The next "client inquiry" you open could be the last normal thing that happens to your business.

Ransomware gangs have figured out the easiest way into a solo creative shop: send something that looks like work. A new job pitch. A contract request. A document formatted like a purchase order. Open it, and a malicious macro hands the bad guys everything on your machine.

This isn't hypothetical. FBI and CISA 2026 advisories specifically flag phishing disguised as client communications as one of the primary ways ransomware reaches small businesses.

You are the IT department. There is no second pair of eyes on that attachment. The way to survive this is to treat every unexpected file like it's trying to rob you — because statistically, some of them are.

New post: what the latest FBI/CISA alerts actually mean for your one-person studio, and what to do about it.