About 10 years ago, in the wake of the Snowden revelations, I decided to write a book on security and privacy for average, everyday, non-technical people. I wanted to help people curtail online tracking and mass surveillance, while improving the security of their data and devices. I use a lot of analogies in the book to explain complex topics. The central theme is defending a medieval castle, with the dragon representing the NSA or a similar org with effectively unlimited resources. I called the book Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons. The book is now in its 5th edition (with a 6th likely in 2026). You can find it on Amazon and most online book sellers.
About eight years ago, I started a podcast of the same name: the Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Podcast. The show is a combination of important security and privacy news stories and interviews with top industry experts. I’ve interviewed Cory Doctorow (EFF), Andy Yen (Proton), Phil Zimmermann (PGP), Kashmir Hill (journalist), Bruce Schneier (cryptographer), Joseph Cox (404 Media), folks from the hacker community including the Cult of the Dead Cow and L0pht, and many amazing people you may not have heard of. I have well over 400 episodes now. They come out every Monday and are about an hour long.
I’ve had a blog and newsletter for a long time, too. I also created a cool set of dragon coupons which you can use to help your loved ones improve their security and privacy. I’m really big on trying to get my audience to go forth and do good deeds.
You can follow me on social media. I mostly post to Mastodon and Bluesky, but I also post my podcasts to YouTube.
Please feel free to reach out anytime! You can find all my contact info here.