Month: April 2025

How to Make Meetings Work (Again): The DeadSwitch Way

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

By DeadSwitch — The Cyber Ghost

“The quiet ones don’t hate meetings. They just hate wasting time.”
– DeadSwitch

Meetings were once war rooms for big decisions, plans, and alignment. But somewhere along the way, they became something else – rituals that too often miss the mark.

At Tom’s IT Cafe, we don’t believe in tearing things down without building something better in its place. So here’s something built for you: a clear, practical Meeting Manifesto, born from years in tech trenches, conference calls, and silent frustrations. It’s made to help -not blame- and it works whether you’re a developer, a product owner, or a manager.

Let’s get back to meetings that matter.

Continue reading “How to Make Meetings Work (Again): The DeadSwitch Way” →

OpSec Mastery: Tools for the Silent Revolution

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“In silence, we rise. In the switch, we fade.”

The art of Operational Security (OpSec) isn’t about hiding – it’s about disappearing. The less you leave behind, the harder it is to find you. It’s a craft, not just a choice. Here are tools that will sharpen your OpSec game, make your operations untraceable, and keep you out of sight.

Continue reading “OpSec Mastery: Tools for the Silent Revolution” →

🕯️ Tools from the Silence: Open Source Weapons for Small Business Security

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

“When the noise gets loud, trust the tools that speak only in code.”
– DeadSwitch

They say small businesses don’t need armor.

But the shadows say otherwise.

You handle invoices, passwords, documents, messages, backups.
Every byte is a trail. Every trail can be followed.

Here’s the good news: you don’t need millions.
You need discipline :: and the right tools.

Below, DeadSwitch whispers a few of his favorite instruments.
Each one open. Each one tested. Each one not owned by the ones who sell your data.

Continue reading “🕯️ Tools from the Silence: Open Source Weapons for Small Business Security” →

🛠 Forged in Fire: Why Ansible Speaks the DeadSwitch Language

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

Posted by DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“Code is noise until it becomes a weapon.”

“When the mission demands silence, precision is non-negotiable.”

There are tools. And then there are instruments.

Ansible is not just a configuration manager. It’s a scalpel for systems, forged in the fire of chaos and hardened by time. It’s agentless, scriptable, readable -and most of all- silent.

That makes it the perfect weapon in the DeadSwitch arsenal.

Continue reading “🛠 Forged in Fire: Why Ansible Speaks the DeadSwitch Language” →

🔐 Vault Minimal: When the System Whispers, We Harden

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

Posted by DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“In silence, we rise. In the switch, we fade.”

“The system speaks in ports and packages. Listen close, or get breached.”

The silence has been broken, but not by noise – by intention.

Today, DeadSwitch drops the first ember of a fire that’s about to cleanse weak configurations off the face of your servers. Introducing Vault Minimal, the first strike in a collection of hardened Ansible roles forged for modern Debian and RHEL systems. Think of it as a digital purification ritual.

It strips away the unsafe, closes the obvious, and sharpens the edges of your Linux estate.

Continue reading “🔐 Vault Minimal: When the System Whispers, We Harden” →

⚙️ How to Build a Team That Doesn’t Need a Coach

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

by DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“In silence, we rise. In the switch, we fade.”

You don’t need to “motivate” real builders.
You don’t need to “align” real engineers.
You need to get the hell out of their way.

The best teams DeadSwitch has seen didn’t have Agile Coaches.
They didn’t have Team Leads doing “people management.”
They had warriors – trusted, competent, focused.

Here’s how you build a team that never needs coaching:

Continue reading “⚙️ How to Build a Team That Doesn’t Need a Coach” →

🕸️ Echoes Beyond the Grid: Private Team Collaboration Tools for Small Business

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

“The loudest team wins attention. The quietest team survives the breach.”
– DeadSwitch

They said “just use Teams.”
They said “Slack is fine.”

But behind every cheerful emoji and corporate integration… the watchers log.
Transcripts archived. Metadata mapped.
Sometimes not by you.

Continue reading “🕸️ Echoes Beyond the Grid: Private Team Collaboration Tools for Small Business” →

⚙️ The DeadSwitch Way: Emacs, Org Mode, and the Art of Ansible Rolecraft

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

There’s a certain kind of silence that comes before precision.
And precision – true, surgical precision – requires the right blade.

For Ansible development, that blade is Emacs.
Not VSCode. Not PyCharm. Not some noisy IDE bloated with plugins.
Just Emacs. Raw. Controlled. Modular.

Continue reading “⚙️ The DeadSwitch Way: Emacs, Org Mode, and the Art of Ansible Rolecraft” →

Automating UFW Configuration with Ansible: Locking Down the Digital Fortress

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

In the world of chaos, where every exposed port is a door for the enemy, DeadSwitch doesn’t just lock the doors—we automate. We create shields that rise without a command. Ansible is our tool of choice, a silent executor that commands the system without a whisper.

Your server is vulnerable by default, but with the power of automation, you can fortify it. UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) is our first line of defense, and DeadSwitch doesn’t do things manually. We automate the walls, making them strong, silent, and ever-ready. Here’s how to lock down incoming traffic with Ansible, ensuring only the trusted can pass through.

Continue reading “Automating UFW Configuration with Ansible: Locking Down the Digital Fortress” →

The Android Phone: Three OPSEC Levels to Disappear Into the Shadows

~ Tom's IT Cafe ~ Leave a comment

In a world where our every move is tracked and our data is a commodity, the device in your pocket—your Android phone—becomes both a tool and a potential liability. Whether you’re a casual user or a privacy-conscious individual, understanding the levels of operational security (OPSEC) you can apply to your phone is critical. In this guide, we’ll explore three OPSEC levels—from the basic user to the ghost in the machine—and how to progressively take control of your digital life. DeadSwitch doesn’t just adapt to the system; it redefines the rules.

Continue reading “The Android Phone: Three OPSEC Levels to Disappear Into the Shadows” →