John Sileo

Combining real-world experience with years of study, John became an award-winning author and leading expert on cyber security, identity theft and data privacy. John is CEO of The Sileo Group, a data security think tank that helps organizations protect the information that drives their profits. His body of work includes engagements with the Pentagon, USA Today, Visa, 60 Minutes, Homeland Security, Rachael Ray, Schwab and organizations of all sizes. John graduated with honors from Harvard University and spends his free time with his remarkable wife and two highly spirited daughters.

Keynote Topics

The Hacker’s Blacklist:
7 Critical Cybersecurity Threats & Solutions

The heart of good cybersecurity starts with the human beings that help it flourish, or fail. To avoid becoming the next disastrous data-breach headline, you must foster a healthy balance between computer security and human behavior. Cybersecurity isn’t just about overspending on shinier technology – it’s about building a mindset and culture that evolves with the threats.

This crash course forges a high-level, non-technical path through the confusing web of cybersecurity, human decision making, network protection, mobile technology, the Internet of Things, social media and cloud computing—critical components of your information strategy. In this presentation, John will leverage his story of losing his business to cybercrime as a blueprint for how to protect the information that drives your organization.

Think Like a Spy:
Aggressive Identity Theft Protection

Identity theft training is no longer optional. Every move you make in the digital world can be tracked, hacked, recorded and exploited. Threat sources like smartphones, the Internet of Things, wearable technology, cloud computing and social media have shifted the competitive landscape in favor of cyber-savvy users with strong identity theft training, prompting a question: Are you in control of your data, or are you being controlled? Due to the power of personally identifying information and the rapid rate at which information is being compromised, we must leverage prevention tools to protect everything from our Social Security numbers to bank accounts, from passwords to confidential emails.

John delivers these identity theft countermeasures in a highly interactive, disarmingly humorous presentation inspired by his personal loss of more than $300,000, his business and two years to identity theft. In this presentation, John focuses specifically on identity theft protection tools that apply to every individual in your audience.

The Art of Human Hacking:
Social Engineering Self Defense

Fraud training only works when it happens in person. Human beings can be the weakest link or the strongest competitive advantage in the security and profitability of your information assets. But people are the most commonly underutilized, least expensive weapon in your fight against cybercrime. Social Engineering Training too often fails because of Death by PowerPoint. Security needs to be engaging – has to be interactive – to be effective. To put it simply, this session makes security fun, so that it sticks. Additionally, your audience must experience manipulation, deception and fraud first hand before their behaviors are ripe for change.

In this continually-interactive session, John goes deep into social engineering tools and tricks used to separate you from your critical data. By building System-1, Reflex-Based Awareness around how tools like social media, trust shortcuts, ego stroking, greed appeals, and cortisol flushing enable social engineers, John will dramatically reduce the human element of your threat footprint. Safe data is profitable data, whether it’s a client’s credit card number, a patient’s medical file, an employee’s benefit plan or sensitive intellectual capital. By the time John finishes his entertaining closing story, your audience will be fully empowered to detect and deter social engineering, fraud and deception.

White Hot Security Trends:
Threats, Thoughts & Tactics

There is no better way to learn about how to cope with the latest and nastiest security threats than from those who have failed hardest! Do you want to know how your organization can avoid the destruction visited upon 150 nation-states during the WannaCry Ransomware attack? Hoping to understand and defend yourself before advanced cyber extortion dismantles your reputation, operation and profitability? Ever seen the inside of an election-hacking machine and what it has to do with your business? Ready for the Internet of Things to transform into an Invasion of Threats?

White Hot Security trends is an up-to-the-minute look at the unbelievable stories unfolding in the world of cyber security – for good and evil. If you have ever had John present before, this is Part II of the series, giving your audience an update on the latest cyber security issues that they will no longer ignore. This session utilizes Appreciative Inquiry techniques that leverage the skills your workforce already has and builds on the aspects of cyber security that already work inside of your culture. Using audience interaction and case studies, John will go in depth into the latest trends and counter-tactics to help your audience understand the risks and protect their critical data assets.

Creating a Compelling Culture of Security:
Empowering the Human Element

Security awareness starts at the top. Cyber criminals lust for your corporate data. Competitors bribe your disgruntled employee for a thumb drive full of confidential files. Social engineers exploit your executives’ social media profiles – a veritable “how to” guide for network security access. Hackers “sniff” unprotected IP addresses and cloud traffic you didn’t even know existed. Cyber extortionists encrypt your mission-critical data and demand a ransom. In the meantime, you end up as the next disastrous headline – reputation damaged, customers fleeing. This does not have to be your fate if you move beyond security awareness and into action.

Cybercrime and corporate data breach are a huge financial cost and legal liability to organizations.

But how are you supposed to cope with such a wide range of cyber threats when you have little to no technical background? The answer lies, as does so much of your success, in your preparation and strength of culture. It is imperative in the information economy to train your workforce on how to protect the information assets that fuel your success, whether they are digital, physical or intellectual. Build security awareness training into your daily operations from the boardroom to the break room and watch your risk footprint diminish. In this presentation, John leverages his experience working with clients like the Pentagon and Charles Schwab to give you a prioritized punch list of action items to reduce your chances of a costly data breach.

Your Financial Practice as Hero:
Adding Customer Value Through Security

No one is in a better position to educate financially savvy customers about protecting identity and net worth than bankers, brokers, agents, accountants and full-fledged financial advisors. Not only do you serve as your client’s trusted advisor and have their “financial ear,” but you also have an ethical responsibility to help them protect their wealth against crimes like identity theft, online fraud and cyber extortion. Here’s the good news: by hosting financial presentations targeting fraud protection training, risk management seminars and identity theft workshops, you create a safer, more loyal customer.

John has delivered cyber-specific financial seminars to more than 100,000 FI customers. His financial presentations cover the most relevant aspects of identity theft prevention, online privacy, social media exposure, mobile technology, cloud computing and Internet banking and investing. Imagine your customer, fully educated about how to protect their financial and informational assets and attributing their increased security to your brand. They will be happier, less likely to defect to automated investment tools and less susceptible to fraud. Safe customers are profitable customers.