Cybersecurity for Creatives

Protecting Creatives Livelihoods, Families, and Communities with Common Sense Cybersecurity

Creative Artisans

Creative works flow from somewhere deep within you then burst like confetti into your consciousness. Sometimes you struggle to set inspiration free into your chosen media or form. Other times you are compelled to drop everything and focus on creation right now: jot some notes to capture ideas in the fleeting moment, then proceed to give the ideas shape in the present. You labor, adjust, and tweak, until your creation is manifested and ready for presentation to the world.

• If your work is a physical object, you must photograph it so it can be presented to the world.

• If your work is music or the spoken word, your clips, compositions, demo's, recordings, and Midi files are your stock-in-trade.

• If you are a visual artist, photographs and/or videos become your presentation medium.

• If you are a writer or poet, your words become captured into digital form somewhere in your process.

The common denominator is creating a digital repository for your works used in distributing, marketing and selling your creations. That repository is your livelihood, your critical asset.

Cybersecurity Threats

Cybercriminals on the Web are laying traps for you so they can snare your money, health records, government identifications, and credit data to use for their own profit.

• Artificial intelligence is being used to increase the likelihood you will fall into one of their traps.

• Ransomware is a constant and pernicious predator waiting for you to click on the wrong link, encrypting your entire computer, and extorting you for hefty fees for promise of recovery.

• There is no guarantee paying a ransom fee will return your data whole.

How much of your data can you afford to lose and still meet your commitments? This is your Recovery Point Objective (RPO).

How long can you be without that repository before your operation is severely impacted or required to cease altogether? This is your Recovery Time Objective (RTO).

Threat Reduction

There is technology available to help reduce online threats. The problem is we have various devices that store our critical data without a uniform way to protect them. Most Creatives are familiar with and have installed antivirus on desktop and laptop computers.

• How many Creatives have installed antivirus for their phones, tablets, or WiFi routers?

• How many Creatives understand that their web browsers can be used against them by cybercriminals and malicious web sites?

• There are browser "extensions" that can be installed in to flag and prevent browser attacks.

• How any Creatives install these protective and detective extensions?

The days of online privacy are over, at least in the U.S. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) helps somewhat in the European Union.

The Google Chrome browser has become an invasive user surveillance tool.

• Marketers and advertisers can observe your daily activity across the Web.

• Your activity is then sold to other companies who slice and dice you into a profile.

• Profiles are then sold to retailers, other marketers, and government agencies.

Do Creatives know how to reduce their surveillance profile and browser fingerprints while enhancing online privacy?

Cybersecurity as Transformation

Integrating cybersecurity into your life can be a transformative experience for Creatives. It can help you develop a new perspective on the digital world and the importance of protecting your sensitive information on your various devices. Self-learning is the key for protecting your critical data. What happens when you harmonize cybersecurity into your Creative life? You improve your

• Understanding the of risks and threats in the digital landscape which helps Creatives become more deliberant and vigilant when navigating online.

• Knowledge of cybersecurity best practices empowers Creatives to make informed decisions about online activities, such as choosing strong passwords, using two-factor authentication, and avoiding suspicious links.

• Learning cybersecurity encourages Creatives to think critically about the potential consequences of actions and where malicious actors can deploy various types of attacks.

• Understanding cybersecurity best practices can help Creatives protect personal data, critical production files, finances, and online identities from various cyber threats.

• Learning about cybersecurity, Creatives can better navigate the online world, avoiding phishing scams, malware, and other cyber threats.

• Learning about the importance of cybersecurity, you may feel a sense of responsibility to protect not only yourself but also your families, organizations, communities, and the broader digital ecosystem wherever you recognize a potential threat.

Protecting Critical Assets

How much of your critical data can you afford to lose and still meet your commitments? This is your Recovery Point Objective (RPO). Only YOU can decide this.

How long can you be without your data repositories before you are severely impacted or required to cease operations altogether? This is your Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Only YOU can decide this.

To adequately protect your critical assets, you must build incident response and recovery processes that meet both your RPO and RTO.

Challenge of Learning Cybersecurity

Fortunately there are a plethora of courses, dozens and dozens of tools to use, processes and procedures to learn and implement. The questions then become:

• To whom do you turn to when a guiding hand is needed?

• Who can you trust to provide clear, actionable advice that fits your Creative needs?

• Can your family techie help?

• Friends or work acquaintances can sometimes help each other out with solutions to tech problems but that assistance has its own limits.

There are many cybersecurity courses available at online education platforms, but choosing one or more becomes a daunting task in itself.

• How do you know it’s the right one?

• When will it cover the topics you need covered?

• Are there prerequisite courses or knowledge needed?

• Will it make sense to a nontechnical person?

Look for a Cybersecurity Expert and Fellow Creative

My twenty-five years of cybersecurity experience, while supporting my photography habit, will be shared with fellow Creatives to protect your critical data.

I will armor you with:

• Knowledge you need to be safer online.

• Written in a way that is understandable and accessible.

• Gaining the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions about your online privacy and security that easily integrate into your life.

• Achieving more confidence to protect not only yourself but also your families, organizations, communities.

• Workable solutions that help protect the broader digital ecosystem wherever you recognize a potential threat.

I am a fellow Creative:

• Have a look at Paul's Visual Arts SubStack

• I display my photography, multimedia creation works

• Link to my online photo store.

Become a Subscriber

As a free subscriber you will

• Receive data breach news reports that affect Creatives credit card data, Social Security Numbers, email and physical addresses, health insurance breaches, and other privacy compromises.

• Improve your own Cybersecurity process from periodic CYBERSECURITY FOR CREATIVES TIDBITS via SubStack Notes.

Become an Annual Paid Subscriber

Most people dislike monthly subscriptions. I find annual subscriptions much easier to add to my calendar reminder and allocate funds every year. Maybe you are the same? If so, annual subscriptions are discounted more than 20% from monthly!

Paid subscribers will learn to integrate cybersecurity processes into their daily lives with:

• Everything free subscribers receive

• Defeating malicious web sites using tools and processes

• Adjust privacy and security settings on your devices: PC, Mac, Phones, Tablets, WiFi routers to increase your confidentiality and privacy

• Safer public WiFi usage at coffee shops, transportation, and retailers

• Understand current and emerging cyberthreats along with protections for Creatives

• Exploring new security and privacy tools that enhance confidentiality, integrity, and availability of Creatives business or production activities and processes

• Chat to share experiences and solutions unique to Creatives

• Discounts on Cybersecurity Intelligent Response ^TM knowledge, tools, and training produced specifically for Creatives that make you safer and increase confidence in daily online activities

• Supporting a fellow Creative and giving back to our community

How will you feel having a Trusted Cybersecurity Advisor with actionable recommendations to help protect yourself online?

Now, it is up to YOU. Become an Annual Paid Subscriber now.