One Of The Best Cybersecurity Minds On Earth Uses A Pager, Not A Phone

One Of The Best Cybersecurity Minds On Earth Uses A Pager, Not A Phone

Dan Geer is world-renowned cyber security researcher. He’s Chief Information Security Officer at In-Q-Tel, a non-profit venture capital firm. Hid company invests in technology to support the CIA. He’s knows his shit. And he uses a pager instead of a smartphone.

The Washington Post spoke to Geer after the keynote speech at last week’s Black Hat security conference. They asked him about his use of technology:

I don’t carry a mobile phone. Honestly, it’s a nuisance… But I testified actually twice — once at the FCC, once in a congressional committee — that if you required location tracking, I was going to give one up… I said I would give it up, and went ahead and did it. So you say, “Well, you’re cutting of your nose to cut your face, you’re just being stubborn.” But no, I meant it…

I’m not a Luddite. Luddites smash machines. But I am getting older, and it’s easier to say “why do I care?”… I’ve been carrying a paging device but the pager companies are slowly going out of business because of this [points towards mobile phone being used to record interview] for obvious reasons. But it’s important for some people to be able to reach me for certain situations that occur, as you might guess.

Pagers certainly give less away than smartphones. But could you cope with the inconvenience? [Washington Post]


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