Notes on IT, security and scrutiny.
Field notes from the work — practical perspectives on technology strategy, security and compliance for life-science organizations.
Goodbye Documentation, Hello Handoff Files?
Goodbye Documentation, Hello Handoff Files? Written by Rob Morse · Jul 2026 I was working on a project recently and I always keep good notes. I like to ‘document’ my documentation by adding the reasoning behind my settings and code — and I got to thinking: am I documenting this for myself and my team, […]
Excel is a Great Database (and other lies we tell ourselves)
Excel is a Great Database (and other lies we tell ourselves) Written by Rob Morse · Dec 2025 Anyone who has worked in IT long enough has seen this problem or one just like it: a team member started using Excel when the company was new for something critical and their workflow has evolved since […]
CloudFlare outage and ‘No one ever got fired for buying IBM’
CloudFlare outage and ‘No one ever got fired for buying IBM’ Written by Rob Morse · Nov 2025 After the latest CloudFlare outage we are reminded how much of the internet is dependent on one conglomerate service provider — which will not have surprised anyone paying attention to last month’s AWS East disruption. These incidents […]
5 IT Blind Spots That Can Derail Your Biotech’s Early Stage Investment
5 IT Blind Spots That Can Derail Your Biotech’s Early Stage Investment Written by Rob Morse · Oct 2025 Flying Blind into Series A For most biotech founders, the Series A raise is the first time the spotlight really turns on. Investors aren’t just evaluating your science anymore — they’re evaluating the business wrapped around […]
No, Change Management is not too much to ask of a small org
No, Change Management is not too much to ask of a small org Written by Rob Morse · May 2025 Often, suggesting implementing Change Management can give you a lot of eyerolls and pushback when your org is small or just starting out. Excuses can range from it’s too onerous, it’s too expensive, and it’s […]
VPN Options For Your Startup
VPN Options For Your Startup Written by Rob Morse · May 2025 Not All Implementations Are Created Equal We can now explore the architecture required to make a business decision to see if the benefits are worth the added overhead. Unsurprisingly, this can vary dramatically in up-front cost and ongoing resource commitment depending on the […]
To VPN or not to VPN
To VPN or not to VPN Written by Rob Morse · Nov 2024 They say there’s a fine line between genius and insanity and when I blurted out on a team call that I would describe a VPN as a ‘condom for the internet’ I figured I either gained some respect among my peers or […]
Questionable Future for WuXi
Questionable Future for WuXi Written by Rob Morse · Apr 2024 Great article by Derek Lowe over at Science.org regarding security concerns from the FBI and CIA, who have been briefed to the US House and Senate regarding an intellectual property security incident spurring from WuXi. The results of this could impact how many biotechs […]
FBI Boston thwarts Russian attack on small business routers
FBI Boston thwarts Russian attack on small business routers Written by Rob Morse · Feb 2024 This January (2024) the Boston FBI field office thwarted a Russian GRU-connected attack on small business routers that compromised the devices and networks to create a global spying platform. This time it was Ubiquity devices targeted by the Russian […]
The merits of transparency when selecting a cloud vendor
The merits of transparency when selecting a cloud vendor Written by Rob Morse · Feb 2024 This week the popular network content delivery service provider, CloudFlare, released a detailed postmortem report outlining the specifics of a breach from November 2023. “The true test of a provider’s merit is how the team responds to incidents and […]
On the new launch of MorseWire
On the new launch of MorseWire Written by Rob Morse · Jan 2024 I wanted my first blog post to be an opportunity to state my goals. I wish this area of the new MorseWire website to be a useful resource for individuals interested in IT or working in the Life Science arena. I detest […]