Behind the Scenes of the Nanodegree: Diversity In Security

"Working at Microsoft, we're a global company and the product, the early Yammer is used by millions of people across the world. Different countries, and different people, all have different perceptions of what privacy means to them.

 

Interfacing with people from different companies and different cultures, you have to be able to navigate it and understand and address their needs. It is not going to be what you think you want.

 

If you want a product like, let's say Facebook, which billions of people are using,

there's not a billion use. There's no diverse world out there. You have to build a product that everyone else is able to like as well. For my team and especially in security, having a different thought process, different ideas, and different perspectives is very, very useful.

 

Traditional hacking is more like someone hacking to your computer or getting your computer to do something. One thing that most people expect from a hacker is like, hey it's probably like this white male wearing a hoodie. Or if someone were to try to scam me over the phone e-mail is going to be like a Nigerian scammer or something.

 

There's been this trend in social engineering where a lot of women had been very successful at social engineering companies and people. I think most people would think of it like a good con artist because one, people are expecting that it's a male person is going to be able to do it and they underestimate the skill set that a woman can bring.

 

One good example is this guy's interviewing this woman. He's like, "Hey, do you think you could hack my cell phone company and get my information?" She's like, yes.

 

She called a phone company but before she called the phone company she plays the audio track of a baby crying in the background. She called a phone company and she's like, "Hey, my husband lost his phone. I just need to get some information, the baby is crying."

Basically, the telephone company gave her all information, no questions asked.

 

It just shows like most people aren't expecting a mom with a kid is not going to try to hack you. Women also tend to be less likely to fall for the con than men as well.

 

There's still not a lot of research into this and it's high speculation as to why. But my primary thought is that it just highlights how people underestimate the capabilities of women and minorities and just other people in general.

 

If you really want to defend a product, you need a diverse mindset with different thoughts and opinions, and views to give you a different perspective about who your adversaries can be and how you can defend against them."