Most corporate places I've encountered over the last N years mandate one kind of antivirus/spyware combo or another on every corporate computer. So it'd be pretty much every major workplace.
Just because everyone does it doesn't not make it a dumb idea. Everyone eats sugar.
If the average corporation hates/mistrusts their employees enough to add a single point of failure to their entire business and let a 3rd party have full access to their systems, then well, they reap what they sow.
I think you have to look beyond the company. In my experience, even the people implementing these tools hate them and rarely have some evil desire to spy on their employees and slow down their laptops. But without them as part of the IT suite, the company can't tick the EDR or AV box, pass a certain certification, land a certain type of customer, etc. It is certainly an unfortunate cycle.
This goes way higher than the average corporation.
This is companies trying desperately to deliver value to their customer at a profit while also maintaining SOC 2, GDPR, PCI, HIPAA, etc. compliance.
If you're not a cybersecurity company, a company like CrowdStrike saying: 'hey, pay us a monthly fee and we'll ensure you're 100% compliant _and_ protected' sounds like a dream come true. Until today, it probably was! Hell, even after today, when the dust settles, still probably worth it.
Sounds like the all too common dynamic of centralized top-down government/corporate "security" mandates destroying distributed real security. See also TSA making me splay my laptops out into a bunch of plastic bins while showing everyone where and how I was wearing a money belt. (I haven't flown for quite some time, I'm sure it's much worse now)
There's a highly problematic underlying dynamic where 364 days out of the year, when you talk about the dangers of centralized control and proprietary software, you get flat out ignored as being overly paranoid and even weird (don't you know that "normal" people have zero ability or agency when it comes to anything involving computers?!). Then something like this happens and we get a day or two to say "I told you so". After which the managerial class goes right back to pushing ever-more centralized control. Gotta check off those bullet point action items.
They fixed that. Now you can fly without taking your laptop out, or taking your shoes and belt off. You just have to give them fingerprints, a facial scan and an in-person interview. They give you a little card. It's nifty.
My response was intended as sarcasm. But eventually, I don't think it will be a two-tiered system. You simply won't be allowed to fly without what is currently required for precheck.
And fwiw, I don't think the strong argument against precheck has to do with social class... it's not terribly expensive, and anyone can do it. It's just a further invasion of privacy.
Precheck is super cheap, it's like less than $100 once per 5 years. Yes, it is an invasion of privacy, but I suspect the government already has all that data anyway many times over.
> showing everyone where and how I was wearing a money belt
I only fly once every couple years, but I really hated emptying my pockets into those bins. The last time I went through, the agent suggested I put everything in my computer bag. That worked a lot better.
Last time I flew, in sweden, the guy was angry at me for having to do his job so he slipped my passport away from the tray, so that I'd lose it. Lucky for me I saw him doing that.
