My credit card was recently stolen. I used it at a very friendly but technically non-savvy local business. Within a few days fraudulent charges came pouring in, ranging from $1.00 to $401.67. The merchants were Paypal and Amazon. I know I didn’t make these charges but honestly, I don’t care. None of these fake charges was able to touch my money. I have the ultimate credit card security: Privacy.com.
Self Defense for EMS Professionals
By the very nature of the job Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel are exposed to dangerous situations. Emergencies are fluid, fast-moving affairs and they often happen in sketchy places. Patients are sometimes combative due to the call itself (assaults, domestic violence), or being drunk or high. EMS crews are asked to go into “bad” neighborhoods, walk into strange houses, and be left alone with a person they just met. There’s a lot that can go wrong. Today I’m going to explore some options for self-defense for EMS professionals.
Post-Engagement, Part I: Search & Assess
If there’s one technique in the tactical community that divides shooters into camps it’s the post-engagement search and assess. Yes, I’m talking about the, “look left, look right, look rear” after you’ve taken your shots, but before you tac reload/holster/move/whatever. Some very knowledgeable shooters I know and trainers I’ve trained under recommend this practice. Some equally knowledgeable guys that I know, train with, or read call it “tactical theater.” Let’s talk about it.
Recommended Digital Tools and Services
I have written about a lot of security tools over the years. I generally prefer to focus on techniques and behaviors rather than tools. Security-minded behavior is generally more effective than security tools. It is easier and vastly more certain, for instance, to conceal a thought that was never committed to text than it is to erase it afterward. Tools can also create a false sense of security and cause a disregard for the importance of security behaviors.
In some instances tools are indispensable, however. Tools can provide capabilities that behavior alone cannot. This post will serve as a repository of my current recommended tools and services. It will host links to my articles/reviews about these products, as well as links to their host sites, and I will update it frequently.
Lock Safari: Dublin, Ireland
Last year I had the opportunity to spend some time in Belfast, Dublin, and Cork. Unfortunately, most of my time was spent in Dublin – my least favorite of the three. Recently I was reviewing my photos from that trip and realized how many noteworthy locks I actually found there. This will probably only be of interest to the lock nerds. If you aren’t you can still get something out of this: most American locks are junk compared to the locks used by the rest of the world.
Digital Security Primer Part IV.I: Data In Motion
In the last three parts of my Digital Security Primer I discussed the importance of digital security, making your device a hard target for malware, and protecting your cloud-stored data. This time I am going to get into the cool, sexy stuff: encryption for your data-in-motion. But first, I’m going to make some of you angry.
Digital Security Primer Part III: Cloud Stored Data
In my last post in this mini-series, I talked about Step 1 in my Security Framework: Malware Resilience. The steps there are all designed to minimize the chances of contracting malware. There are other steps, more advanced that can be taken, and maybe I’ll cover those in the future. They get much more technically demanding and time-consuming to implement.
Dry Practice Function Stacking: Targets
With a lot of you working from or otherwise hanging out at home, I hope a lot of my readers are using their time to learn some stuff. One thing I hope everyone stuck at home is doing is dry-practicing. Another thing that might nudge some into dry practice is the current ammo shortage. Today I’m going to talk about some very simple, low-cost things you can to do increase the value of your dry practice time.
Digital Security Primer Part II: Resist Malware
Malware is THE single biggest digital threat we face today.
Digital Security Primer, Part I: Why Bother?
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have recently written a book on digital security. This post is going to kick off a series on digital security (and secure communications – a skill that might become very important for freedom lovers in the near future) that roughly follows the outline of the book. This is completely free information that I make a very good living teaching. I’ve worked hard to put this into plain language (and perhaps even made it enjoyable to read, as well). If you enjoy this content, please consider picking up a copy of Digital Self Defense: The Layman’s Guide to Digital Security when it comes out this spring. Thanks!