Hackers don’t just adapt to change; they bank on it. Has your mindset evolved? The rapid expansion of remote workforces, ransomware gangs, cloud jacking, IoT hacking, supply chain attacks, social engineering and disinformation campaigns have altered the way we must defend our data, reputation, and profits. A faulty adage asserts that humans are your weakest link when in reality, they can be your greatest defense. Cybersecurity doesn’t grow from shinier tools, but from the powerful intersection between human beings and technology. In this keynote presentation, John will leverage potent lessons learned from losing everything to cybercrime as well as a humorous live-hacking demonstration to build a Blockbuster Framework for analyzing, organizing, and communicating your powerful cyber defense strategy.

Anti-fraud and social engineering training only work when your people experience it first-hand. Humans can be the weakest link or the strongest competitive advantage in the security and profitability of your information. But people are often the most underutilized weapon in your fight against cybercrime. Don’t surrender to Death by PowerPoint; fraud training needs to be engaging to be effective. This presentation makes security interactive, so that it sticks. In it, John will use his own losses at the hands of social engineering to illustrate the tools and tricks used to separate you from your critical data, including: System 1 & 2 reflexes, social media harvesting, trust shortcuts, ego stroking, greed appeals, and cortisol flushing. By John’s closing story, you will be fully empowered to detect and deter social engineering and fraud.

To avoid becoming the next disastrous data-breach headline, you must foster a healthy culture of security that addresses both the technological and human elements of data defense. Change happens when you create energy and buy-in among the people who handle your mission-critical information. When it comes to the latest data security threats, you can’t possibly do everything—but you must do the right things. This cyber-leadership crash course forges a high-level, non-technical path through the often-confusing web of cybersecurity. It is a highly interactive presentation that leverages John’s first-hand experience of losing everything to cybercrime, continues with a live hacking demo of an audience member’s smartphone and ends with an actionable Roadmap of Leadership Next Steps.

Smart speakers and digital assistants like Alexa, Google and Siri eavesdrop on the conversations you have at home and work, sharing your behaviors with their “partners”. Super cookies collect your browsing history, selling your privacy to the highest bidder. Mobile phone providers track and trade your location while social media sites build psychographic dossiers that classify you according to your psycho-social profile. Identity thieves hack these sources, banking on your data and wealth. Think Like A Spy focuses on taking control of your identity and privacy. Due to the rapid rate at which information is being compromised, you must leverage the very latest prevention tools to protect everything from your Social Security number to bank account, from passwords to confidential emails. John delivers these identity theft and privacy countermeasures in a highly interactive speech inspired by his loss of more than $300,000 to ID theft