John Sileo
Identity Theft Prevention Expert, Cyber Security, Fraud Prevention Expert, and award winning Professional Speaker and Trainer
John Sileo lost $300,000 & nearly went to jail due to cyber crime. Since then, he's spoken at the Pentagon, on 60 Minutes & around the world. His gift is making data security informative and fun, so it sticks.
John Sileo lost his million-dollar startup, his wealth, and two years of his life to cybercrime. It began when a cybercriminal (and trusted insider) embezzled from the company’s clients using John’s identity. John was held legally and financially responsible for the felonies committed while proving his innocence. The losses not only destroyed his company and decimated his life savings but consumed two years of young fatherhood as he fought to stay out of jail.
Thankfully, John’s story has a happy ending. After two years, he was exonerated of all crimes and has spent the better part of two decades sharing his story and hard-earned wisdom as a cybersecurity expert, award-winning author, 60 Minutes guest and keynote speaker for the Pentagon, Amazon, and thousands of audiences worldwide. He seeks to keep organizations from becoming the next disastrous data breach headline. John specializes in the human elements of cybersecurity and uses disarming humor, audience interaction and cutting-edge research to keep his training relevant and entertaining.
John is President of The Sileo Group, a Colorado-based think tank, and serves on several boards as a director. He graduated with honors from Harvard University and was recently inducted into the National Speakers Hall of Fame. John finds his greatest pleasure hiking in the Rocky Mountains with his amazing wife and strong daughters – the lovely family who helped him turn life’s lemons into something much sweeter and more fulfilling.
BLOCKBUSTER CYBERSECURITY IN A ZERO TRUST WORLD
Hackers don’t just adapt to change – they bank on it – and therefore organizations must do the same to stay ahead of cyber risks. 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; 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 his cybersecurity keynote speaker presentation, John combines potent lessons with a humorous phone-hacking demonstration to build a Blockbuster Framework for analyzing, organizing, and communicating a robust cybersecurity strategy.
SAVVY SECURITY IN A WORLD OF WEAPONIZED AI
Artificial Intelligence makes hacking your organization easier. Generative A.I. models evolved from ChatGPT give novice cybercriminals free tools to code malware, create adaptive ransomware, and author sophisticated phishing emails around the clock. Deepfake videos imitate people in power to manipulate your performance, profits and reputation while disinformation campaigns blur the lines of trust. And quantum computing is about to render current defenses nearly useless. Are you prepared? While technology is also part of the solution, it is not the primary answer to the quiz. In this keynote, cyber expert John Sileo leverages his experience of losing everything to cybercrime to bridge the security gap between human beings, technology and rapidly emerging threats.
BUILDING A BULLETPROOF CULTURE OF SECURITY: A CRASH COURSE FOR BUSINESS LEADERS
To avoid becoming the next disastrous data-breach headline, you must foster a culture of security that addresses both the technological and human elements of data defense. Change happens when you create buy-in among the people who handle your mission-critical information. You can’t possibly do everything, so you must do the right things. This crash course forges a high-level, non-technical path through 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 a Blockbuster Framework of Leadership Next Steps.
THE ART OF HUMAN HACKING: SOCIAL ENGINEERING SELF DEFENSE
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 of your information. But people are often the most underutilized weapon in your fight against cybercrime. In this keynote, John shares 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.
THINK LIKE A SPY
Aggressive Identity Theft & Fraud Countermeasures. Identity theft and online fraud are destructive side effects of information over-exposure. Due to the power of personally identifying information, we must leverage formidable tools to protect everything from Social Security numbers to bank accounts, from passwords to intellectual property. John delivers those exact tools in a highly interactive, surprisingly humorous presentation inspired by his personal loss of more than $300,000, his business and two years to the ruthless consequences of identity theft. John will help your audience to “own” their identities—to take responsibility for their sensitive data. Developing a personal, emotional connection to data protection benefits everyone’s bottom line.
SMALL BUSINESS CYBERSECURITY: A DATA DEFENSE PLAN
Cyber Security Crash Course
Digital Defense for Non-Technical Leaders. At the heart of most data theft is lax cyber security: a broad term that will cease to intimidate you after this presentation. Technology evolves so quickly that people fall behind the digital curve and feel overwhelmed by the prospect of protecting the very data that underlies their wealth. In this state, decision makers tend to freeze, make excuses and assume that there is no reasonable, cost-effective way to protect their data. That assumption is both wrong and dangerous. This crash course forges a high-level, non-technical path through the sometimes confusing web of computer security, mobile technology, Internet connectivity, online privacy and cloud computing. In cyber security, you don’t have to do everything, just the right things. John’s presentation focuses on these triggers, including the most critical aspect of cyber security – human behavior.