Dave McKay

Dave McKay first used computers in the industry when punched paper tape was in vogue and he has been programming ever since. His use of computers pre-dates the birth of the PC and the public release of Unix. He has programmed in everything from 6502 assembly to Lisp, and from Forth to C#.

Don't let his six years at two different Universities fool you. He isn't a theoretical academic sheltered from the stark realities of the modern digital world. He has over 30 years of front-line experience working with IT in demanding business and industrial settings. His first IT technology article was published in Personal Computer World in 1985.

Dave has worked as a freelance programmer, manager of an international software development team, and an IT services project manager. Latterly he was the Data Protection Officer for a managed services provider, responsible for the data protection and regulatory compliance of businesses ranging in size from tens of users up to multiple thousands of users.

He is now a technology journalist and independent Data Protection and Compliance consultant.

Dave is a Linux evangelist, an open-source advocate, and an inveterate tinkerer.

Artificial Intelligence: The Hackers’ New Weapon

Malware is getting smarter---literally. Threat actors are using artificial intelligence to create cyberthreats capable of learning and acting as autonomous agents that can change their tactics as required to...

What is the QSnatch QNAP Malware?

QSnatch is malware that has infected 62,000 QNAP NAS devices. It steals files, compromises credentials, and is difficult to remove. What is QSnatch? It’s a sophisticated and tenacious enemy. ...

Signal Messenger: Simple Security, Guaranteed Privacy, Great Functionality

In our hyper-connected, always-on world, privacy is in everyone’s thoughts. Instant messaging is the dominant tool for remote conversations. How can we use instant messaging and maintain our privacy?...

Latest posts

Small business owner reviewing security checklist.

A Practical Guide to Small Business Network Security in 2025

This article provides a clear roadmap for implementing crucial cybersecurity measures to safeguard your company's digital assets.
What is BTRFS file system linux kernal

What is Btrfs? The Better (than most) File System

Btrfs may be a "better" file system next to everything except ZFS, but what Btr actually stands for is not "better", or "butter", but...
Mac floppy disks

A Brief History of the Floppy Disk

Ah, the floppy disk. How I miss thee. How I don't. There was a certain tactile pleasure to inserting you into your drive, and...
hard drive showing platter and read write headread-write-head

How to Install ZFS and Create a ZFS Pool on Ubuntu

ZFS is a stable, robust, and fault-tolerant file system with built-in RAID-like properties and drive pools. We show you how to create a ZFS...
UnRAID array with parity and caching drives

What is UnRAID? Outstanding Capacity with Parity

There are a number of NAS operating systems out there, including several based on the BSD (Berkeley System Development) operating system. Most are proprietary...