From the folder of “Security Doesn’t Matter”, Krebs looked at how many Top 500 companies have security people in executive management roles: 

found just five percent of top 100 firms listed a chief information security officer (CISO) or chief security officer (CSO).Only a little more than a third even listed a CTO in their executive leadership pages.

Not surprising. The reality is that security doesn’t matter because its not important. Certainly it is less important than Management, Sales, HR, Accounting and other traditional, non-technical roles. 

Not that these roles are somehow more or less important than that of a CISO/CSO within the organization. Nor is the average pay hugely different among all three roles. Yet, considering how much marketing (think consumer/customer data) and human resources (think employee personal/financial data) are impacted by your average data breach, it’s somewhat remarkable that more companies don’t list their chief security personnel among their top ranks.

Link: A Chief Security Concern for Executive Teams — Krebs on Security – https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/12/a-chief-security-concern-for-executive-teams/

This reddit post asked the question:

For example, I’m going through a Cisco Live presentation on troubleshooting ASR routers, and the first 50 slides or so are completely dedicated to describing the Route Processors, Packet Engines, ASICs, Buffers, etc., and the different paths that packets can take through the hardware.

While that’s all obviously important to the functionality of the router, how critical is it for the individual operating and maintaining the router to understand it all? I can see it being important if you’re trying to squeeze every last bit of performance out of a device, but outside of that case, when does one need to think about the underlying architecture of a network device?

If you choose to have a career at higher technical levels then some knowledge of hardware will improve your capability and learning. If you understand how a switching ASIC routes packets and the function of other hardware components you will have useful knowledge but maybe not valuable knowledge. 

Not every top level architect/designer has these skills and may rely on a vendor. This leaves them open to exploitation by the sales process (caveat emptor). However two things: 

1. Any deep knowledge is hard to obtain and requires substantial effort to find and learn. The learning cost may not be worth the effort today 
2. As public cloud/abstraction/software is the focus the next generation of IT services, I would suggest that software is a better focus. Leave it to the old guys (like me) for now and learn software first. If on-premise hardware is part of your worklife, then consider investing some time to learn your stack. 

I’m convinced that Bloomberg is wrong about the hardware implants. Until they retract the story they don’t have credibility to report on technology. 

Supermicro commissioned 3rd party audit and found nothing which is confirmation of many other sources who also refute the claims. The ONLY people making the claim is Bloomberg and there is no evidence to support it. 

A person familiar with the analysis told Reuters it had been conducted by global firm Nardello & Co and that customers could ask for more detail on that company’s findings.

Link: Super Micro says review found no malicious chips in motherboards | Reuters – https://www.reuters.com/article/us-supermicro-chips/super-micro-says-review-found-no-malicious-chips-in-motherboards-idUSKBN1OA12R

I do not answer a phone call unless you are in my contacts. Because corporate surveillance companies like LinkedIn, Facebook and Google continue to attempt to add that data to their ever growing hoard, I have very few people in my address books. Perhaps less than fifty all up. I do not answer the phone for random strangers in the same way I would not talk to a stranger on the street.

Two years ago, I changed my phone number to block phone calls. I can easily be found via the Internet. There is no need for me to interrupt my life to answer a telephone call for their convenience.

But in the last couple years, there is a more specific reason for eyeing my phone’s ring warily. Perhaps 80 or even 90 percent of the calls coming into my phone are spam of one kind or another. Now, if I hear my phone buzzing from across the room, at first I’m excited if I think it’s a text, but when it keeps going, and I realize it’s a call, I won’t even bother to walk over. My phone only rings one or two times a day, which means that I can go a whole week without a single phone call coming in that I (or Apple’s software) can even identify, let alone want to pick up.

Why Doesn’t Anyone Answer the Phone Anymore? – The Atlantic : https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/ring-ring-ring-ring/561545/