Run DMZ

There haven’t been many bright spots since March, when half the world was forced to lock down to curb contamination from a deadly virus. But one has been blogging. Journaling in its various forms is making a strong comeback in the wake of a novel coronavirus pandemic. That includes blogs.    The  newest annual survey by Orbit Media  shows a similar uptick. That survey focuses on corporate blogging, but I’d argue that many running blogs are now so enmeshed with sponsored content and affiliate links that they are as commercial as those produced by a brand. And there’s nothing wrong with such promotion if the author is crystal clear about those business relationships and provides valuable content.    Journaling is also up, as people return to paper or keyboard to express their thoughts, process their issues and document their journey through troubling times.   The evolution of running blogs As someone who’s been reading running blogs since the early 2000s...

Last week I celebrated 20 years covering cybersecurity, the subject that  launched this blog back in 2005 . Even when I was employed full time in another industry, I still wrote regularly about ways to protect ourselves from malicious users trying to compromise our data.    While I was getting a lot of LinkedIn love for a post celebrating my milestone, the Employment Development Department for the State of California was demanding my company pay back taxes for an employee that did not exist. My first thought was that one of our independent contractors misclassified themselves, given the amount they reportedly made from us was $17,500. Our employees (a) make more annually and (b) rarely have their salary totals rounded to such neat numbers.    Then our accountant sent  a front-page New York Times article  and I realized we’d been swept up in a cybercrime in which bad actors made real unemployment claims using our company’s data. The heist screams o...