Writing Services
Ink Works delivers well-crafted prose that gets your message across. With experience in technical, business, military, educational, and scholarly environments, we produce clear, compelling content for any audience.
We’ve worked with individuals and large organizations, as solo writers and as assets to client teams. We know how to quickly identify your needs, adapt to your workflow and style guidelines, and deliver your publications within budget and on time.
We develop content for a variety of communications projects: business, marketing, technical, training, educational, and general audience.
Ink Works also provided the weekly security advisories for one of the largest technology sites on the Web, Linux. com. Read the last advisory or see their archives for earlier reports.
Note: Each of the icons below is representative of a particular newsletter we’ve designed and created for one of several very large financial and insurance agencies. These newsletters dealt with security awareness issues primarily, but were also used as a vehicle to disseminate internal policy, and for other purposes. Because the work is proprietary and was intended for internal use, we cannot show the newsletters publicly. Please contact us for more information or to arrange a private viewing.
Training and Technical Communication |
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Internal Business Relations and Marketing |
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Articles |
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Writing
At Ink Works, we write compelling material that engages your audience, whether it’s a report, newsletter, magazine article, or business letter.
Copywriting
Our writers work with you, helping you sell your products and services. We write persuasive copy with a clarity and style that leads to action. Copywriting isn’t always about selling to external customers. You need a good copywriter to sell your program to your internal customers and stakeholders. Executive briefings for management help ensure funding and support for your projects.
Technical Writing
Ink Works’ writers are adept at translating complex technical
material for a non-technical audience. We specialize in a broad
range of technical communications including technology journalism for general
audience and specialist publications.
Technical Writing and Technical Journalism Samples:
Public and Internal Business Relations Writing
Let us help you communicate your ideas and goals with style and purpose. Our writers produce compelling, informative speeches, presentations, press releases, and more. Good internal business relations writing can help you keep your team in the game when you need to promote an internal program or project.
Online Writing
Content is king on the Web. Our writers know how to produce well-organized, user-friendly content that enhances the user experience, drives site traffic, and optimizes search engine rankings.
Indexing and Abstracting
You can count on us for well-crafted abstracts for magazine articles or books and thorough indices for books, Web sites, and manuals.
Read Samples of Our Work
Note: The majority of following excerpts are from newsletters written for large institutions in the financial and insurance industries. Because this work is proprietary and intended for internal use, we cannot display those full newsletters publicly. Please contact us for more information or to arrange a private viewing.
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Information Security Top Ten for End Users “A computer isn’t the only tool in a hacker’s bag of tricks. Hackers also engage in social engineering, a term for the tactics con artists have used for centuries: tricking people into divulging sensitive information.” More.... |
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Sarbanes-Oxley and Information Security: Avoiding the Hard and Crunchy on the Outside, Soft and Chewy on the Inside Syndrome “Corporate security professionals like Ernst & Young’s Mark Doll see Sarbanes-Oxley as undermining firms’ over-reliance on perimeter security measures. Among hackers, firms that have strong external security, but weak internal security are described as ‘hard and crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.’” More... |
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The Three Pillars: Technology, People, and Learning “A technology-driven security architecture will crumble if it is not supported by the second pillar of the security process, people. People create, operate, and maintain security technologies and procedures. People need to be trained to use technology effectively and productively. ... A solid security architecture rests on three pillars: technology, people, and learning. With this foundation, organizations are positioned to adapt to new security threats. People learn. Organizations learn. As such, they evolve.” More.... |
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Management: Your Support for Policies and Procedures Training “You wouldn’t give a teenager a learner’s permit, keys to the car, and copy of all the laws pertaining to motor vehicle operation and expect the teen to drive safely and legally, would you? Firms shouldn’t expect to assign employees workstations, user names, a stack of security policies, and expect them to absorb good security practices by osmosis. To be effective, policies need the support of management. And, management needs to back a solid security awareness and security training effort for everyone.” More... |
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A Closer Look: The Costs of Cybercrime Tim Lloyd made headlines when he was charged with sabotage in 1997. A bitter, disgruntled employee at Omega Engineering, in the months before his termination, Lloyd plotted revenge against his employer. His plan was to set off a logic bomb which is a kind of software time bomb set to go off at some point in the future. When Lloyd was fired a few months later, he was prepared. He left behind the logic bomb. He also physically removed the backup tapes, which he stored in his home. Lloyd used both his physical and his electronic access to exact his revenge. More... |
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“Meanwhile, hackers and virus authors continue to haunt cyberspace, breaking into networks and launching virus attacks. Sometimes they do it for money. Sometimes they do it for recognition among their peers. And sometimes they do it just because they can.” More... |
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Social Engineering: Phishing for Trouble “Andrei Luca has been trying to get his identity back for months. Andrei, an eBay enthusiast, received an e-mail claiming that eBay’s server had been hacked. The e-mail instructed Andrei to go to a special site and enter his credit card number and other identity information. Concerned, Andrei immediately did as the e-mail asked. Two months later, nearly $15,000 had been charged to his credit card.” More... |
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Password Security: Guarding the Electronic Front Doors “Let’s say you build a house with thick, concrete walls, steel doors, the best locks, and bullet-proof windows. What is the weakest point of entry to your house? If you guessed the doors, you are right! Even if you select heavy-duty steel doors and dozens of the most secure locks, it would still be the weakest point of entry. Doors are the way you enter and leave your home. Doors are also a criminal’s favorite way to enter and leave your home.” More... |
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No Fear of Flying? An Introduction to RC Planes “Remember the first time you saw someone operating a radio-controlled plane? You were hooked. You had to have one. You raced to the hobby shop thinking you could just buy a plane and find a wide-open space to start flying. If you talked to the staff at the hobby shop, you quickly learned there is a lot more to it. Getting into radio-control hobbies isn’t rocket science, but everyone could stand a primer. We’ve put together a beginner’s guide to ensure a smooth take-off and landing.” Online at eHobbyCentral. If the site’s offline, you can also read it here. |
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Social Engineering: The Oldest Trick in the Book “Criminal hackers often rely on social engineering, a modern form of grifting or the con game. A skilled social engineer exploits people, turning human strengths into vulnerabilities. They do so in order to gather information. For a social engineer, even seemingly benign information is useful for gathering sensitive information and bypassing security measures.” More.... |
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Desktop Security: Getting To Know You “It took just four hours for a team of hackers to break into networks and learn a lot about Matt McClearn, an employee at the Calgary Herald in Canada. The hackers began their attack with information gleaned from just four e-mail messages.” More... |
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“Like the famous Greek horse, a Trojan Horse program hides something dangerous — such as keystroke logging software — inside something that seems harmless. A recent Trojan attack, Xombe, masqueraded as a Microsoft security update. When people opened the attachment, Xombe installed a password-stealing program on the infected machine.” More... |
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Bandwidth Abuse: Tragedy of the Digital Commons “In December 1968, Garrett Hardin published a seminal article, ‘The Tragedy of the Commons.’ Hardin wrote about a commons where people could graze their cattle. Since access to the pasture was free, people grazed as many cattle as possible. Eventually, the land was depleted and the cattle died. Tragedies happened when herdsmen pursued their self-interest without regard for the rest of the community.” More... |
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Dumpster Diving : By Hook or By Crook “By hook or by crook, intruders and criminals do whatever it takes to gain access to valuable information assets, including sifting through dumpsters and recycling bins. It’s not just teens like Adrian Lamo. In June 2000, Oracle CEO Larry Ellis admitted that he had hired private investigators to dig up dirt on archrival, Microsoft.” More... |
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Mobile Security: On the Go-Go Security “People can now work anywhere: on the train, at a conference, or on vacation. Increased mobility, though, comes at a cost. In 2002, Sybergen Networks estimated that it cost between $12,000 and $20,000 to maintain security for remote users. Companies must invest in security hardware and software, beef up training efforts, and replace lost or stolen equipment.” More.... |
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Business Continuity Planning: “When it comes to business continuity planning, organizations are quick to acknowledge the need to plan for failures in communication, transportation, technology, and the power grid. They often fail, however, to consider the most important element of any business process, procedure, or product: people. Communication, transportation, technology, the power grid - all those things involve people; people are crucial to everything a business does. All too often, though, planning for failures in the human infrastructure gets left out of the BCP process.” More... |
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Summer Breeze? “Residents of the mid-Atlantic region may be in for more than a warm breeze this summer. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predict a rise in the number of tropical storms this season. For the East Coast, that means we might see between two and four major hurricanes.” More.... |
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Inside Out: Personnel Security and Insider Crime ”People can be the strongest, most effective link in the corporate security chain. People who follow security procedures — like change their password regularly and refuse to share it with anyone else — are good examples of strong people or personnel security. What about when people security is weak? Weak people security jeopardizes the security of an organization and its stakeholders or even the security of an entire nation and its citizenry. Consider the poster boy for poor people security, Robert Hanssen.” More.... |
