Hustle culture is a cybersecurity nightmare
Let people unplug — unless you want them making stupid mistakes
The other day, someone tried to take my debit card on a lavish holiday buying spree at the Home Shopping Network, of all places. This same person had my e-mail address as well (not that it’s some big mystery). My bank swiftly caught this, and I got a new card. I can’t even begin to dig into where my card information came from, considering the number of hacks that online retailers have experienced in the last year, but it was still pretty annoying.
The worst part wasn’t having to get a new card, though — we must change cards often, hacks are a way of life — but the angry meltdown a certain relative had about my card briefly not working. “YOU TALK ABOUT ONLINE SAFETY AND IT HAPPENED TO YOU?” Well, yeah, I tried to explain, it happens to people all the time.
I always try to make sure online stores don’t save my card information, for example, but I can forget, just like any other person. Meanwhile, our information is simply not secure to begin with. When online marketplaces get hacked, they treat it almost with a shrug these days.
As my relative continued to have their meltdown, I became increasingly MORE stressed. They needed me to buy something for them, seemingly urgently, so I decided to use another card at the online store they were directing me to. Then I stopped myself.
The store was sketchy as hell (as full of judgment as certain older relatives are about our conduct online, they rarely bother to check the links they send us). “This site is not legit,” I told them. “I’m going to get ANOTHER card stolen if I go through with this transaction.”
I caught myself just in time, and in spite of the hissy fit that followed, I’d avoided making a bad decision — but that’s because I have a rule. No transactions on weird sites, ESPECIALLY when under duress.
The thing about stress is that it’s detrimental to our decision-making, and this factors into how safely we conduct ourselves online.
I’ve talked to a number of small business owners about online safety over the last few years, and the first question I ask them is this, “Do you let your employees unplug?” They’re usually surprised to hear me ask that. What does that have to do with anything?
The fact is, we live in such a connected world, that many people don’t take breaks from work, even when they should. Their phone is always there, in their pocket. What’s another little e-mail, right? What’s another message?
Little e-mails and messages and after-hours tasks do add up, though. So much so, that you are constantly in work mode, and then wondering why you’re so irritated and have a hard time focusing. So much so that it begins to affect your sleep patterns. So much so, that you begin to make stupid mistakes.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been gathering stories from seasoned tech experts who made serious cybersecurity errors simply because they were tired and overwhelmed.
These include a tiny bit of code that caused a major problem, because the writer of the code was too tired to notice. They include a phishing link that was clicked, because someone was checking their e-mail while running on dangerously little sleep. They include falling prey to a scammer when ordering supplies on the company card and thus putting the entire company in jeopardy. They include a person who kept getting yelled at by their boss while fixing the company site over the weekend and then simply having it crash, because they weren’t paying attention to the code, but to the yelling. And the list goes on.
We like to think that people make mistakes because they’re gullible. Considering our overwhelming and often unpleasant relationship with technology today, we should remember that people also make mistakes because they’re FUCKING TIRED. It’s simply harder to pay attention when you’re tired, and no amount of hustle culture can cover up this basic fact.
A key tenet of Safer Dating Now is that we shouldn’t get on dating apps when we’re stressed, overwhelmed, or have been drinking. I always tell people to treat a dating app like a skateboard. Do you really want to get on if you might launch yourself face first into some asphalt?
The same rule should apply in many other areas of life. They key word here is “should,” because abusive or simply ignorant employers demand more from people that they can realistically give. Anyone can get fired for a stupid mistake, but how many workplaces take the time to investigate the cause of a stupid mistake to begin with? How many of these mistakes could’ve been avoided if supervisors stopped hitting up their colleagues like crazy ex-boyfriends on their seventh bottle of beer?
A lot of people ascribe a healthy life-technology balance to “communism” or whatever, but in fact it’s just a realistic approach to human nature, and the human body. What’s one of the most reliable ways of spotting a bot? They don’t sleep. Human beings don’t work that way.
As automation and AI continue to make inroads into our daily lives, we should be using new trends as opportunities, instead of as a threat against humans in the workplace. Automate what can be automated, and let your workers enjoy an evening of not being glued to their phones. I don’t think human decision making will be obsolete any time soon (unless we get Skynet, or whatever, in which case it’s been nice knowing you all), but humans also make their BEST decisions when they’re not going nuts from exhaustion.
I explain this over and over again to people, and sometimes I feel that I am getting through, and other times, not so much. People in the private sector and elsewhere want flashy cybersecurity solutions, they want mysterious terminology and conversations on attack surface areas and backends, and “make sure your workers can unplug” doesn’t sound as sexy in comparison. And look, I totally get it! It’s important to have good IT people and timely software updates! They just don’t mean jack shit when the people in your workplace are overwhelmed and don’t know what the hell they are doing.
Having said all that, I’m going to take my own advice and look away from the online meltdown surrounding my latest Ukrainian auction (thank you for the bids, by the way!), and take a nap.
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah!
Thank you for reading, and please do send this essay to someone who needs it in their life. Especially if they’re in charge of people.