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Comment by keyme | Hacker News Reader

I don't have a LinkedIn page, or any other social media for this matter. Does that make me a non-trusrworthy person now? This is horrible. (I don't disagree with your other points).

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Are you the CEO of a company that works in computer security, where fame is probably more important than in other fields?

Fame does not equal trust. While there may not be any security through obsecurity it is a barrier. As for being a trusted CEO at a certain point its about who you know and who knows you. Do you think the NSA employees all have social media profiles?

Fame doesn't equal trust, but if someone with no public background starts claiming to have been in the NSA/MI6/FSB/whatever, why would you believe them?

Fame doesn't equal trust, but trust over time does create recognition (perhaps fame is a bit too strong). My claim is that if no one can vouch for you, how can I trust you?

To be fair, conceptually the concept of a CEO of a security company with no social media presence at all is not surprising, speaking from my experience with people in this field.

This is often overlooked. If your kid wants to work in security it will be hard to get a job if his/her info and history can be found on social media.

No it won't, that's a really odd take. Perhaps if you want a job in very specific sub-section of cyber-espionage stuff, you might have a problem with existing on social media (although I doubt it)

But the idea that general IT security companies have a reduced chance of hiring someone based on their information being on social media is... not the case.

This is not true.

Nope, sorry, this isn't accurate at all.

That's a very odd thing to say. There are so many security professionals in the world with LinkedIn profiles.

Interesting, I have little idea how the field really works. I guess there must still be some kind of internet presence, maybe not through a typical social network ?

the point is that there is a LinkedIn page. But all employees are directors or VP's - not a single engineer that works at Rsecurity.

Unlikely that they are a front to a US operation. But very likely that it's a start-up that leverages the currently toxic climate in order to get themselves in the news. Making half baked attribution claims is a perfect way to do so. One might even say that not doing so would be leaving money on the table.

According to 2 companies I interviewed with: Yes. I was pissed because if they didn't trust my resume, why even interview me and waste my time.

You dodged two bullets. Consider yourself lucky.

TLDR; in some jobs, you can't have social media accounts.

I have some contact with cybersec in Europe and it is very common that cybersec professionals in gov and mil positions do not have any social media accounts under their own name, and certainly not linkedin. Social media makes you too much of a target and reveals too much about your org. When promoted to a public-facing position the person then suddenly "appears" from nowhere and the media profile has as little information as possible. Real professionals use those accounts only from designated computers, and if you are high ranking enough (head of...) in fact never use them at all, but rather have someone else using them for you. All in the name of keeping your own actions and locations away from the curious.

Does the entire org appear out of nowhere? No. MI5, CIA, Stasi, etc have been quite public about their existence.

Knowing the organization exists and knowing that someone specifically works the organization are two different things. In fact, this is the defining characteristic of any secret organization (governmental or otherwise: CIA, Stasi, KKK (in the 50s)...) that wants to project power: we exist, we are everywhere but you don’t know who we are.

+1, I also recently deleted my LinkedIn profile. Taking LinkedIn profile as a sign of authenticity is indeed horrible.

Yes, basically. For example, I've used LinkedIn to double check whether I should trust that an online watch buyer is a real person.

I also dont have a LinkedIn page, quite amusing that people find that a problem

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