Writing.
Some of these essays are written here and nowhere else. The rest are collected from the brands I build - cybersecurity, critical thinking, men’s health, the shape of work after fifty - each linking back to where it first ran. One address for the lot.
Written here
Originals
Essays written for this site, published nowhere else.
The Work With Someone Else's Name On It
A composite reflection on decades of consulting - the good work, and the quiet structure that kept detaching it from the person who did it. Why I build my own things now.
26 Aug 2026
The Afternoon I Stopped Calling It Age
Somewhere in my fifties I started accepting a verdict on the one system I can't replace. This is about the change in thinking, not the protocol - the day I stopped calling it age and started calling it a question.
17 Aug 2026
The Scan I Assumed Was Broken
The first time I measured the security basics of a batch of ordinary small-business domains, the results were so bad I assumed my own tool was faulty. It wasn't.
6 Aug 2026
The Tools I Stopped Renting
Over a year I quietly replaced most of the software I used to pay for with tools I built myself. The money saved is the least interesting part of what happened.
13 July 2026
Why I Keep a Blog I Never Meant to Start
A personal site that began as a filing cabinet and turned into the one place I write - irregularly, un-syndicated, about the three things I keep coming back to.
3 July 2026
Collected
From across the brands
Pieces first published on the brands I write for - each links to its canonical home.
Two Wires Into the Building
One internet connection is a single point of failure for your whole business. A second service - different supplier, different technology - fixes it.
From Red Bridge Cyber27 Aug 2026
Your Phone Is Now a Single Point of Failure
A business partner lost his phone overseas - and the telco needed the number to verify the man asking about the number. Your MFA has the same loop.
From Red Bridge Cyber20 Aug 2026
Pattern Recognition: The Skill Every Lab Technician Is Building Without Knowing It
Pattern recognition isn't a natural talent - it's an accumulated database built through disciplined observation. Lab training builds it faster than almost any other environment.
From ABC Training & Consulting15 Aug 2026
Write the Run Book Before You Need It
Your laptop was stolen overnight. From a borrowed computer, get back into your business. The document that makes that possible is a run book.
From Red Bridge Cyber13 Aug 2026
A Backup You Haven’t Restored Is a Hope, Not a Backup
Backups are the most-ticked, least-tested box in small business. ASD’s guidance says to test restores regularly - here’s why almost nobody does.
From Red Bridge Cyber6 Aug 2026
The Third Word in the Definition of Security
The CIA triad defines security as confidentiality, integrity and availability. The industry sells the first two and forgets the one that closes businesses.
From Red Bridge Cyber30 July 2026
Be a Harder Target Than the House Next Door
Most cyber attacks are opportunistic, and attackers are on the clock. In June 2026 the median Australian small business scored an F on web security. Be the C.
From Red Bridge Cyber23 July 2026
Why I Don’t Recommend the Essential Eight to Small Business
ASD says the Essential Eight is designed for Windows-based networks. Most small businesses don’t have one - and 43% don’t enforce DMARC. What I suggest instead.
From Red Bridge Cyber16 July 2026
Why Being Comfortable with Uncertainty Is a Superpower
Performed certainty is everywhere. The rarer skill - knowing exactly where the boundary between known and unknown sits - is one STEM training builds quietly and consistently.
From ABC Training & Consulting15 July 2026
Th@ts!s3cure: Why Complex Passwords Aren’t Strong Passwords
NIST’s 2025 guidelines dropped complexity rules: length beats symbols. A 2011 stick-figure comic was right all along - most password policies still aren’t.
From Red Bridge Cyber9 July 2026
Nobody Is Coming to Fix Your Website
In June 2026 the same 150 Australian small-business sites medianed A+ on technical SEO and F on security. The difference is what was on the launch checklist.
From Red Bridge Cyber2 July 2026
ASD Is Retiring the Essential Eight. Don't Wait Two Years to Fix the Basics.
ASD is retiring the Essential Eight, quietly admitting it was built for a world we've left. A founder's take: don't wait for the replacement - and don't assume it fits small business.
From Red Bridge Cyber2 July 2026
Big Budgets, F-Grade Basics: What Our 450-Domain Scan Found
We scanned 450 domains Australians rely on. Enterprise and government medianed an F on web security - same grade as small business. Budget didn’t buy basics.
From Red Bridge Cyber25 June 2026
The real reason your pen-tester didn’t find anything wrong
A clean penetration test report often proves the scope was wrong, not the business safe. With AU tests running $5k-$40k and the average breach now AUD $4.26M, here’s what to ask before you trust the result.
From Red Bridge Cyber18 June 2026
Why I built Red Bridge Cyber instead of joining another consultancy
Australia’s big cyber consultancies sell a $40k-a-year product that 95% of small businesses cannot buy. Here is the market gap I left a consulting career to fill, and the numbers behind it.
From Red Bridge Cyber17 June 2026
The Security Advice You’re Sold Is Sized for Someone Else
Most small business security advice is a shrunk-down enterprise plan built for staff you don’t employ. The ASD puts small-business cybercrime at $56,571 a year. Here’s the index-card version that actually fits.
From Red Bridge Cyber17 June 2026