Two approaches to security in the examples of two IT companies

2016-03-11

I would like to tell you about different approaches to security in the two successful IT-companies. The difference in the approach can be explained by many factors. The countries where the companies are situated, and industries (one of them is a competitive game company, the second one is a monopoly of the social network).

Tim Campos, Information Security Director in Facebook, told about Mark Zuckerberg’s unusual approach to the information security system and correspondence within the company. According to him, after learning about the leak of secret information the head of the social network didn’t conduct a meeting and find out who was to blame. He just sent out e-mail to all staff with the subject “Will you leave?”

Zuckerberg asked the man responsible for the leak to immediately quit the job at his own request, as he will be detected anyway. Then the head of the company explained: Facebook works on the open and clear basis. Anyone who leaked confidential information to the media neglected this openness and used it for their own purposes.

The second company:

The Japanese game company Konami has released dozens of incredibly popular games for various consoles including the series of Metal Gear, Castlevania, Silent Hill, Contra and many others.

Konami has its own analogue of the secret police, whose officers spy on the colleagues in all possible ways including reading correspondence and studying surveillance camera records. Moreover, according to unofficial reports, this secret police often tells the new employer of former Konami employees how bad they were.

Every Monday there is a meeting of the company management at Konami, it is broadcast on the internal website. All employees are obliged to watch these meetings, and if they don’t, their names are announced in loudspeakers.

As you can see, the approach is not just different. It is absolutely different. In the social network it is freedom and permissiveness, in the gaming company it’s a crackdown. By the way, note that Facebook suffers from leaks, and Konami doesn’t. No doubt lol

But that's not it. I have mentioned that the companies work at different markets, and that is why the survival and development strategy differ extremely. There is a giant idea machine in Facebook that can stimulate the biggest social network. There is no need to be afraid of leaks, if Facebook copies something from its competitors a lot of people know about it. It is different in the gaming industry, where everyone is fighting for a place under the sun. Every little thing that a competitor doesn’t have is an advantage for the gaming company. And so the more privacy, the bigger profit after the game's release.

So if your company is a monopoly at the market, you can try to act according to Facebook. If not, then there is no other way to survive, but to control the information security sphere.