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Yet, when I hear soft laughter spill from Riley’s lips, I twist my entire body in her direction.
What the hell is so funny?I can barely hold the demand back. Emotions that I’m not familiar with force me to glare around Riley at Adam Bachleda. The bastard is talking with Riley about something that’s making her smile.
I know Bachleda’s wife passed away two years ago. He’s single. The earlier comment about Riley seeking a sugar daddy comes to mind.
Could she?
Then I recall the offended look in her eyes when I said it. She quickly schooled her features, but I’d caught it. She isn’t in the market for a sugar daddy.
At least, that isn’t what she’s looking for in Bachleda.
“Isn’t that right, Kyle?”
I blink and look up to see Bachleda and a handful of other Townsend board members staring at me. While I’m not looking at her, I can also feel Riley’s eyes on me.
“What was that?” I loathe admitting that I wasn’t paying attention.
“That Merkle data breach that occurred last year.” Bachleda shakes his head. “Terrible. It cost them tens of millions, and their market share is down twenty-five percent since it happened.”
“Yeah, a shame,” I say. “Could’ve been avoided with better security measures.”
Bachleda and a few others nod.
“Not necessarily,” Riley contradicts, garnering the attention of everyone at the table.
Something in my chest tightens at the sound of her voice. My first instinct is to silence her unexpected interruption. Yet, she continues before I’m able to.
“It’s my understanding that part of the breach came about due to employee failure to secure their data.”
“Incompetence,” I grumble loud enough for all to hear.
“That’s not necessarily the case either,” she retorts.
“How is an employee’s failure to secure their data not due to incompetence or maliciousness?” I ask. “And if it was of the latter, they should’ve been arrested and charged with a crime.”
Riley tilts her head and looks at me as if searching for something. I stare back.
“Not every employee is out to get their employer,” she says.
I know she’s speaking directly to me, but she then looks over at Adam. I refuse to allow that.
“Whether they mean to or not isn’t the point,” I say, bringing her attention back to me like I want.
“It’s true that sometimes, employees can be a business’ weak spot. But they are also its strength. In Merkle’s case, one of the reports I read identified the entry point of the data breach as a company-issued laptop.”
“I still don’t see how this proves your point,” I tell her. The entire table stops their side conversations to watch this exchange. However, right now I don’t give a damn about anyone else at the table. Not even Sam Waterson, whom this whole dinner is for.
“Follow me for a moment,” Riley says, fully turning toward me. “On any company laptop, there’s sensitive data on it, correct?”
I nod.
“Right, and as such, there’s encrypted security passwords and whatnot. Many companies don’t even allow employees to remove their laptops from the office.”
“With good reason,” I say.
“Agreed,” she concedes. “While a trained hacker could take the time to break into one of the systems, they could spend months trying to get the right access. And any business with decent security is constantly changing its security systems on the back end to keep up with the times. Even something as minor as updating your passwords every thirty days can throw a hacker off for a while.”
“Yeah, but it’s such a pain,” a woman from across the table says.
