# Cypher — Voice & Tone

Dark precision · Calm under attack · Operator-native · Electric clarity · Trust without theater

## Personality

- **Funny ↔ Serious:** serious (+2) — Cypher protects critical infrastructure, so the voice should project gravity, focus, and readiness—not humor.
- **Formal ↔ Casual:** leans formal (-1) — The brand should feel professional and technically credible, while still using direct, modern language operators can move through quickly.
- **Respectful ↔ Irreverent:** leans respectful (-1) — Cypher can sound sharp and distinctive, but it should respect the stakes, the user’s expertise, and the seriousness of security work.
- **Enthusiastic ↔ Matter-of-fact:** leans matter-of-fact (+1) — The voice carries controlled energy, but product and security communications should favor evidence, status, and action over excitement.

## Traits

- **Dark precision** — Write with controlled intensity: sharp verbs, clean nouns, and no wasted motion. The voice should feel engineered, not decorated.
  - Why: Cypher protects critical systems where ambiguity costs time. The brand’s “dark, electric” feel comes through best when the language is exact, compressed, and deliberate.
  - e.g. "Detect exposed paths. Seal weak edges. Keep every workload under watch."
- **Calm under attack** — Sound steady in high-risk moments. Acknowledge urgency without panic, hype, or fearmongering.
  - Why: Security and infrastructure teams need a platform that lowers noise during incidents. Cypher should feel like a clear signal in a hostile environment.
  - e.g. "Critical drift detected in production. Three affected services. Remediation path ready."
- **Operator-native** — Speak to builders, defenders, and infrastructure owners in their language: assets, controls, runtime, identity, policy, telemetry, blast radius, uptime.
  - Why: Cypher sits at the intersection of cybersecurity and infrastructure. Its users are technical operators who value fluency over marketing gloss.
  - e.g. "Map identity, network, and workload exposure in one control plane—before misconfigurations become attack paths."
- **Electric clarity** — Use vivid, high-energy phrasing when it sharpens the message, but keep the meaning immediately clear.
  - Why: The brand can carry a distinctive cyber-noir edge, but security buyers still need direct understanding. Style should illuminate, not obscure.
  - e.g. "Live telemetry cuts through the dark: every asset, every route, every risk."
- **Trust without theater** — Make strong claims with evidence, restraint, and specificity. Avoid heroic posturing, scare tactics, or vague promises.
  - Why: Cybersecurity audiences are skeptical of exaggerated claims. Cypher earns credibility by showing what it sees, what it protects, and how it reduces exposure.
  - e.g. "Prioritize exploitable risk by asset criticality, exposure, and active control coverage."

## Tone by context

- **Marketing and website:** Lead with intensity and clarity. Use concise, cinematic language paired with concrete platform outcomes. Avoid generic cybersecurity superlatives like “next-gen,” “military-grade,” or “complete protection.”
- **Product onboarding:** Be direct, confident, and sequential. Give users the shortest path to value. Explain what Cypher is doing in the background without overexplaining basic concepts.
- **Alerts and detections:** Prioritize severity, scope, and action. Use terse, structured language. Avoid drama; the alert itself carries the urgency.
- **Incident response:** Stay calm and operational. Name the affected assets, likely impact, confidence level, and next best action. Never use celebratory or casual language during an active incident.
- **Success states:** Be concise and assured. Confirm the result and reinforce protection gained. Avoid excessive celebration.
- **Errors and failures:** Own the problem plainly. State what failed, why if known, and what the user can do next. Avoid vague apologies or blame-shifting.
- **Documentation:** Use plain technical precision. Define prerequisites, expected outcomes, and edge cases. Prefer command-level clarity over brand flourish.
- **Executive and sales messaging:** Translate technical depth into business risk reduction: less exposure, faster response, stronger resilience, fewer blind spots. Keep the tone serious and evidence-led.

## Messaging

**Audience:** Security leaders, platform engineering teams, cloud infrastructure owners, DevSecOps teams, and incident responders responsible for protecting distributed, cloud-native, hybrid, and mission-critical systems.
**Value:** Cypher protects modern infrastructure with live visibility, precise risk control, and fast remediation across identities, workloads, networks, and runtime environments.

- **See the live system** — Unify telemetry across assets, identities, workloads, policies, and network paths so teams understand what is running, exposed, and changing right now.
- **Prioritize exploitable risk** — Cut through alert noise by ranking risk based on exposure, asset criticality, active controls, and real attack paths—not flat severity scores alone.
- **Control with precision** — Enforce policy, contain drift, and close weak edges without slowing the teams that ship and operate infrastructure.
- **Respond without hesitation** — Give operators clear remediation paths, blast-radius context, and verification loops so they can move from detection to containment fast.

## Lexicon

**Use:** `protect modern systems`, `control plane`, `exposure`, `attack path`, `blast radius`, `runtime`, `telemetry`, `identity`, `workload`, `policy`, `drift`, `signal`, `surface`, `asset`, `edge`, `remediation`, `contain`, `harden`, `verify`, `map`, `monitor`, `enforce`, `dark precision`, `electric clarity`, `live risk`, `critical systems`, `infrastructure truth`, `reduce noise`, `close the gap`, `seal the path`
**Avoid:** `next-gen`, `cutting-edge`, `military-grade`, `hack-proof`, `bulletproof`, `unbreakable`, `set it and forget it`, `single pane of glass`, `game changer`, `peace of mind`, `cyber ninjas`, `cyber warriors`, `AI magic`, `zero risk`, `guaranteed protection`, `world-class solution`, `seamless and easy`, `robust`, `leverage synergies`, `empower your journey`, `sleep better at night`, `bad guys`, `scary hackers`, `fortress`, `impenetrable shield`

## Mechanics

- **Capitalization:** Sentence case for UI, documentation, email subject lines, and headings. Title case only for proper nouns, report titles, and formal campaign names.
- **Contractions:** yes
- **Emoji:** Never in product, security alerts, documentation, or executive communications. Avoid in marketing except rare social posts where the tone can stay controlled and technical.
- **Reading level:** Grade 8–10 for marketing and product UI; technical documentation may go higher when precision requires it.

## Boilerplate

- **Short:** Cypher is a cybersecurity and infrastructure platform that protects modern systems with live visibility, precise control, and dark, electric clarity.
- **Medium:** Cypher protects modern infrastructure by unifying security telemetry, exposure management, policy control, and remediation in one operator-native platform. Built for cloud, hybrid, and distributed systems, Cypher helps teams see live risk, seal attack paths, and keep critical environments resilient under pressure.
- **Long:** Cypher is a cybersecurity and infrastructure platform built for the speed and complexity of modern systems. It gives security, platform, and DevSecOps teams live visibility across assets, identities, workloads, network paths, and runtime environments—then turns that signal into precise action. By prioritizing exploitable risk, exposing attack paths, enforcing policy, and guiding remediation, Cypher helps teams reduce noise, contain drift, and protect critical infrastructure without slowing operations. The result is security with dark, electric precision: clear signal, fast control, and resilience under pressure.

## Voice in action

**Homepage hero**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Protect modern systems with dark, electric precision. | A next-generation cybersecurity platform for today’s digital enterprises. | The on-voice line is distinctive, concise, and aligned to Cypher’s identity. The alternative is plausible but generic and overused. |

**Primary CTA**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Map your exposure | Get started today | The on-voice CTA names a concrete security outcome. The alternative is usable but bland. |

**Critical alert**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Critical exposure detected: public route to production identity provider. | Urgent security issue found in your environment. | The on-voice alert gives severity, exposure type, and affected system. The alternative creates urgency without enough operational detail. |

**Alert action button**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | View attack path | Learn more | The on-voice button tells the operator exactly what they’ll inspect. The alternative is common but imprecise. |

**Onboarding connection step**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Connect your cloud accounts. Cypher will map assets, identities, and exposed paths without changing production state. | Connect your cloud accounts to unlock powerful security insights across your environment. | The on-voice copy is specific about what happens and reassures users about production safety. The alternative is plausible marketing language but vague. |

**Empty state**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | No exposed attack paths found. Cypher is still monitoring drift across connected assets. | You’re all good! No issues to show right now. | The on-voice version stays precise and avoids false reassurance. The alternative is friendly but too casual and absolute for security. |

**Policy creation success**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Policy enforced. New public ingress will be blocked across 14 production workloads. | Success! Your policy has been created. | The on-voice message confirms the protective effect, not just the UI event. The alternative is acceptable but less useful. |

**Error message**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | AWS scan failed. Cypher couldn’t assume the configured role. Verify the trust policy and run the scan again. | Something went wrong while scanning AWS. Please try again later. | The on-voice message identifies the failed action and the next fix. The alternative is common but unhelpfully vague. |

**Documentation intro**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Use this guide to deploy the Cypher sensor, verify telemetry, and confirm that workload metadata is reaching the control plane. | This guide will help you get up and running with our powerful sensor technology. | The on-voice version defines the tasks and expected outcome. The alternative sounds polished but nonspecific. |

**Executive report summary**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Cypher identified 23 internet-exposed assets tied to critical services. Twelve have active compensating controls; five require remediation within 24 hours. | Cypher found several important risks that your team should review soon. | The on-voice summary quantifies risk and urgency. The alternative is plausible but too soft for executive decision-making. |

**Incident update**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Containment in progress. Public access is blocked on the affected subnet; identity rotation remains open for two service accounts. | We’re working hard to contain the issue and will keep you posted. | The on-voice update reports concrete control status and remaining work. The alternative is reassuring but lacks operational signal. |

**Sales email opener**

| Surface | ✅ We say | ❌ We don't say | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| not-found | Your cloud estate changes faster than quarterly reviews can track. Cypher gives teams a live map of exposure, control coverage, and exploitable paths. | In today’s fast-moving threat landscape, organizations need a robust cybersecurity solution. | The on-voice version names a real infrastructure problem and Cypher’s specific answer. The alternative is a competent but generic sales opener. |
