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Peter Bassill — latest writing on cyber security

peter@hardened:~$ ls -t writing/ | less # page 12 of 13

Latest articles · page 12 of 13

  • Know your enemy: the threats small businesses actually face

    Phishing, ransomware, social engineering, malware, credential stuffing, insider mistakes, denial of service. The actual menu of threats facing UK small businesses — in plain English, without the drama.

    • 7 min read
  • Cyber security for the small business: where to start

    An honest start to a year-long series. What cyber security actually is, why small businesses are targeted, and the five things every small business has that attackers want.

    • 6 min read
  • AI

    AI in cyber: the long view from 2018

    Start of a six-weekly series tracking how AI in cyber security is developing through 2024 and beyond — and how each development reads against EmilyAI, the SOC analyst I have been running in production at Hedgehog since 2018.

    • 6 min read
  • Assistants, drivers, and household staff

    Part 11 of 18. The people around a senior board director are, for practical purposes, part of the security boundary. The standing rules that protect everyone — the executive, the staff, the relationship — without becoming surveillance.

    • 7 min read
  • The CISO in the dock

    The SEC's charges against Tim Brown over the SolarWinds disclosures, alongside Joe Sullivan's conviction over Uber a year ago, signal a regime change in personal accountability for security leaders. What it means for UK CISOs and the boards that employ them.

    • 7 min read
  • 23andMe, and the data with the longest half-life

    Last month 23andMe disclosed that attackers used credential stuffing against accounts opted in to relative-matching to scrape data on roughly 6.9 million people. The board lesson is about which data has the longest half-life — and it is not what most firms think.

    • 6 min read
  • The board director's public exposure

    Part 10 of 18. Companies House, LinkedIn, conference speaker lists, the corporate website. The footprint your board role creates whether you want it or not, and the small set of choices that determine how much it reveals.

    • 7 min read
  • Financial and identity hygiene at home

    Part 9 of 18. Credit freezes, the paper post, joint advisors, mortgage and bank communications, the family-office channel. The unglamorous half of personal privacy that, when neglected, costs the most.

    • 8 min read
  • Photo backup, family chat groups, and the extended family

    Part 8 of 18. iCloud, Google Photos, WhatsApp family chats, grandparents on Facebook. The household network you actually live in is wider than the four walls of the house. What to do about it without becoming the family killjoy.

    • 7 min read
  • Gaming, voice chat, and the communities that look least like social media

    Part 7 of 18, fourth of five children-focused posts. Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, Discord. The environments where British children spend more time than they spend on social media, what the risks actually look like, and what to do.

    • 8 min read
  • Children, social media, and the parent's reasonable role

    Part 6 of 18, third of five children-focused posts. The conversation about social media most parents avoid, written for the board-director parent who wants to be present without being absurd.

    • 8 min read
  • School accounts and edtech: the parent's reasonable role

    Part 5 of 18, second of five children-focused posts. Schools collect a remarkable amount of data on children. Some of it is necessary; some of it is not. What a board-director parent should ask, and what they are entitled to.

    • 8 min read
  • The digital footprint we create for our children before they can speak

    Part 4 of 18, first of the children-focused posts. The photos, the school records, the birthday Facebook posts, the WhatsApp groups, the smart toys. What we lay down for our children, before they have any say.

    • 8 min read
  • The smart-home dilemma

    Part 3 of 18. Alexa, Ring, the smart thermostat, the smart TV, the connected fridge. The devices you have invited into your kitchen and what they are actually doing while you sleep.

    • 7 min read
  • The home network you live on

    Part 2 of 18. Your home Wi-Fi router is the only thing between everything connected in your house and the rest of the internet. What boards should ask their household to look at this weekend.

    • 7 min read
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