So most of the big tech firms in Las Vegas are built around the casino industry. Duh. Companies like Aristocrat, Everi, Scientific Gaming...they are all big firms and work with the biggest clients in town. Smaller sized tech companies go unnoticed. But that is where the real exciting stuff happens.
Today we were allowed to tour the shared office space of Hosho Group. In this space exists several small companies (less than 30 employees each). And each of these companies is involved, in some way or the other, with the blockchain industry. Fintech consulting, investing, development, security...almost every aspect is represented. And of all the places I've seen so far, this one is the most dynamic and exciting because it really is on the cutting edge.
Because of the industry in which they work, a lot of their focus is on security. Building secure protocols into projects from day one, and adding security to older systems that are exposed to hackers. Investing in security is not a new concept...people have been talking about it since the 90s. But now it is finally starting to be taken seriously and these businesses are leading the way. There were a lot of very useful take-home messages from this visit. One, that most of the security today is just for show and really isn't all that secure. Truly secure practices are almost too much of a pain to be practical. So there is a trade-off between security and user-friendliness that usually leans more towards user-friendliness. I learned that locking my garage door at night is really just for my own peace of mind because someone who really wanted to get in my garage door would have no problem doing so. And probably just as easily hack into my computer. It was a bit jarring to hear just how unsecure things really are.
So the people who are in charge of infosec are in very high demand, from good and bad agents. As you can imagine, the security in this office space is pretty tight because many of the executives are targets for people wanting to steal security secrets. If it is annoying for you to get phishing emails looking for your Ethereum private key, imagine living with the possibility that someone could be willing to start an entire mobile carrier LLC just to port your phone number, steal access to your mobile credentials and work their way through your private data just to find ANYTHING useful.
It was a real eye-opener. I'm still too new to developing to put good security methods into practice. For now I'm just trying to build a photo album that links to images and has a functioning "back" button. But with an eye towards my future in the industry I am definitely going to do my best to build products that put the user's privacy and security as a top priority.
And no, my photo album doesn't yet have a working "back" button. Nor does it properly link to images, which is a bit disappointing considering it is a photo album and that is its main function. But I've got a little more time, and a little more focus on what needs to get done. I'm still very shaky in my knowledge of ReactJS (and admittedly, vanilla JS too). But I'm far beyond where I was even last week. If you've never taken a bootcamp it is hard to explain the pace. Falling behind isn't really an option because everything builds upon itself. But there isn't really any free time for you to study outside of class and your assignments. Its like running a marathon with a motorcycle gang at your heels. You have to dig deep and find inner strength to keep going no matter how much you might need to catch a breath.
