In 2021, a mysterious photo appeared on Twitter: a plane cabin full of people in elaborate animal costumes all heading to a furry convention. In the replies, someone quipped, "I object to that many furries being on the same airplane.” Their reasoning? If that plane were to crash, the internet in the US would grind to a halt.
The reply may have been a joke, but from my decades-long experience around the technology industry, furries pop up so often that it's not even considered unusual. In most normie industries, getting around in a fur suit, referring to your fursona, and adorning everything in adorable stuffed animals would be extremely suspicious. The technology industry, however, seems to have embraced it.
Furry fandom predates the internet, with people connecting through comic stores, zines, and niche conventions, but the communities were small and hard to find. When the internet began growing in popularity, furries were among its earliest adopters. The internet made it easier to find fellow fans of anthropomorphic art and storytelling, and the community grew as a result. Because the early internet required a bit of tech-savvy to use, furries learned to navigate digital spaces much earlier than others.
When the internet began growing in popularity, furries were among its earliest adopters.
For many, the ability to build a fursona online was, and still is, a radical act of self-expression. If you are queer, neurodivergent, or in some other way considered weird by society, the internet may offer a place you can be your true self without facing mental or physical harm.
Tech-literate furries built community infrastructure like forums, imageboards, and chat servers, and developed the skills needed to maintain them. Many furries turned those skills into careers, and as they entered the global workforce via IT departments, they created welcoming environments for the next generation of furry techies.
Furries aren't just prevalent in the technology industry in general; many in the cybersecurity and hacktivism scenes declare themselves furries. SiegedSec (a hacking group that described themselves as the "gay furry hackers"), operating between 2022 and 2024, is a widely known example. The group pulled off hacks involving the Idaho National Laboratory, and infiltrated various NATO web portals. They leaked data on right-wing think-tank The Heritage Foundation (responsible for Project 2025) while demanding they put research into "creating real-life catgirls".
If you are queer, neurodivergent, or in some other way considered weird by society, the internet may offer a place you can be your true self without facing mental or physical harm.
It makes sense that furries are predisposed to cybersecurity, as operational security (aka OpSec) is something many learn out of necessity. Doxxing, harassment, and even physical violence are real risks furries face, echoing the challenges faced by other communities that navigate stigma, such as sex workers who need to keep different parts of their lives separate. These shared pressures around digital safety have produced a cohort of furries who have built careers in cybersecurity.
Sex workers and furries have more in common than most people realise. Both have learned early that the internet is a place where you can be your true self, but only if you know how to protect it. The furry-to-tech pipeline is a natural outcome of a community that grew up alongside the internet and learned to build, maintain, and protect digital spaces out of sheer necessity. The same skills that allow furries to carve out safe spaces for themselves online translate remarkably well to careers spent defending (or, in some cases, dismantling) the digital infrastructure the rest of us take for granted.
For more on tech and security from Ada, check out Facial Recognition Software and You and Phishing! Vigilance. Verify. Don’t Rush.
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