07 Oct How Cybercrime Magazine Delivered My Dream To Write
A call to “security”
– Northport, N.Y. – Oct. 7, 2020
Writing turns me on.
It was my escape from drugs and ghetto streets in a troubled youth. A passion that would follow me around the globe.
But it remained merely a dream as uncharted courses took me to unexpected places.
Summoned to depths of the Pacific Ocean
U.S. Navy SONAR technician. Nuclear fast-attack submarine adventures. Hardly fun and games though.
Deployed during 9/11, I stood in the mess hall of the sub with my shipmates. We watched the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center burn, and crumble on TV. People were launching themselves from windows because the blazing heat was unbearable. Al-Qaeda had struck the United States with a series of terrorist attacks.
The captain came over the main circuit: “Submariners, this is your captain. We have trained for this very moment. This is not a drill. Man battle stations.”
Fear and anger twisted my gut. I had realized I have an enemy more dangerous than the punks on the streets of Covington, Kentucky.
This was my first call to “security.”
From sea to foreign service.
One too many episodes of Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) lured me on a phenomenal journey. Its protagonist special agent Gibbs made slinging a gun and fighting crime look cool.
So, I joined Uncle Sam as a civilian, and scaled the ranks to become a criminal investigator (aka special agent) and foreign service officer. Even had a supervisory agent with the persona of Gibbs — except he didn’t knuckle my skull when I goofed up, which I did a lot.
In over a decade I’d gone from West to East coast fueling criminal investigations of visa crimes to preventing terrorists and foreign adversaries from stealing U.S. money, and compromising sensitive U.S. technologies and weapons abroad, mostly in Afghanistan and throughout the Middle East.
It was a blast of a career!
But the journey had its toll and took me too far.
The dream was calling me. It was time to wield the pen and forge a path home.
With several copywriting courses in my arsenal, I was determined to dig deep and weave years of law enforcement experience into writing.
I entered stealth mode and crept through the web to hunt my niche.
Until I dropped on Cybercrime Magazine.
Penetrated its research on alarming facts, figures, statistics, and predictions on cybercrime and the cybersecurity industry.
Imagine my reaction as an agent when I read, “Cybercriminal activity is one of the biggest challenges that humanity will face in the next two decades.”
WTF! – “Cybercrime damage costs are predicted to hit $6 trillion annually by 2021.”
It was a no-brainer after I read, “Global spending on cybersecurity products and services will exceed $1 trillion cumulatively from 2017 to 2021.”
I instantly knew my place in the cyber fight. Writing for businesses that protect humanity from cybercriminals.
“This is important,” I had thought. “This will be rewarding — even fun!”
I also needed a new cache of weapons — cyber knowledge. So, I ate, drank, and slept Cybercrime Magazine.
And retired the gun to live the dream.
First writing gig: The resignation letter. Turned in the badge two years ago.
Since then I’ve been digesting Cybercrime Magazine’s ground-up market research on the cybereconomy to stay abreast of the threat landscape. Dog-earing pages on the latest data breaches, cybercriminal investigations, and global cyberwarfare activity.
It has helped me thrive in this vulnerable industry. I’ve been blessed to write copy for industry-leading enterprises across market segments, including security operations, mobile threat detection, and threat intelligence, to name only a few.
These days your cybersecurity copywriter is eating cyber data like candy. Yeah, I know, it’s like eating black licorice — you either love it or hate it. It keeps me sharp so I can churn out delicious copy.
Feel free to dog-ear my page on Cybercrime Magazine for tasty cyber nuggets. Who knows, maybe I’ll even write your story and it will be there too!
– Eli Kirtman is a freelance writer based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
