DIGITAL SECURITY & COMMON SENSE

 

By now, I would hope we all know not to click on any link provided in a business email, even as the email convincingly purports to come from a trusted company we have dealings with, such as our bank, website host, or our government. Close the email and log onto your account to check if this email or purported activity did indeed take place and requires an action from you.

 

Goodness, the same digital hygiene practice also applies to emails from friends when they don’t include clear text identifiers that could only come from your friend. Spoofing email addresses is an old scammer's trick. 

   

So, when we access the purported sender the safe way by looking their contact information ourselves and asking if the email was legit, we also educate our friends to not be sending links only. As to businesses, this means calling your bank with the contact number you have (not in the email) and speaking to security.

 

And so, this is what I did. My attempt to educate my bank went as follows:

 

Mirka’s Bank Security Specialist (MBSS for short): “Yes, indeed, you did well NOT TO click on the link. You are right to check with me.”

Mirka: “So was this email from you?”

MBSS: “Yes, we sent it.”

Mirka: “And it said to click on a link?”

MBSS: “Yes, I see that.”

Mirka: “And you say I should never do that?”

MBSS: “Yes, that’s correct. Never do that. Access your account from your own log-in, always.”

Mirka: “So why do you continue to send such emails with links that ask for log-in?”

MBSS: “It’s a courtesy. A convenience. But never access any sensitive account from an email. You are right.”

 

I also got such emails from my webhost and got a similar confirmation from their security specialist that I did right NOT to access the link in the email.

 

This reminded me of the chapter in The Little Prince, where the drunk explains that he drinks to forget his shame and his shame is that he drinks.

This madness of trusted companies’ emails continues, as well as occasional real friends sending links with nary a word that would distinguish them from phishing scams. I always check, and I continue to use the safe practice of never ever clicking on email links until verified.

NO SECOND CHANCE~~~

 

An agent recently published a post where agent explained that she & other publishing professionals can assess a query in fifteen seconds or less.

There’s the easy “not what I work with,” the almost as easy “this reads badly,” and the less clear “not what I’m looking for right now.”

 

It sounds both arrogant and presumptuous, but it is a necessity when hundreds of queries pour in day after day.

 

I just read another post about how one’s website’s Homepage is likely the only one most visitors would glance at, and (gulp) on average, for less than a minute. That post is linked here.

 

It’s hard to think that other pages’ content you thoughtfully aggregated, mulled over, culled and refined— will remain largely unseen.

 

These are the facts. A home page is the front yard, and the way a few will choose to knock on the door and come inside.

 

My first publisher, a small house that published my picture book and had since closed, offered to make a website for me. That seemed a nice bonus. No effort to learn the ways of website hosting and design, the thought of which was intimidating. I liked their website for them, but their designer (who had designed their other authors’ sites) felt wrong for me. It was busy. It was jazzy. It was hip-hip-hoorah and kinetic to the point where one might worry about inducing seizures in susceptible individuals. 

All right, a slight exaggeration, with slight being the operative word.

 

That wasn’t going to be my calling card, which is what websites and especially their home pages serve as today.

 

So, I said, “thank you, but I’ll do my own”— and braved the choppy waters of the interwebs.

 

In addition to the good but general advice in the linked post, I would add that your home page has to feel right for you.