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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Health Care, Information Security, Prevention

It’s Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 11 – 17), are you sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your patients safe and ensure they are receiving the best care they can? The evidence from the tragic attack at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville mirrors similarities we have seen in hundreds of other previous attacks. The similarities exposed involve failures with “Connecting the Dots”. Clearly, more than enough “Dots” (warning signs, resources, etc.) were available to disrupt the escalation of evil but again the warning signs (“Dots”) were missed or not acted upon by the appropriate team or community member. By not ConnectingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Incident Reporting, Prevention, Uncategorized

[Disrupting Evil] Disrupting Evil attacks on innocent students and adults in schools, organizations, and communities is possible, but disrupting evil requires immediate changes. The recent act of evil in Parkland, Florida at Stoneman Douglas High School exposed numerous Enormous Dangerous Gaps that have already allowed hundreds of evil doers to attack schools, organizations, communities, and our nation, leading to a BIG growing problem.  How many more attacks before actions? A BIG growing problem is how easily Physical Security (armed guards, alarms, access controls, locks, cameras, etc.) has been defeated in schools, organizations, communities, and our nation (such as 9-11 and other terror attacks).  The Big GrowingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, First Preventer, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, School Safety, Uncategorized

[Prevention] Would you prefer to REACT to an attacker at your front door? Or would you prefer to DISRUPT and PREVENT the attacker from getting to your front door? At speaking events, 99.9% of people raise their hand for prevention, but is that where people are putting their energy and budgets? How does an active shooter drill – teaching run, hide, fight – prevent the next shooter? It doesn’t! We’re not saying these drills aren’t important, but how are they preventing future incidents? How does a camera prevent the next shooter/shooting? It doesn’t! A camera has never stopped a gunman. How does a crisis orRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, Prevention, Rick's Notes, School Safety, Uncategorized, Video

[Student Safety] Are you ready to transform and improve student safety by PREVENTING school shootings and other incidents? Watch this video. If you want to keep the status quo and keep Responding to them…don’t watch this video. Download an updated school shootings chart to compare your school’s security to others who have had incidents, how is your school any different? Warning Signs: awareity.com/warning-signs/ Client Transformations: awareity.com/transformations/ [inf_infusionsoft_inline optin_id=optin_3]Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Rick's Notes, School Safety, Security, Video

In the wake of yet another tragic mass shooting at a school, it’s time to respond and ensure student safety with action. This message is for the President, the Governors, the Attorney Generals, the Department of Education, the Department of Safety, Mayors, City Managers, Superintendents, and anyone else who is in a position to take real action to promote real change and real safety by preventing these acts of evil. Apologies are not solutions. Laws are not solutions. Slogans are not solutions. Hashtags are not solutions.  Student safety MUST become a higher priority because students, parents, and schools deserve better than status quo thinking and statusRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Connect the Dots, Hackers, Prevention, Success

Making new year predictions about Information Security and Hackers is not difficult based on knowledge, evidence, and lessons learned from previous years. 2018 Prediction:  Hackers will continue to hack your weakest links, unaware people (employees, contractors, vendors, third-party service providers, etc.) and unpatched systems, to gain access to unauthorized information. 2018 Prediction: Hackers will continue to steal information from organizations (like yours) which they gained access to and then sell it or use it to make money. 2018 Prediction: Hackers will continue to encrypt information from organizations (like yours) which they gain access to and request a ransom payment for in order to unlock theRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*

We have reached that time of year… the time of year when people are thinking about or making New Year’s resolutions and making positive changes for 2018. And I want to help you make your 2018 New Year’s Resolution positive and successful!  Why? Because since 2013 (maybe since forever), statistics reveal only about 8% of people will achieve their New Year’s resolutions and most fail by the second week of February! My goal is to help everyone I know to be successful with their New Year’s Resolutions!  So let’s make your 2018 New Year’s Resolution one that: Can and will be ACHIEVED Will make aRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Uncategorized

The Sad Truth: Innocent People Are Dying Because of Closed-Minded People Are you concerned about all the Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assaults, Workplace Violence, Bullying, Social Media Attacks, Suicides, the Opioid Epidemic, Violence, Mass Shootings, and other acts of evil? Are you concerned about the innocent children and adults being targeted in schools, houses of worship, businesses, entertainment venues, public streets, and other public gatherings? What I am about to say might offend some people, but the facts are the facts and ignoring and procrastinating isn’t solving these serious issues. Closed-minded people, on both ends of the belief and political spectrum, are a major reason whyRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Uncategorized

If you want to make and enjoy the best chocolate cake ever, you need the RECIPE for the best chocolate cake ever. BUT just having the RECIPE for the best chocolate cake ever does not mean you will get to enjoy the best chocolate cake ever… To enjoy that incredible first bite (and the last crumbs) of the best chocolate cake ever, you need the RECIPE, the right INGREDIENTS, and TOOLS to make the cake. The same goes for making the BEST EVER ENVIRONMENT OF SAFETY for children and adults in churches, schools, organizations, entertainment venues, and communities. Organizations have been collecting RECIPES for yearsRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Connect the Dots, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance

Connecting the dots with Cyber Security failures…Why are so many Cyber Security failures occurring? The data doesn’t lie.  The 2018 Global State of Information Security Survey from PwC surveyed 9,500 executives across 120 countries which helps explain why so many organizations and failing to prevent Cyber Security incidents: 48% of the 9,500 executives said they do not have an employee security awareness training program 54% of the 9,500 executives said they do not have an incident response process The Equifax breach exposed why PATCHING systems is critical and costly if you fail. (see VIDEO here) I also shared the DAM Analogy for why PATCHING yourRead More →