Let's Talk Security

Jude was, if nothing else, a pretty paranoid person. He'd heard the saying It's not paranoia if they're actually out to get you once upon a time from one of his father's men, and it had more or less stuck with him since then. In his life, people planning to kill him was to be expected. It was not a surprise if someone wanted to kidnap him--it was normal. Even as a young boy he'd had passwords and bolt holes, and knew about a half dozen safe places he was expected to flee to if things went bad.

It hadn't been paranoia - it had been entirely normal.

So Jude had gone into his new job with all that in mind. Woodland Imports didn't seem like the kind of company that needed a huge amount of security, but it was hard not to notice the apparently change in that very security as Marie ran him through the expectations of the job.

What she described was more or less what he'd expected. Write things down, double check, don't be stupid, the basics.

Only there was also Broen.

Broen was not the sort of person you just hired for the fun of it. Jude was pretty sure she was sleeping with Broen--that much he was pretty much entirely sure of--but he was significantly less sure about the whole sugar mama thing. It seemed like a very convenient cover for being something more like a body guard. She had a security chief, and she had a personal security advisor who went with her everywhere, and if Jude was being honest with himself, the two things did not match up.

People who had security like Woodland Imports did weren't the kind of people who hired Broen as a personal security advisor.

Once Jude had gotten the gist of the job and more or less gotten the idea, he'd gone to report back to Zora in her office, his own specific questions already forming in his mind. Once he'd gotten invited in--was he still getting invited in? It was a weird middle ground--he gave a polite little nod and simply started off.

"Marie just finished showing me around, and walking me through my normal duties. I did want to ask you about your security preferences though, since this kind of personnel change is a good time for that sort of thing."

Jude was keen on questions. He asked a lot. He filed the information away for later. He was young enough that most people were willing to chalk it up to juvenile inexperience, and while that might have rankled him once upon a time, now he was willing to use it for all it was worth.

"I've noticed the company has gotten a lot of security focus lately," Jude said, taking a seat in front of her desk. "But some of the security measures Marie showed me were at a much lower level of security. I would consider most of what she showed me to be standard, but the interview you pressed a lot of focus towards the importance of confidentiality."

It was like there'd been a shift... Or maybe Marie had just been depressingly out of date.

"To give an example, you've got a digital scheduler on the computer that Marie's been filling out appointment times for. I could continue to use it if you'd like, but it also presents a vulnerability. It kind of comes down to how much you're willing to trust me, and I see sort of three options."

Jude was doing his best to sound clinical, even if he was a little bit nervous about the whole thing.

"The first option is that I continue as Marie's been going, and as she showed me. The second is a middle ground, and that I mostly handle things myself, but keep a backup physical copy in a safe or something. The third is the most secure - I just handle everything in my own head, and nothing gets written down. That means the only real vulnerability is me, and mind reading doesn't have the desired effect on me."

They'd have to torture it out of him, and if they were willing to do that, they'd cut out the middle man and go for Zora in her office.

"The issue with security," Jude said, "Is people. Every person who has access to a piece of information makes it less secure. People spend a lot of time and money investing in firewalls and computer security, but the chain's only as weak as the weakest link. The way the computer system is set up, the schedule is accessible more or less to anyone who sits down at the front desk. I understand why they would make it available to the receptionist--so they can tell if you're free--but it also means literally any smooth talker could get information."

Jude no doubt sounded very professional as he spoke, and that was because he was effectively parroting back things he'd been taught. People were the weak link. People would spend millions setting up detailed security measures, and then all it took was one underpaid intern to bypass the entire thing.

It was obvious where her concerns were though, and Jude paused to consider.

"I'm really not as concerned by the idea of potentially being at risk as you might imagine," Jude said. "I'm used to a level of acceptable risk from both my personal life and my job. Corporate espionage rarely gets to the level of kidnapping someone my age, especially considering the potential consequences of doing so. More importantly, they don't need to know about the security measures. As long as there's a book at the front desk, and a computer system all set up, people will try and break in and get a look at it."

Jude was, realistically speaking, vastly underestimating the amount of danger Zora was in at the moment.

Sometimes, Jude felt like he was selling out his father again and again by saying his secrets. By telling people.

But realistically? It was never going to matter. He was probably never going to see Basilio again, regardless of what happened. And even on the slim chance that Basilio did somehow find his way to Manta Carlos, it wasn't like he'd somehow bring his entire empire over with him. If Basilio did come over, it'd be a fresh start... for both of them.

He didn't have to feel guilty, he reminded himself.

"I don't generally disclose it because, well, it's weird, and people tend to take it the wrong way, but my father was involved in a lot of things that were significantly less than legal. I grew up considering kidnapping as a day to day risk. It was dangerous, and while he did a very good job of making sure it didn't effect me as much as it should, I was still very much raised with the idea of that in the background. Things like corporate espionage are what I'd consider pretty normal."

Warm personality and good looks. That was certainly one way of putting it, and despite Jude doing his best to attempt to be serious, he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Broen is good at what he does. If you hired him, that's because you sought out the big guns of personal protection. You don't hire him to be your bodyguard for no reason."

He didn't know what Broen was getting paid, but he knew he wasn't going to be taking a job like this for a security guard's salary.

"I mean, I'm already technically at the same amount of risk. Just one way I'm ignorant, and one way I'm not. Does this have to do with the fact that Officer Genovese made a face when I told him where I was working?"

Jude was betting on yes.