Plain-English cybersecurity for the people attackers actually target — seniors answering scam calls, youngsters setting up their first accounts, families keeping a household safe online. No jargon and no scare tactics: what the attacks look like, and the few habits that stop most of them. For fellow practitioners, the technical field notes live on their own page — the Field Notes tab above.
The scams and threats moving right now — in plain English, with the chapter that beats each one.
fraud losses reported by Americans 60+ in 2025
Source: FTCfinancial sextortion reports in 2025
Source: NCMEConline enticement reports in 2025
Source: NCMECUpdated every Wednesday, alongside the new chapter. Figures: FTC and NCMEC published reports. This panel informs — it never frightens.
I was on the other side of this once. I was not a security person; I did not know how these attacks worked, and I could have been fooled by the same calls and messages that fool people every day. Now I work in cybersecurity — and this blog is how I bring everyone else across with me.
Most security writing is written for security teams. This one is written for everyone else: for the senior deciding whether that call is really her bank (it almost never is), for the youngster opening a first account, for the family that shares one Wi-Fi network and a dozen passwords. If my memoir sent you here — welcome. Start with these:
The Call That Isn’t Your Bank · The Flaw Was Hiding in the Compression Library · Ransomware Still Walks In Through the Front Door · The Warning List Arrives Late. Don’t Wait for It. · The Teammate Who Isn’t Twelve
Plain-English lessons on the scam calls, passwords, updates and habits that decide whether a household stays safe online. Written for seniors, youngsters and families — start here.
Fellow practitioners: my technical notebook — GRC engineering and security automation — has its own page: Field Notes →
By day, I work in cybersecurity — governance, risk and compliance (GRC): helping organisations prove their systems are safe, and building small automations that turn hours of manual checking into minutes. It’s good work, and I’m glad to do it.
But the people attackers actually go after are rarely in those buildings. They’re grandparents answering the phone, youngsters in their first game chat, families just trying to get through the week — and almost nobody explains this stuff to them in words they’d actually use. So that’s what I do here: I take what I know and translate it into plain English. What the scams look like. The few habits that stop most of them. No jargon, no scare tactics, nothing to sell you.
I wasn’t always on this side of it — I once knew none of this, and I could have been an easy target myself. If a chapter here saves one family one bad phone call, it has done its job. There’s a new one every Wednesday. (Fellow practitioners: my technical writing lives under Field Notes.)
Everything on this page is a chapter in the making. The book is called Explained Simply — a family guide to staying safe online: the scam calls, the delivery texts, the game chats — taken apart in plain English, each chapter ending with a checklist your family can actually use.
It will be published in large print first — the people who need it most shouldn’t have to squint to read it. Chapters will keep appearing here as the book comes together. Want to know when it’s out? Join the email list below — subscribers hear first.
Four short, printable quick references — one for each person a scam comes for. Each is an A–Z of what the caller or sender says, the one move that stops it, and exactly who to call if it already happened. Free when you subscribe — pick yours below.
Every scam call, text and pop-up, A to Z — in large print, made to keep by the phone.
Sextortion, gaming-chat strangers and the first hour after it happens — for parents of teenagers.
Written for teenagers themselves: the DM that turns into blackmail, and exactly how it stops.
The whole A–Z for everyone — a scam dictionary for your phone and your inbox.
Subscribe below, pick your guide on the form, and we’ll send it to your inbox. Go to subscribe ↓
Subscribe and your first email brings you one of the four Online Safety 101 guides above, free. After that, a new plain-English lesson most weeks — the latest scam making the rounds, the habit that defeats it, the warning worth knowing about. Written for seniors, youngsters and families, and for the people who look out for them.
Pick your free guide:
How the guide works: pick your free guide on the form above as you subscribe, and we’ll send it to your inbox — guides are sent by hand, so please allow a little time. Missed the pick? Just reply to your welcome email with the one you want. New posts arrive by email, sent through Buttondown. Your address is used only for this newsletter — no spam, never shared, and every email carries an unsubscribe link.
My professional notebook: GRC engineering and security automation, written for people who do this work. The plain-English lessons for everyone else live on the home page.
