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A SCOTUS Ruling on Chatrie

https://nickselby.com/docs/geofence/

Published: June 30, 2026 14:02

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court of the United States held that “reverse” warrants (“Show me all the mobile devices near this spot at this time and date”), commonly known as “geo-fence warrants”, trigger the Fourth Amendment: acquiring cell-phone…

A Privacy-Respecting Percent Calculator

https://nickselby.com/docs/calc/

Published: February 22, 2026 14:00

A free percentage calculator I used for years has never offered a paid option, though I would have paid for one. It’s a simple little troika of scripts to calculate percentages, easier to use than to build myself. But when my ad blocker blocked their…

Percentage Calculator

https://nickselby.com/tools/percent/

Published: February 22, 2026 00:00

About this tool A free percentage calculator I used for years has never offered a paid option, though I would have paid for one. It’s a simple little troika of scripts to calculate percentages, easier to use than to build myself. Then, to make more money,…

DocuSign UX Update: Product Suicide and a Digital Unicycle Clown

https://nickselby.com/docs/clippy-ii/

Published: February 3, 2026 05:57

A couple of weeks ago I logged in to Docusign for the same thing I always do: get a document signed by me and someone in another location. That’s the product’s entire purpose. Docusign had “updated” its user interface. Gone was the simple workflow: upload…

From AI FOMO to AI Strategy

https://nickselby.com/docs/inc/

Published: January 6, 2026 23:00

On New Year’s Eve, I published a piece in Inc.com that I’ve been wanting to write for months: “How FOMO Is Turning AI Into a Cybersecurity Nightmare.” I wrote it because the security, legal, and governance risks aren’t hypothetical anymore. They’re showing…

Solving SBOM Scrambling

https://nickselby.com/docs/sbomify/

Published: January 1, 2026 23:00

Recently I did a podcast with Viktor Petersson, and we discussed his open source project, Sbomify. He has observed what I have about Software Bill of Materials (SBOM): they’re increasingly required for commercial due diligence, yet remain too hard for many…

Tech Debt Surveys Bring Order to Chaos

https://nickselby.com/docs/tech-debt-meta/

Published: November 20, 2025 22:00

When executives ask why features are taking so long to deliver, engineering leaders often respond with, “we have a significant tech debt problem.” To the engineer, this describes deadlines untethered to system realities, unbalanced pressures requiring…

SaaS Cloud Monitoring with Obsidian Security

https://nickselby.com/docs/obsidian/

Published: October 5, 2025 23:00

Organizations regardless of vertical are more dependent on Software as a Service (SaaS) tools and data than ever before. Many CEOs don’t truly appreciate how fundamentally their organizations have changed in the past decade. M365, Google Workspace, GitHub,…

Tech debt isn’t an ‘IT issue.’ It’s a business strategy problem.

https://nickselby.com/docs/fctd/

Published: August 21, 2025 18:00

This article appeared in Fast Company’s “Ask the Experts” section on 21 August 2025. Read the excerpt below, and please click through for the full text. Every CEO knows the feeling of promised features taking months longer than expected, simple changes…

Managing Tech Debt: A Strategic Imperative for Innovation

https://nickselby.com/docs/finding-tech-debt/

Published: November 26, 2024 23:01

We’ve noted that tech debt is inevitable in innovation. The question isn’t whether your organization has it but how much and how well it’s managed. Proactive leaders deliberately decide where and how much tech debt to incur during product development. Once…

Why Tech Debt Matters

https://nickselby.com/docs/td-matters/

Published: October 23, 2024 07:00

When software developers cut corners, skipping essential steps to get a product out the door, they’re taking on what the industry calls “technical debt.” Think of it as building on shaky foundations. Unlike business debt, which can be strategic, tech debt…

National Academies: Hard Cyber Problems in Law Enforcement

https://nickselby.com/docs/nas/

Published: September 29, 2024 09:52

On September 26, 2024, the National Academy of Sciences ‘Hard Cyber Problems’ committee hosted a law enforcement session, and I was asked to present an overview for their consideration. To build this presentation, I chatted with former colleagues and…

IC3 Is A Joke

https://nickselby.com/docs/pb/

Published: July 28, 2024 23:23

Anyone who works investigating Internet crimes has spent the last few years in a repeated cycle: we come across (through complainants) a victim who has lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (or, in a recent case I investigated, millions) to the…

Items for Sale or Swap

https://nickselby.com/items-for-sale-or-swap/

Published: July 21, 2024 10:26

As we prepare our beautiful house for sale and our move, we find ourselves with a bunch of stuff that we are going to sell on eBay, and we figured it was easier to tell y’all about and see if there was any local interest on the hill. We will update this…

Cyber Security Incidents v. Cyber Security Attacks

https://nickselby.com/docs/incident/

Published: July 20, 2024 15:19

There’s justifiably big brouhaha over the global computer outage caused by a flawed Crowdstrike update, and everyone is saying what needs to be said about how resilency is a massive issue; monoculture is a huge problem; and just how much Windows sucks in…

Some OK News About United

https://nickselby.com/docs/united/

Published: July 14, 2024 15:21

The other day, I wrote about the great Air France app and boarding passes that provide a huge amount of really helpful information. Today I am talking about something… okay but not great. Not bad, mind you. Just not great. United’s app and boarding pass.…

Some Great News About Air France

https://nickselby.com/docs/france/

Published: July 12, 2024 18:16

As someone who does a podcast about technical debt, I often gripe about tech debt and bad user experience — especially when it comes to airlines. That’s why I am so thrilled to write about the great experience I recently had on Air France. I am especially…

Nick on the RSnake Show

https://nickselby.com/docs/rsnake/

Published: July 4, 2024 04:50

It’s been several months, and I forgot to mention that I had a really amazing time with my friend Robert Hansen — much better known as RSnake — when he invited me to meet in Kitzbühel, Austria to appear on his podcast, The RSnake Show. RSnake is one of the…

Nonalcoholic Alternative Drinks

https://nickselby.com/docs/na-booze/

Published: June 11, 2024 08:41

The nonalcoholic (NA) cocktail and beer industry has changed so much in the past decade that it is unrecognizable. Like you, prior to 2021 I found nonalcoholic beer repugnant, and ersatz cocktails to be generally supersweet, vile, and loathsome. Then I…

Lose Weight Now. Well, Lose Weight Over Six Months.

https://nickselby.com/docs/weight/

Published: March 6, 2024 12:30

In 2019, I lost 50 pounds. By 2021, the total loss was 60. Many have asked me the secret, and I’ve told them all the same thing: “It’s a complicated regime: I ate less and exercised more.” Usually people kind of nod and smile at this. Of course, it’s…

Solving Single Points of Failure

https://nickselby.com/docs/spof/

Published: March 6, 2024 00:27

Once, I was involved in an effort to break some bad habits. Among them, there had developed a cultural reliance on people who had become single points-of-failure. I say a “cultural reliance,” because one guy who had emerged as the single-point-of-failure…

Engine-Out Landing Plans

https://nickselby.com/docs/pilot/

Published: February 28, 2024 14:21

Sometimes when I am working on security incident response, I remember that I have an advantage: I am an instrument-rated airplane pilot. I fly small planes. While any pilot flies - from the most boot VFR student to the Houston-to-Tokyo 777 captain -…

The Three Types of Company Offsite

https://nickselby.com/docs/offsite/

Published: February 18, 2024 10:03

We just finished a several-day long corporate offsite, and I really like the balance we struck between offsite types. I’ve found there are three types of offsite: The Balance, The Whatevs, and The Bataan Death March. Like a Top Ten List I’ll do these in…

In Memoriam: Jim Hart

https://nickselby.com/docs/jim/

Published: February 10, 2024 11:47

I was going through some old emails after the recent death of Jim Hart, a dear friend and - among many other things, Flyguides publisher. I met Jim at the 1992 Frankfurt Book Fair. He was sitting at the Lonely Planet booth when I wandered up and gave him a…

Strong Regulations Must Govern Cryptoassets

https://nickselby.com/docs/aml/

Published: January 22, 2024 05:57

Since I began work in the cryptoasset industry in 2017, my position has been that for all their problems and challenges, blockchain technologies and cryptoassets are here to stay. Because there is such substantial institutional investor demand for…

On Illegal Gunfire: What's It Worth To Us To Stop It?

https://nickselby.com/docs/sound/

Published: January 16, 2024 13:12

My friend Ralph Clark has been CEO at Shotspotter (now Sound Thinking) since 2010. I’ve done consulting for him, and we stay in touch and he sent me this piece he wrote. While his article is clearly making the case for budget, Ralph raises a tremendously…

User Journey, User Flow

https://nickselby.com/docs/boardboard/

Published: January 5, 2024 07:03

About three weeks ago, as I was about to book a flight, I saw that I had a credit in one of my airlines’ wallets - and it was about to expire. “Must be used for travel commencing no later than 31 December 2023,” it said. Well, I thought, that’s handy - let…

QPP: Body Worn Cameras

https://nickselby.com/docs/bwc/

Published: December 20, 2023 11:33

Somewhere between a fifth and a half of US police are wearing body cameras. It’s hard to tell the exact number, but we know the number is rising. Body worn cameras are clipped to the uniform or the headgear of an officer, and they’re intended to capture…

Letter to Congress

https://nickselby.com/docs/natsec/

Published: December 5, 2023 13:30

November 15, 2023 The Honorable French Hill The Honorable Stephen Lynch The Honorable Patrick McHenry The Honorable Maxine Waters The Honorable Sherrod Brown The Honorable Tim Scott Dear Members of Congress: We are former United States military service…

Cyber Leader CISA Suport Letter

https://nickselby.com/docs/cisa/

Published: November 15, 2023 12:55

November 8, 2023 The Honorable Chris Murphy Chairman, Subcommittee on Homeland Security Senate Appropriations Committee Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Katie Britt Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Homeland Security Senate Appropriations Committee…

A Wilco Quest

https://nickselby.com/docs/wilco/

Published: November 15, 2023 10:31

I had a conversation this morning that I really enjoyed with On Freund from Wilco. Wilco is a hands-on simulator of technical procedures that’s more immersive and realistic than any (forgive me) computer-based training I’ve seen. If you’re like me, when I…

The Gen Z blacksmith breathing new life into an ancient art

https://nickselby.com/docs/atu-rhf/

Published: July 18, 2023 17:32

For more information, please visit Rocky Hill Forge’s Instagram. In Columbia County, Spijk Selby is forging the future of traditional blacksmithing Spijk Selby hammering out a knife blank at his Ghent, NY forge - Patrick Greco, Albany Times Union…

Divert to Where? Quality Policing Podcast

https://nickselby.com/docs/divert/

Published: June 28, 2023 06:35

NARRATOR (Nick Selby): About one in four people arrested in America suffer from both severe mental illness and drug or alcohol abuse. The bigger problem might well be the people with mental illness who aren’t arrested. People like Floyd, a clinically…

What To Ask When Preparing for the Worst

https://nickselby.com/docs/bcdr/

Published: June 20, 2023 04:32

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery planning is an essential part of cyber preparedness at any company. BC/DR planning is also the kind of thing that most people put off. But it is becoming increasingly important in assessments by insurance carriers…

Trends In Cyber Scams Around The USA - Letter From the Chief

https://nickselby.com/docs/chief3/

Published: June 8, 2023 04:32

Over the past few months, we have written about specific cyber-related scams and dangers. In this letter, I thought I would let you know how these kinds of threats to residents of our city fit into the wider American picture. To do this, we contacted law…

Trust

https://nickselby.com/docs/ciaran/

Published: May 29, 2023 17:32

I was excited recently when Ciaran Martin, the very respected founder and former head of the UK’s excellent National Cyber Security Centre, posted a toot on Mastodon linking to a note he’d written for The Economist. In his toot, Martin stated that the…

Phone Scams On The Rise - Letter From the Chief

https://nickselby.com/docs/chief2/

Published: April 8, 2023 04:32

You answer your phone, the hoarse voice at the other end says, “Grandpa?” This is the introduction to one of the five most common phone scams in America today: the “Your Grandson Has Been Arrested” swindle. Scammers dial numbers at random, hoping to get an…

Address Poisoning - Letter From the Chief

https://nickselby.com/docs/chief1/

Published: March 8, 2023 04:32

Late last year, thieves using address poisoning schemes stole more than $2 million from small investors and cryptocurrency enthusiasts. We have seen a marked increase in people falling for a clever and simple scam that targets cryptocurrency holders:…

Articles

https://nickselby.com/articles/

Published: September 17, 2022 12:00

Articles Index

ZKDocs and Zero Knowledge Proofs - TOB Podcast

https://nickselby.com/docs/tobp2/

Published: June 20, 2022 17:32

NARRATOR (NICK SELBY) Let’s say you had to protect your life’s savings - in cash - all by yourself. You’d need to figure out a lot of things, but hey: there’s this book, it’s been around as long as anyone can remember, and it tells you the 30 steps you…

It Depends: Software Supply Chain Security - TOB Podcast

https://nickselby.com/docs/tobp1/

Published: June 20, 2022 17:32

NARRATOR (NICK SELBY): We’ve been thinking a lot about supply chains lately. Because they’ve been breaking. Coffee. Surgical masks. Computer chips. Condoms. Lunchables. They’ve all fallen victim to supply chain problems. And that got me thinking about my…

Phishing Your Team Isn't The Answer

https://nickselby.com/docs/tricking/

Published: October 16, 2021 11:44

Successful phishing attacks - tricking your employees into clicking a link and then taking an action, such as providing information to a fake web page - is the primary vector for ransomware infections. But it’s really not that simple. Ransomware exploits…

Shooting For The Stars? Jump into the Pool

https://nickselby.com/docs/deepend/

Published: February 27, 2021 20:15

When I was in the public sector, I struck up a conversation with the guy tasked with provisioning my mobile phone and laptop. He was working in IT support but said he really wanted to break into information security. Later, I spoke with my friend, the…

Invest in Mental Health Squads

https://nickselby.com/docs/mh2/

Published: December 17, 2020 17:32

In 2014, I began formally tracking unarmed people who died after an encounter with the police. In each year since then, one statistic leaps out to me as the lowest of the low-hanging fruit: more than half of those who die after a police encounter are…

Zero Factor Authentication

https://nickselby.com/docs/pwd/

Published: February 19, 2020 17:32

Are you asking the right questions to determine how well your vendors will protect your data? Probably not. Let’s say you own a small business, and you want to get a payroll service to help with withholding taxes and automatic deposits into your employees’…

We Can Police Mentally Ill People With Empathy, Not Jail

https://nickselby.com/docs/mh3/

Published: November 2, 2017 17:32

“I don’t have ID,” Floyd is saying, “they won’t let me into the shelter without ID.” Welcome to a Monday in the Hurst, Euless and Bedford Behavior Intervention Unit, the BIU. Floyd, a clinically depressed, 64-year-old homeless Euless man, is speaking with…

Sandra Bland Act Sets Example for the Nation

https://nickselby.com/docs/mh1/

Published: June 17, 2017 17:32

On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state’s Sandra Bland Act, named after the black woman who was found dead in a Waller County jail cell, into law. Bland’s case was a controversial one. In 2015, she was pulled over by a state trooper, and what…

Forget Leaks. Intel's Problem Is Not Sharing.

https://nickselby.com/docs/sharing/

Published: May 31, 2017 17:32

Intelligence is a process, not just a product. When intelligence is not shared appropriately, the process breaks. That’s a bigger problem than leaks. Everyone in the security world is worried about leaking. Last week, for instance, the U.K. government…

Local cops don’t pursue most cybercriminals.

https://nickselby.com/docs/locals/

Published: April 21, 2017 23:26

Imagine calling your local police after you’ve been mugged and being told, “Sorry, muggings are complicated. We don’t handle those. Try the FBI.” That’s exactly what happens every day when Americans call their local police to report online bank fraud,…

When Pain Meets Bad Health Policy and Bad Drug Laws

https://nickselby.com/docs/opioids/

Published: January 11, 2017 19:52

A year ago, I woke in the night with pain so severe I was crying before I was fully aware what was going on. A 50-year-old cop sobbed like a child in the dark. It was a ruptured disc and related nerve damage. Within a couple of months, it became so severe…

Forget New Gun Laws. Here's How To Reduce Illegal Gunfire

https://nickselby.com/docs/gunfire/

Published: July 14, 2016 11:00

Instead of focusing on doomed legislation, we should try something different. In Dallas this week, President Obama spoke movingly of the five officers killed after a protest. The president spoke beautifully of these officers’ acts of service, charity and…

Cops and Community Bond is Key

https://nickselby.com/docs/atu/

Published: November 24, 2015 19:52

This past month saw several deadly encounters between police and unarmed civilians, including the highly controversial death in Minneapolis of Jamar Clark and the shooting by police in Opa-Locka, Fla., of Cornelius Brown. While there are, throughout the…

Some Old Flyguides Stuff

https://nickselby.com/docs/flyguides/

Published: October 25, 2004 11:47

I was going through some old emails after the death of Jim Hart, a dear friend and - among many other things, Flyguides publisher. You can read just a little bit about Jim here. In 2002, he and I started Flyguides. It was an online travel site for pilots,…

On Patrol With Munich's Bounty Hunters

https://nickselby.com/docs/kopfgeld/

Published: March 2, 2003 13:53

The team of plainclothes agents moves in, and takes position. The suspect is in the corner, the gentleman with the pierced face, shaved head, tattoos and a scuffed leather jacket. He is almost 2 meters tall. I’ve seen this kind of thing before, riding…

Yet Another Year-Of-The-Linux-Desktop Piece

https://nickselby.com/docs/linux/

Published: September 9, 2002 19:52

A Cannes-based private investigator, Alain Stevens, recently switched computer operating systems from Windows to Linux. “It’s a security issue,” Stevens said. “Viruses which target Windows could send confidential documents from my machines to random people…

Meet Russia's Software Pirates

https://nickselby.com/docs/pirates/

Published: July 12, 1998 12:17

Every day here and in dozens of other Russian cities, pirate dealers sell copies of the world’s most popular software titles at $5 per CD-ROM. Despite fears about the economy, small and medium-sized businesses are flourishing in this elegant northwestern…

Where Are The Nuclear Wessles?

https://nickselby.com/docs/subs/

Published: January 1, 1996 17:32

I’d come to Severodvinsk, about an hour from Arkhangelsk, to see the submarines. An expatriate Italian bartender living in Arkhangelsk had told me I could take pictures of Soviet-built atomic-powered submarines right from the city’s harbor. ‘Course, what…

On Patrol With Russia's Most Hated Public Servants

https://nickselby.com/docs/gaiguy/

Published: July 7, 1995 14:02

In the United States, it’s the IRS. In the Soviet Union, it was the KGB. In England it’s Manchester United fans, but in the new Russia, motorists and passengers alike loathe, fear and despise the ubiquitous members of the Gosavtoinspektsia: GAI. GAI…

A Soviet Spoke in the Wheels of Progress

https://nickselby.com/docs/wheels/

Published: June 16, 1994 17:32

Life has changed very little over the past few years for Stanislaw Kudrzycki, a shift supervisor for the Polish national railway (PKP) and his 19-person crew at Kuźnica on what is now (1994) the Poland-Belarus border. At the railway station of this…