Something not talked about often enough in #infosec is encountering awful evidence during analysis and investigations. Images and communications of exploitation, assault, crime, and worse.

Some ppl will go their entire careers without it, others will see too much too often. 1/5

It’s traumatizing, period. Some people suppress it, others process themselves. Rarely do people get adequate support.

If your employer offers you actual counseling with a professional therapist, TAKE IT.

Even if only one or two meetings, just talk about it and get it out.

2/5

Some companies like Facebook make underpaid content moderators review horrific things all day, and give them 9 minutes a day to cry in a stairwell as “supervised wellness time.” That’s abysmal any way you look at it.

Many employers are not assholes like Facebook. 3/5

Idc if you don’t “believe” in long-term counseling or therapy. Go debrief as a personal & professional responsibility.

It’s hard to discuss with colleagues, it’s hard to discuss with family, and keeping it internalized is equally unhealthy.

Give yourself a room and time to

4/5

talk about it out loud, rage at the assholes who should burn for it, & process it with someone you don’t have to worry about giving secondary trauma to.

Then, after the next investigation or encounter, do it again. That shit is cumulative.

Anyway Take care of yourselves. /end