&gt;  Developer laptop compromise is probably the biggest security risk that any startup company faces, because the developer laptop is an uncontrolled environment with a lot of &quot;attack surface&quot; which may have been previously compromised.<p>It&#x27;s also the least likely to happen. Attackers will have broken deep into your database due to poor webapp security before getting a hold of your ssh private key.<p>Not that SSH security doesn&#x27;t matter. It&#x27;s easy enough and carries enough risks that putting some effort into it is worthwhile.