Table of Contents

Program

“Do you think you can teach this to our church?”

That question, asked by Pastor Chuck Shorter over his dinner table created the original Critical Armor Program. We had been discussing my work in secular cybersecurity and how I applied it to the technology in the home to protect my family from wickedness. His question stopped me. I didn't know if I could successfully train what I did almost by reflex after twenty-five years in information technology, network design, and cybersecurity compliance.

But I promised to pray about it.

A few months later, I called back with the Zone Strategy built out of four individual zones. I felt that I might be able to help. The first run-through of the material took seven one-hour sessions and, frankly, over-complicated the basics. After a dozen opportunities to preach conferences, it had been edited down to four sessions, but still somewhat complex.

This new Program version simplifies to a minimum of four sessions with three zones: Personal, Perimeter, and Pathway. One extra section provides training to overcome temptation called Practice, which would be presented in a fifth session.

The sessions use QR codes linked to this wiki for instant access to more information. The wiki will aggregate the documents, presentations, and any lock-down scripts and procedures I create and use.

Recommendations

Charles Hatcher - “Joe Baxter is a gifted and passionate communicator of God’s Word. His expertise and experience make him uniquely qualified to serve the Lord in this vital ministry. Information technology is the front line for the Christian family today, and we all would be wise to apply the principles contained in this material.”

Chuck Shorter - “With smart phones and tablet devices in the hands of most people to day, including our children, many risks are just a click away. I have often said that it is not that I don’t trust my kids, I don’t trust the devil. This series of messages from Brother Baxter provides a comprehensive approach to raising the wall of protection and strengthening the armor of defense against aggressive assaults from cyber space. Joe has put together a good mix of Biblical teaching, practical advice and technical assistance.”

Quick Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of the companies or products listed on these pages. This information is free for you to use in any way you find it helpful. I feel as though I might become biased if I made any profit from the sale of these recommendations, therefore I decided against it.

For Reference: Cybersecurity Background

Elements

Generally, most will find what they're looking for in the Personal Zone (#3). If you understand defense-in-depth and security control types already, feel free to skip directly to it.

Definitions

Four Risk Mitigation Methods:

  1. Tolerate - “Ignore it”
  2. Terminate - “Remove it”
  3. Transfer - “Insure it”
  4. Treat - “Fix it”

Three Types of Controls:

  1. Preventative: “Lock the Door”
  2. Detective: “Alarm the Door”
  3. Corrective: “Fix the Door”

Defense-in-Depth:

A security strategy in which multiple tools, mechanisms, and policies are deployed together on the assumption that if one fails, another will hold.

Videos

Not all churches capture video of special meetings, but here are a few. In the most recent version, the Zone structure changed from 4 down to 3 for simplicity. Please be aware that the older videos contain references to products or technologies that may no longer be available.

Current Zone Version:

Older Zone Version (for reference only):

Resources