Lately, I’ve been working on the cybersecurity for my company, Knowledge Reactor. One of my biggest concerns is ransomware — where the bad guys (1) prevent me from accessing my own data, and then (2) post my private data on the web for others to see. I’ve added other scenarios to my list of concerns, but ransomware is what got me motivated enough to get started. I won’t lie, it has taken a fair amount of time, because there are quite a number of cyber things to consider. And I’ll never be “done done”, but I’m in MUCH better shape now.

One of the really valuable things I did for my own cybersecurity awareness was attend a “table top exercise” called “Save the Data” hosted by Tego and Rubrik. I had learned some things on my own before the exercise, but this exercise really opened my eyes to some really scary possibilities. It renewed my commitment to further improve my own preparation and response plans. Here’s a video they produced to explain it, and there are some clips of me in it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpMpKzd5M4Q

I strongly encourage all of my readers to think deeply about their own cybersecurtiy. At a minimum,

1. Ensure you have multiple backup copies, stored in at least 2 different places (on-site and in the cloud), and that you can reach back in time to pre-incident (good) copies.
2. Capture your device serial numbers in case they are ever stolen
3. Think through and document what response you will follow in various situations.

There are lots of other things you can — and should — do, but these are the most important things to get you started.