cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/1094761
KnowBe4 needed a software engineer for our internal IT AI team. “We posted the job, received resumes, conducted interviews, performed background checks, verified references, and hired the person,” the firm writes on its blog.
“We sent them their Mac workstation, and the moment it was received, it immediately started to load malware.”
[Special points to KnowBe4 for publishing this on its blog. If this can happen to a security awareness firm, it can happen to everyone.]
It’s because the training materials aren’t aimed at the typical Lemmy user who knows how to dual-boot Linux and built their own hackintosh for fun. It’s aimed at Jim in accounts receivable, who is 2 years away from retirement and hasn’t learned any new tech literacy skills in the entire 23 years he’s been with the company. It’s aimed at Pam in HR, who panics and says the internet is broken because she deleted her Chrome desktop shortcut for the fifth time this week. It’s aimed at Jill in accounts payable, who called IT to say her computer wasn’t working, (the power was out in the entire building, because a trash truck hit the power lines across the street.)
IT deals with a lot of BS, from users who don’t know anything about how computers or modern scams/hacks work. KnowBe4 is aimed that those users, because an organization’s security is only as impenetrable as its dumbest “oh hey I found a USB drive outside the front doors. I’m gonna plug it in to see what’s on it” users.