Cyber Security Framework

I’ve worked in cyber security and been preventing cybercrime for over several years now. Am the sort of hero that keeps your data safe and shouts at you for using “Qwerty1” as your password and sticking to your monitor on a post-it note.

Cyber Security is such a big space to cover and the threats to computer systems are always evolving. If you are interested in taking up Cyber Security as a career here are a few things that you should study and learn more about:

Access Controls:

Permission to login and access network resources and software. In a Windows environment this is managed by Active Directory or AD for short. AD authenticates users and device access to a network domains. Group policy can be used to protect how the operating system and applications interact with users.

Secure Networking:

Networks and computer systems need to be secured and locked down using firewalls to block traffic ports and prevent unauthorised devices from using the network.

Denial Of Services:

This happens when a website or service is overloaded by requests with the intention to bring the service down. Flooding a server with more web traffic than it can handle will cause it to slow down and even crash. This causes disruption to customers and reputational and financial losses to organisations.

Viruses, Trojans, Malware & Ransomware

Cyber attack intend to infect systems so they can take control to steal data personal information for profit, cause damage, spend adverting messages or for hacking bragging rights.

Phishing & Social Engineering:

Phishing attacks are the top method for cyber criminals and hackers to compromise a network or PC system. Social Engineering uses manipulation to gain access to accounts and computers.

Phishing emails use con tricks to get you to reveal confidential information and account details so hackers and criminals can take control of computer systems and services. This is usually by clicking a link or opening an attachment.

Social media also possess a risk as information can be gathered from your online presence and data harvested by site scrapping unsecured profiles and unethical apps.

Cybercrime is a growing threat and I enjoy making my living by preventing your information and data ending up in the wrong hands.

YOUR JOB

No matter what job you do, when you get paid learn to manage your money. The income you earn needs to be used wisely. Use it to save, invest and clear your debt.

Celebrities Diets Should Be Banned

The power of celebrity diets and the pushing for the perfect body should be banned. Celebrity endorsements and influencers can promote something and it sells out over night. Companies are spending millions on using the power of celebrities to make us spend money.

The more social media overlaps our lives, the more important it becomes to control how it influences us into believing that everyone has the perfect body and is living the perfect life.

Celebrity diet marketing can become dangerous for our mental health and body image. And for the generate who have grown up with social media it has a damaging effect on young minds.

Lots of unethical brands and iffy companies prey on young impressionable minds to sell their overpriced junk diet products. It even works on adults who are taken in with the fitness bullshit and purchase stuff from the shop at InfoWars.

If you want your tummy to get flatter and feel better then eat the right foods and do some exercise. Your health and fitness problems aren't going to be solved by drinking a meal replacement shake sponsored by some hot celebrity with 50 million followers on Instagram.

Celebrity diets and weight loss products pray on our insecurities, lack of confidence and the hope of a magic cure for our body's. For women there is a huge amount of pressure to look slim and beautiful. For men you are supposed to have muscles with a six pack and a handsome jaw line.

People never just look a certain way overnight and believing they do is inaccurate and unhelpful. It is counterproductive to peddle these dirty diets and garbage products.

The diet industry loves selling "the dream" because it makes them a fortune. Most of the stuff they make is ineffective and some can be harmful. Therefore I think there should be a ban of celebrity diets and the advertising of diet pills, slimming shakes and appetite suppressants.

If all these weight loss aids and diet products worked so well why it's society thinner and fitter? It's time to crackdown and ban the promotion of this diet rubbish and get fit fast.

There are no fast fixes or fad diets to solve weight loss. You can't get your dream body and shed weight without a real diet plan and health programme to address the issues you have.

I don't need to tell what healthy stuff you should be eating and drinking. Weight loss isn't achieved by putting chemicals into your body. Magic pills and skipping meals isn't the right approach for diets - healthier eating and smaller portions are. You can't tone up your body with vitamin supplements, "dieting tea" and miracle cures.

Save Money, Pay Down Debt or Both

I'm going to share my views on whether you should pay off debt, save and invest or both at the same time. It certainly can be a dilemma to choose from. Do you reduce your debt or save? Which should you prioritise?

It will all depend on your financial situation and money goals, as for me I choose paying off debt. The reason I do is because it's our debts that stop us from saving more and investing in the first place. It's debt that erodes your money away. Without any debt you can save and invest your money with financial security.

Also you should already be automatically saving and investing a portion of your income through your company pension scheme. Be sure you take advantage of this and contribute as much as you can to your company pension.

Whether you save or pay down debt depends on the interest rates. If you have high interest debts above your saving interest rates then it makes sense to pay off debt. It a bit silly earning low returns on your savings and investments when you're paying 25% on the debt you owe. This is what I did with my saving and I even used my emergency fund to clear off my debt. While that may not be a great idea and I recommend everyone should have some savings just in case the unexpected happens using my savings saved me money on debt interest payments.

Since then I built my emergency fund back up again and have no intentions to spend it on debt again. Your emergency fund should be the first thing you ever save for and only be used when a financial crisis hit. Having one will prevent you from dipping into debt when you desperately need some fast cash.

You may also decide to pay off debt and work towards your saving goals at the same time. Maximising your savings, investments and balancing is against your debt is how you'll reach financial independence. It's certainly worth paying extra into your mortgage. The main thing to remember is to prioritise expensive debt and clear off your balance before saving and investing.

It's likely you have more debt than savings in your youth and you'll only have a certain amount of money every month to allocate to savings and debt. Either way, paying off debt or saving you'll be putting yourself in a better financial position.

Sure you should be saving however paying off debt means you're saving too. Every extra pound and penny you pay back reduces your interest payments which will save you a massive amount of money.

In the end you have to decide what is right for your circumstances, current situation and needs. For example if you're having a baby then you may want to focus on saving up for nine months to prepare for the birth.

Since I'm on a journey to debt freedom and running a debt blog and I'm always going to vote with paying off debt first over saving and investing. Being debt free opens up better investing growth. Once all your debt is gone you'll be able to do some heavy saving and investing without debt dragging your returns down. In the long run clearing our debts is the best financial thing for us.

Saving Money to Pay Off Debt

Clearing your debt fast involves finding ways to cut costs and reduce your spending so you can use that money to pay off your debts. You can also increase your income and pile the extra earnings into debt.

Since starting on my path to debt freedom I've reduce my outgoings in many areas and spent that money on my debts. Here is what I've done to save money for debt repayments, some of my actions may seem extreme to give up however killing off debt quick requires sacrifice:

·       First make your debt cheaper. Balance Transfer your credit cards to 0% interest free deals. Paying no internet clears your balance faster.

·       Find a better even a small 0.25% rate reduction adds up to massive savings over a long time period. If you don't have a mortgage you could search for a cheaper place to rent. 

·         Switch energy provider to reduce your gas and electricity bills at USwitch.

·       Buy cheaper alternatives where you can and consider second hand products. You'll pay more for top brand names and the latest releases.

·         Avoid restaurants, takeaways, coffee shops and cook at home. Take a packed lunch or bring your own food to work when you can.

·         Cancel the TV subscriptions. I got rid of my Sky TV package, yes I missed it for a while then I adjusted. If cancelling your TV viewing is too much then try cheaper options like NowTV.

·         Shop around for better phone and broadband deals. Sim only deals save on mobile hardware costs.

·         Ditch Amazon Prime if you don't really use it and those other expensive weaknesses that you overspend on like gadgets, video games, clothes.

·         Stop or at least cut down if you drink too much. This will benefit your body and give you extra energy levels.

·         If you smoke then quit. Tobacco is an expensive and an unhealthy habit, quitting will save you a fortune and you'll feel great.

·         If you're not travelling too far or needing to carry heavy loads then walk or cycle to save petrol. It will also help you to keep fit.

·         Do you have a job where you could work from home a few days a week? Ask your employer and if it's possible you'll save on food and petrol costs plus the travel time to work.

Doing all or most of these will help you eliminate debt faster. I also opened a debt savings account where money is saved and then paid into my debt.

Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster

The dream of home ownership isn't really that special. While it's nice to have a place you can call home you don't own it outright until your mortgage is paid off. My two bedroom place is ideal for a single professional geek like me, however sometimes I regret buying it and wish I'd rented for longer.

Sure I love my pad, it's in a nice neighbourhood, close to a park and the local shops are handy and yet I feel tied down, not only to the mortgage payments but also to the maintenance and repairs that have needed doing since I bought it. On top of the building insurance I pay every month.

To be honest I'd like to "own my house" and become mortgage free. With my credit card debt gone I have extra money to put into the mortgage. This is my next debt step.

Some might think I should invest the money for a higher return. For me it doesn't make sense, right now I'll leave my work pension to invest every month. The fact is paying off your mortgage early will save you thousands in interest payments.

I don't want any form of debt and that means the mortgage too. I'm sick of giving banks my hard earned cash and paying them for decades so I can have a roof over my head at over twice the price of the property.

With all your debt gone you can build wealth faster instead of banks and credit companies taking it away every day. I prefer having no debt then a 30 year mortgage eating at my investments.

Imagine not having any lenders and being empowered to invest without any debts dinting your assets. A home that's paid off quicker is more of an asset then slaving away making the interest payments.

Having a mortgage is also a risk without an emergency fund in place. What would happen if you couldn't make the payments for some reason like illness or an accident. Do you have insurance and an emergency fund to cover for an unexpected crisis?

I want to pay off my mortgage faster over investing because that's my personal choice. When I get my mortgage statement and see that 75% of the payments only cover the interest and the actually balance hardly goes down it makes perfect sense that I should work to pay it off faster rather than invest in the markets.

Having no debt is better than having debt and once all the debt is gone and the mortgage paid off I'll gain years to plough the saving into index funds.

I'm paying off my mortgage early, without a mortgage you can be finally free from debt and it zapping away your wealth. Complete debt freedom means you don't owe a penny and you never need to borrow money again.

What would you do with the money, invest or clear the mortgage faster? If you have a mortgage how would you feel if it was cleared earlier? Let me know by the commenting below.