Personal Appearance in Computer Security

Martyr

What impression, do you feel your own, or another consultants appearance makes when meeting with a potential or existing client?

Is your job easier or more difficult?

In either situation, why?

Martyr

i was just wondering if you'd have to dress up in suit/tie or just go casual with scruffy beard..etc

guess nobody cares, kinda silly question i must admit.

StickyMcGinty

Martyr wrote: »

i was just wondering if you'd have to dress up in suit/tie or just go casual with scruffy beard..etc

guess nobody cares, kinda silly question i must admit.

having met with security consultants before, I find that their security posture in communications before the meeting is usually a good indication i.e. emails send via PGP/encryption, sending of job proposals via secure transfer services etc

Explosive_Cornflake

I'd imagine looking good would be nice.
I work in a related area, but I'm sitting in a room wearing a hoody and my hair is too long at the minute. Also I'm on boards. But, what I do is faily niche so they aren't going to get anyone else.

Screaming Monkey

Your insane if you think nobody cares or notices, they do, and it gives a definite impression. Wear a suit if its a new client, if its an existing client and you know their dress code then possibly dress semi-casual.

Remember you might have to meet some business or marketing types, and you want to look decent, not some scruffy techie geek. You don't have to wear a 1,000euro suit either, you might be sent down to a dirty server room to install a firewall.

my favourite security posture check is the consultants laptop, it gives a good indication of their clue-fullness and professionalism, is it encrypted ?, do they use IE , firewall/AV installed, screen-saver lockout. I have had security consultant put his infected laptop on my lan, another had p0rn bookmarks in IE (he was showing us the fw web gui), another was running OpenBSD, some serial driver issue, so i had to lend him a laptop to fix our firewalls(which were down)

SM

Martyr

i understand that people are judged based on their appearance, but is that not a bit shallow?

just because a guy wears a suit, drives a nice car, that makes him good at his job? *shrug*

well, OK.

dlofnep

StickyMcGinty wrote: »

having met with security consultants before, I find that their security posture in communications before the meeting is usually a good indication i.e. emails send via PGP/encryption, sending of job proposals via secure transfer services etc

That would assume that the client is familiar with PGP. And in 99% of the cases, they would not be. You can offer your key, but it wouldn't make sense to encrypt anything if they do not have the knowledge to decrypt it.

JimmyCrackCorn!

Allot better to over dress for any job than look like a burned out rasta:D

Martyr

if the burned out rasta is good at his work, it shouldn't matter.
the logic from some is, if you wear a suit, you must be good.

appearances can be deceptive.

also, using PGP or an Anti-Virus scanner tells you nothing about the persons skills, thats like saying a person who wears athletic clothes must be athletic..or "he must be out for a jog"

or if you wear military clothing, you must be in the army..same logic.

axer

Martyr wrote: »

i understand that people are judged based on their appearance, but is that not a bit shallow?

just because a guy wears a suit, drives a nice car, that makes him good at his job? *shrug*

No it doesn't make him good at his job but you need to remember first impressions matter. When you meet someone for the first time you make a judgement and get a feeling of this person - especially when deciding whether to award them a contract or not. This impression might be created before you even talk to the person.

Looking scruffy is an indication of being disorganised and unprofessional. They might be great at their job but am I going to take that risk from what I have seen so far? Am I not better off going with the guy that had a neat and tidy appearance that also seemed to know just as much as the scruffy guy (remember at this stage I cannot possibly know for sure how good either candidate is at their job). Is this guy a genius but can't seem to hold things together (which ends up just being useless to me as I need the job done right). I need the proper documentation after the job and I want everything done neatly so that another person can walk in and work with what has been done. This demands organisation and professionalism.

You need to start with a positive (i.e. neat dress and neat look) and work from there - it is much harder to start with a negative perception.

StickyMcGinty

Martyr wrote: »

also, using PGP or an Anti-Virus scanner tells you nothing about the persons skills, thats like saying a person who wears athletic clothes must be athletic..or "he must be out for a jog"

or if you wear military clothing, you must be in the army..same logic.

i was using PGP as an example, not the definitive

sending sensitive files unsecured via email or FTP would be negligent in the context of a security consultant

Martyr wrote: »

if the burned out rasta is good at his work, it shouldn't matter.
the logic from some is, if you wear a suit, you must be good.

appearances can be deceptive.

your right, they can be. thats why you've gotta look for practical examples of a consultants good work - past projects, certification & experience before you contract any consultant.

Also, you can't really 'overdress' when meeting a client.