Any system that manages peoples’ personal data or information is always at risk for being hacked or stolen because it is valuable— and many times that value is only seen by the chaos agent themselves, not the company who they’re taking from. A growing concern is how much security companies like Ring know about us and our homes and how those systems, if hacked, could allow people to watch us or enter our property without any permission. While the internet connectivity of Ring doorbells and locks is seen as a “feature/benefit/plus” there are grave negatives that come with the company’s failure to secure internal systems. Much like the SolarWinds hack which did not aim to take over solar winds themselves, but rather use them to access the secure systems of clients, imagine if hackers sold the information on the valuable items in your home, your schedule, and your family? While it’s impulsive nowadays to make every device an IoT, there are security risks that people don’t see until they fail.
If Sara didn’t bother to ask blunt questions about the operational structure of their company, there’s no way to say anyone would have. I am not at all surprised that her speaking up would be countered by a male employee— I truly (truly) believe most men don’t value women as equals in the workplace— her speaking up went against the natural corporate flow: women listen when spoken to and speak when asked to respond. It’s important she did because her contribution made a huge change at her company but even more so despite the risk she could’ve been wrong she still chose to voice her opinion. Women are often penalized harder for mistakes in the workplace and feel as if they aren’t allowed to take risks. It’s important to challenge this narrative so others working with her can find confidence to do so as well.
