My name is Andy and this is my blog about tech.
I have created this for a number of reasons which are as follows:
- I enjoy writing.
- I don't know everything, but what I do know I like to share.
- I see too many people who don't know about tech (and particularly tech security) and I would like to correct that for their sake.
FAQ (or "Questions I suspect people would ask me if they were so inclined, and the answers to the questions that I particularly think you should be asking me about - or would like to show off about")
What qualifications do you have in this field?
None - well not really. I guess I have been working in IT for a few years, and like so many people out there I have been fairly skilled with computers for most of my life.
I suspect my biggest qualification is that I am interested. And through learning whenever I get the chance - in as deep a level as I can, so I understand not just how to get things to work, but WHY that technique works. That's not as common a skill as you might think.
What got you interested in computer security?
Well I've always been interested in how things work, and this interest fits within that, however if there was one main trigger for learning more about the subject it was when my websites got hacked.
I have done a bit of web design in the past, and have used a number of software packages for running my sites. One day 5 of my sites all got hacked.
In reality this was my first experience of this kind of thing and I found it rather distasteful.
My first concerns were probably overly paranoid: that my email/bank account/home computer/phone would all be compromised too.
But these concerns all stemmed from my lack of knowledge about the subject - I had no idea how they had accessed my sites and so I had no idea how to get 'safe' again. My webhosts - Vidahost (click on this link for a 10% discount on domains and hosting using this code: andyisnice10) - were really super and helped sort out the problems straight away, but I still had no clue what to do to stay safe in the future.
I have been learning about tech security at a rapid rate ever since...
You seem to be quite interested in hacking/cracking/bad things?!
I have done a bit of web design in the past, and have used a number of software packages for running my sites. One day 5 of my sites all got hacked.
In reality this was my first experience of this kind of thing and I found it rather distasteful.
My first concerns were probably overly paranoid: that my email/bank account/home computer/phone would all be compromised too.
But these concerns all stemmed from my lack of knowledge about the subject - I had no idea how they had accessed my sites and so I had no idea how to get 'safe' again. My webhosts - Vidahost (click on this link for a 10% discount on domains and hosting using this code: andyisnice10) - were really super and helped sort out the problems straight away, but I still had no clue what to do to stay safe in the future.
I have been learning about tech security at a rapid rate ever since...
You seem to be quite interested in hacking/cracking/bad things?!
Well, not in the way you're implying...
I am fundamentally and necessarily fascinated in the best ways to keep myself, my family and those around me safe and secure while using computers and particularly the interwebs.
Let me explain it another way:
If a mechanic wants to be any good he needs to know how engines work, so he learns not just what they are, but how they work, and why each part is useful.
If he wants to be able to fix problems he should learn what things commonly go wrong and what might happen to make it explode. This doesn't mean he's trying to get an engine to explode, but that he wants to know everything about them in order to be able to fix them, or even to make the engine less likely to explode by doing something to prevent it.
Learning how someone might compromise a system is exactly the same - if you know how they are trying to get in you can do more to stop them.
I am fundamentally and necessarily fascinated in the best ways to keep myself, my family and those around me safe and secure while using computers and particularly the interwebs.
Let me explain it another way:
If a mechanic wants to be any good he needs to know how engines work, so he learns not just what they are, but how they work, and why each part is useful.
If he wants to be able to fix problems he should learn what things commonly go wrong and what might happen to make it explode. This doesn't mean he's trying to get an engine to explode, but that he wants to know everything about them in order to be able to fix them, or even to make the engine less likely to explode by doing something to prevent it.
Learning how someone might compromise a system is exactly the same - if you know how they are trying to get in you can do more to stop them.
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