About moi on pre-college: you do not need a degree to get somewhere - thank you Mrs Sloane!

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Category: My Career Story

Published: 28 May 2020

At the start of every training course I deliver, I introduce myself and the detail of the introduction depends on the audience. Under 18s = short, adults = medium and apprentices = longest. Apprentices being 18+ are mainly starting off in life so it is good to tell them how I got here nearly sixteen years later. Luck? Potentially but more always going beyond the call of duty and showing passion. N.B. People in your early career do not go into a job interview like these articles or it may slow you down!

Born in the eighties in London, I went to a decent state infant & junior school near my home. Life was good and from an early age I liked to be practical and make or take stuff apart. Typically, I was the youngest in the class which maybe slowed me down a little. Year six ended and it was time to jump into big school, also known as secondary or high school. One funny fact. I was “bribed” as a ten-year-old to go to a non-private secondary school further away. The bribe? A SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) from the extinct Blockbuster store.

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My partner is a landscape gardener - who would want to hack me?

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Category: Cyber Security (Personal)

Published: 03 February 2020

You may think your small business would not be interesting to global cyber crooks. But you may have a client or supplier who may be of interest. Graeme Batsman explains so-called "supply-chain security" and why you should guard sensitive information closely.

What is supply-chain security?
In the world of cybersecurity, supply-chain security means that every business, big or small, in an organisation's supply chain must have proper cybersecurity measures in place, otherwise cyber attackers could get to a big organisation via a vulnerability in their supplier network.

Supply-chain security is something we hear about all the time. One famous example of poor supply-chain security is the “Target vendor, Fazio Mechanical, confirms being victim of attack” case where attackers in the Former Soviet Union broke in through a small company specialising in refrigeration and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). According to Nextgov, such supply-chain attacks increased 78% in 2018. So what about the smaller fish? Your employees or the one-man-band who services an estate of a billionaire?

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Hostile reconnaissance: What is it and how do we stay safe?

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Category: Cyber Security (Personal)

Published: 03 February 2020

Shhh! Cyber attackers often use hostile reconnaissance in the physical world to find a way into an organisation. So what is hostile reconnaissance? Graeme Batsman explains some common spear-fishing tactics used by attackers.

We are constantly told to be cybersecurity aware, to lock our workstations (control-alt-delete), have a clear desk, not put sensitive information near windows and especially be careful what we post online. These messages are drummed into us fairly often – but rarely are we told the reasons behind them or, better still, shown the real-life implications.

Dark Reading speculating that veterans are being targeted because of their military history being listed on LinkedIn, social media users should be more careful. It is very likely all spear-phishing attacks start off with recon on social media - just see what PhishLabs think.

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