions of her ability when looking at this fact and other Equifax security related facts.
I'm quite confused as to why you are so offended by this submission. It's not uncommon from C level executives of major businesses to have received degrees in the area they are working. The fact that computer/network security is an extremely focused field and the CSO of an extremely important company has two degrees in music instead of CS or a related field is quite interesting.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Math is not arithmetic. What are the odds she can prove basic theorems in undergrad math like rank-nullity or intermediate value?
What are the odds someone who can prove whatever those things are can also talk about harmonic resonance equations and the practical matters of designing instrument-compatible chording arrangements, two topics entrenched heavily in mathematics (and physics, and materials science, and human usability concerns) but with a completely different specific focus? The odds are near zero. Everyone learns their own domain. Quo…
You mean she might have had to memorize a simple formula? Such "rock solid" mathematical chops.
Re: The Equifax Chief Security Officer Received a BA and MFA in Music Composition
#30...and now she's fired retired.
https://investor.equifax.com/news-and-events/news/2017/09-15...