Writing Samples
B. Travis Wright, MPS writes and is a guest blogger for technology companies and cybersecurity websites—notable technology writing samples include:
ARTICLES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & BUILDING BETTER TOMORROWS
• Artificial Intelligence and Safeguarding the Future
• Building a Better Tomorrow Through High-Availability
“…Several decades ago, anti-virus updates were mailed straight to the home on 3.5-inch floppy disks. One by one, you would install these updated definitions and be protected until the next batch was created by the company and delivered by the mail carrier. As technology advanced, dial-up internet was replaced by high-speed internet negating the considerations we gave to how long an update would take. Concurrently, anti-virus software evolved further to begin using heuristic analysis so threats could be blocked on a zero-day basis. What is over the next horizon? The future is yet to be written, but it is reasonable to assume that given the advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence, the viruses of the future could be ever-evolving, based on an artificial intelligence that outpaces the scanning engines embedded in today’s software. The question becomes: Are we adapting fast enough? This sort of change would not be welcomed and could be quite painful if such viruses spread rapidly and began to take control of critical infrastructure…”
—excerpt from Artificial Intelligence and Safeguarding the Future by B. Travis Wright, MPS
ARTICLES ON BEST PRACTICES TO MITIGATE RISK AND ENHANCE SECURITY
• Brief Best Practices for Email Security
• Brief Best Practices for Website Security
• Brief Best Practices for Wi-Fi Security
• Cyber-Security Begins with Password Security
• Every Event Holds a Teachable Moment
• The Importance of Multi-Factor Authentication
“…There are different schools of thought when it comes to passwords; yet, passwords share a remarkable amount in common with nutrition. In the nutrition world, there are right and wrong answers to what is healthy: green beans will always be a healthier choice than deep fried funnel cakes. Just as there is not one ideal superfood (introducing varying ranges and combinations of healthy foods is the way to go), passwords follow the same paradigm. Broccoli is packed with vitamins and antioxidants but eating only broccoli would not constitute a healthy diet. From this, we learn that variation is key: passwords need variety, not only a unique password for every site or service, but also an internal variety of lowercase, uppercase, numbers, and symbols. Taco Tuesdays are not random, they are predictable. Passwords should not be as predictable as Meatless Mondays, either. It should be more like Whatever Wednesdays. Keep them random to keep bad actors and bots guessing. Avoid passwords that are predictable: your name, your family’s names, your hometown, or your birthday. Finally, snacks should be more like PIN codes: short and abbreviated (and part of the overall picture) but never the meal. Passwords are to be thought of as a buffet and not a snack: the longer the better, with a bit of chance added to the plate (because you could not pass up the tray of goodies at the end of the line)…”
—excerpt from Cyber-Security Begins with Password Security by B. Travis Wright, MPS
ARTICLES ON CYBERSECURITY HAZARDS & FRAMEWORKS
• Non-Compliance Leads to a Dangerous New Normal
• Why Cyber Attacks Happen: Five Hazardous Attitudes
• Demystifying the HIPAA Conduit Exception Rule
“…Online attacks engineered to target people—not machines, are the leading vector for cyber-attacks. Generally, computer systems will always respond in a predictable manner: the port is either open or closed, the site or resource is either available or it is not, the credentials used are either valid or invalid. Binary options are housed and run on a computing platform known for predictability and precision. Computers do not get sleepy and they do not succumb to emotions nor do they exhibit hazardous attitudes. Cybersecurity and cryptography expert Bruce Schneier wrote nearly two decades ago, ‘Only amateurs attack machines; professionals target people.’ Schneier was then—and continues to be—spot-on with his October 2000 observations. Computer systems rarely make mistakes; humans make plenty. Lack of knowledge, understanding, or training, coupled with fatigue or incorrectly reading/skimming information, can cause a problem when a person is presented with a phishing email, for example. Human error can happen in the air, too, which is why ‘five hazardous attitudes’ have been codified by the FAA…”
—excerpt from Why Cyber Attacks Happen: Five Hazardous Attitudes by B. Travis Wright, MPS
