Ru Campbell is the author of Mastering Microsoft 365 Defender we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Ru: Packt approached me about writing a Microsoft 365 Defender book. The primary motivation was being able to help folks understand a largely misunderstood and at times dauntingly huge product.
Q: What is the name of your book?
Ru: Mastering Microsoft 365 Defender.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Ru: I deploy Microsoft 365 Defender constantly for different customers so I didn’t have to research too much, but some of the statistics on cybersecurity that are included in the introduction were new to me.
Q: What key takeaways do you want readers to come away with from the book?
Ru: To get their money’s worth. So many folks pay for Microsoft 365 Defender but aren’t fully leveraging all of it.
Q: Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Ru: Honestly, Twitter (or is it X?) is so good for gaining insight into Defender. There’s an active community of folks constantly pushing it to its limits and sharing their findings and recommendations.
Q. Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Ru: Time is the big challenge. I had a lot going on in my personal and work life, so had to find ways to manage time to write the book – usually working evenings or weekends. We also brought on a co-author for several chapters.
Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Ru: I’d say to really build a relationship with your project team and just communicate as much as possible to manage expectations and understand Packt’s processes.
Q. Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Ru: Mastering Microsoft 365 Defender goes far and wide on Microsoft’s XDR platform. Other books may dive deep into very specific areas of it (like the excellent MDE In-Depth that Packt publish), but we give readers the biggest overall understanding of the whole suite.
Q. What is/are your specialist tech area(s)?
Ru: Microsoft security, compliance, identity, and management.
Q. What advice would you give to readers jumping into this technology? Do you have any top tips?
Ru: Read the book 🙂 But also just lab stuff out, understand the fundamentals, and engage with the community if you’re struggling.
Q. What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Ru: Microsoft 365 Defender is only going to get bigger, more capable, and best still, simpler to manage. The need to understand its fundamentals will never go away, but many of the current architectural complexities will be simplified over time.
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Ru: Lots of spreadsheets!
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Ru: Social media! By far the best way to keep up to date. Follow the right folks and you’ve got a constant goldmine of info.
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, mention them below.
Ru: Sure. Here you go: Twitter: twitter.com/rucam365. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rlcam.
Q: What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Ru: Don’t take the reviewer feedback personally, and really force yourself to understand why they make the recommendations they do. This will make you better at not making the same mistakes.
You can find Ru’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
