here’s a pretty random but relevant discussion que...

# random

[Shawn]

here’s a pretty random but relevant discussion question for your Friday - how do you guys treat personal information on work machines, especially laptops that you’re expected to take with you? Do you not ever log into anything personal, or maybe just select services? Do you log into your personal iCloud if you have a Mac and use iMessage? Do you have a plan for invalidating sessions or tokens in the event you leave the company?

[tddmonkey]

I almost treat mine as if it’s my personal laptop, as I have done most of them over my career.

Wiping the drive on your last day is recommended if you do this!

[ribesg]

Wiping your own Macbook is the last task you have to do when leaving my company

[Shawn]

Macs are really easy to wipe, but what about other machines?

[Shawn]

One place I worked assigned everyone Windows machines, which made all the Linux development we did kind of a nightmare

[Shawn]

I ended up running more or less everything in a Fedora VM, so on my last day I deleted the VHD and shredded the empty space before turning in my machine

[ribesg]

I worked at HP, we had HP laptop workstations (Windows) which could run multiple Linux VM at a time. The drives were encrypted with your account, so when you leave the company it was the same: disk wipe

[ribesg]

In developed countries you always know in advance when you leave a company, so you always have time to cleanup

[Shawn]

I mean, even in developed countries some folks can get let go kinda unexpectedly lol

[Shawn]

I don’t personally have experience with that myself, but I figure it’s a possibility to consider

[Shawn]

and wrt drive encryption, not every company has FDE configured to be inaccessible to company IT - some shops will encrypt using a company cert

[dalexander]

I consider work and personal accounts to be totally separate. I don't log in to accounts with personal information on my work device. I use my phone or iPad if I need access to personal accounts, and for more extended travel I bring my personal laptop with me.

Also for what it's worth, in the US you don't necessarily have any forewarning before you leave the company, but I think it's arguable the US is less of a developed country in that way 🧌

[bjonnh]

Use encrypted drives, throw the key away (and wipe just in case).

[bjonnh]

at least that cover your ass if you get fired and are not allowed to return to your machine

[bjonnh]

(which from what I heard happens)