Security. Explained for the rest of us.

Learn low-cost, scalable approaches to securing your startup, your business, and your personal data. A comprehensive but practical guide to help you worry less.

  • 310-page online book
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Length: 310 pages
Edition: e1.0.0
Last Updated: 2023-10-09
Language: English
ISBN (Holloway.com):
978-1-952120-31-2

Security for Everyone

Low-Cost Approaches to Digital Security for Yourself and Your Growing Business

by Laura BellErica Anderson

Do you keep personal information and sensitive business documents on your laptop? Do you and your team use passwords, security keys, or credentials to protect your software and data in the cloud? Have you imagined the damage to your life and your business if these were revealed, exploited, or lost?

No matter the size of your organization, security affects us all.

Large companies know the importance—and pay trained security specialists to work on security full time. But what about the rest of us? It’s time there was a comprehensive resource that helps any of us, no matter our role or the size of our business, keep our people, systems, and data secure.

Securing your business can be daunting, especially when you’re small. That’s why Security for Everyone offers low-cost, scalable solutions to securing your startup or growing business. It will test your personal security assumptions and practices, which will set you up to lead security for an ever-growing team. You’ll learn frameworks for understanding security at different stages of your business, and be guided on a practical journey from secure individual to security leader.

Security for Everyone focuses on practical, flexible, step-by-step, affordable approaches that can scale to suit your situation and needs, in language non-technical folks can understand.

You’ll learn:

  • Why security matters and how it applies to our business, systems, data, and people.
  • How to protect your own data and key accounts online (such as email and social media)—not just for your own benefit but for the safety of those you care about.
  • How to protect your small business and the key data and tools you rely on to operate—from your website to your email—whether you are protecting yourself or working with a service provider.
  • How to protect your startup and maximize your chance of survival as you take big risks and innovate—from vulnerability management as the technical environment team grows, to communicating security with your customers.
  • How to scale your security for your growing organization—moving your security approach from foundations, to weaving security through your day to day operations and assessing the threats you face as your strategy changes.

The authors of this book believe that security shouldn’t be a privilege for those who can afford it, and they’ve devoted their careers to transforming the security space so everyone can benefit. Security for Everyone will meet you where you are, so you can get started today.

Table of Contents

Part I
Securing Your Digital Life
How to Protect Your Passwords and Email
How to Lock Down Your Devices
How to Protect Your Information and Accounts
Part II
Securing Your Small Businesses
Planning for Expanded Risk
Securing Your Website
Securing Business Accounts and Devices
Best Practices for Expanding Your Circle of Trust
Part III
Securing Your Startup
Minimum Viable Security
Data Protection
Building Security into Your Software Development Process
Vulnerability Management
Responding to Due Diligence
Part IV
Maturing Your Security Strategy
How to Document Your Security Strategy
How to Handle Common Security Events
Your Calendar of Security Activities
Incident Response
Disaster Planning and Recovery
Learning From Incidents and Disasters
Growing a Security Team
Adapting to Change
Compliance at Scale
Security and Diligence for IPO, Acquisition, or Sale
Part V
Additional Topics
Security Concerns When Downsizing
Accessibility and Usable Security
About the Authors
Laura Bell
SafeStack
Laura Bell specializes in bringing security survival skills, practices, and culture into fast-paced organizations of every shape and size. She founded SafeStack in 2014 to support security in fast-growing organizations around the world. With over a decade of experience in software development and information security, she is an experienced conference speaker, trainer, and regular panel member, and spoken at a range of events such as BlackHat USA, Velocity, and OSCON on the subjects of privacy, covert communications, agile security, and security mindset. Laura co-authored Agile Application Security for O’Reilly Media.
Erica Anderson
SafeStack
Erica Anderson has played multiple roles in security. As an engineer, she has worked for small and growth startup companies managing their product and platform security. As an analyst, she has operated and managed internal security and incident response teams. As a consultant, she has tested systems and supported clients of all shapes and sizes around the world. She is an experienced conference speaker and trainer, and organizes conferences for BSides, Kiwicon, and Kawaiicon. Erica is driven by empathy for people struggling with security—whether they’re at the beginning or well along in their security journey.

Learn more.

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