Category Archives: We Let Them In

This blog series is where I get to put on my bad guy hat, and point out flaws in internet security and social media practices that invite complete strangers into our lives without even knowing it. It’s time to examine what it is we do and learn how to project ourselves.

The Strangers We Let See Facebook

Posted on

It's been a while since I've written on my personal blog. This has been for a few reasons, the biggest of which I've been focusing on my fictional writing, trying to finish my crime novel.

Well, the draft of my crime novel is complete, and it currently in the hands of a developmental editor. While I wait patiently for his comments (and trust me, it has been a patient wait, as I'm not ready to delve back into edits yet), I thought I'd turn my attention back to something else that I'm just as passionate about.

Protecting ourselves on the internet.

For years, on the Editor's Blog on Black Wolf Editorial, I've been writing about some of the hidden traps associated with working online. Back in February, I decided to start a series here on my personal blog that delves into the mind of the bad guys who use the internet to prey on the innocent.

In the first post, I wrote about Twitter and how it's actually what we post that can be more of the security risk. Today, I want to look at some of the settings on Facebook, things that many of us never bothered to consider a risk.

Read More→

New Zealand

But in New Zealand???

Posted on

It is Saturday morning, and I’m now facing a shift in my sense of reality. Less than 24 hours ago, my world was safe and calm, and my worst worry was how I was going to convince my husband to buy the new lounge suite that I want, or how was the next scene in my manuscript going to play out, or where does one find the money to pay for the writers conference that I want to go to in August.

No, instead, my worst worry has now joined that of many others around world.

Will today be the day that a terrorist takes my son, my daughter or my husband away from me?

On Friday 15th March, 2019, an unknown number of madmen marched into two separate mosques on opposite sides of Christchurch, New Zealand (my home city) and opened fire. They then proceeded to locations north and south of the central city, attempting to evade arrest while causing more acts of terrorism.

For the first time in history, the entire city of Christchurch, New Zealand was on lockdown. All schools, all malls, all businesses closed and locked their doors. Residents citywide were encouraged to stay inside. For nearly 4 hours, an entire city was held to ransom. And what makes it all bizarre… It happened in little, old New Zealand, one of the safest countries in the world. 

Lives have been lost in this senseless madness. Families have been ripped apart by an act driven by hatred. Nothing can make up for that. New Zealand as a whole is now suffering.

Be warned, this is a LONG post, but I had to get it out, because so much is going on in this mind of mine.

Read More→

We Let Strangers Into Our Lives

Posted on

For the last few years, I’ve been writing crime thrillers. Thinking in the head of a bad guy can be liberating. Not sure when these stories of mine will be published (the publishing industry really is a hurry-up-and-wait industry), but I keep pressing forward, and continue to write stories where the bad guys come after us in ways that we are all subject to.

I always wanted the novel to be a cautionary tale about oversharing on social media and the internet. The more I delve into various aspects of internet security, the more I get excited—and scared.

I'm excited, because I know exactly how my serial killer is finding his victims—how he's stalking them. And I also know how he has managed to elude capture for over twenty years. As the writer of this creepy tale, this is fantastic. However, it also scares me, because I'm consciously aware that there will be some sicko out there doing exactly what the bad guy in my story is doing.

I've decided to start this blog series on social media and internet security on my personal blog in the hopes that at least one person out there will take notice and start to examine their own practices. If my ramblings can save just one person from becoming the victim, then I'll be over the moon.

Read More→

Guilty

#CockyGate and Trademark Hell: Enough is Enough!

Posted on

I have been watching what is going on with #CockyGate, stunned by the train wreck that is gripping the publishing industry by storm. What started as one woman’s horrible mistake (and lack of understanding of trademark law) has blown up into a full-scale witch hunt. And you know what… I’ve had enough!

Pitchforks have been seized by the masses, and the mob is on the loose. No one is safe from this shit storm (and yes, I deliberately swore). I can tell you now, watching the social media feeds, there WILL be more than one author who will have their reputation harmed, if not destroyed, by this mess. Where will it end? Read More→

Smartphone

Smartphone game has crossed the moral line.

Posted on

Anyone who knows me personally will know that I've always had an objection to computer games. It's not because of the violence or anything like that, but because of the addiction that is inherit with computers and electronic games.

I've lost count of the number of times when I've gotten up at all godly hours in the morning to discover my husband not in bed, because he was playing a stupid computer game (the same game he was playing when I went to bed six hours before). When our son was first born, my husband's addiction to computer games got so bad that we had to put in rules: he wasn't allowed to play any computer games except on a Friday or Saturday night, when he didn't have work the next day. Now that our son is in his late teens, my husband can see the dangers of our son going down the same road, and my husband has been helping me teach our son to manage this special breed of addiction.

However, lately I've noticed that the nature of the advertised games on certain apps has changed. For the first time ever, it's the nature of the games that has me seriously disturbed.

Read More→