Stay Cyber Safe: What Every CEO Should Know About Cybersecurity

By JT Kostman PhD and Brian Gallagher MPS

Stay Cyber Safe: What Every CEO Should Know About Cybersecurity is your jargon-free guide to understanding the cyber threats you face each day. In this brief book, authors JT Kostman and Brian Gallagher introduce CodeLock™ – a revolutionary approach to cybersecurity that provides what the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) describes as being able to "stop the most sophisticated criminal malware." They will also offer you affordable, practical, and actionable advice on steps you can take today to safeguard your data assets – and keep your company from becoming the next victim of cybercrime to be featured on the nightly news.

Imagine this: You come into the office on Thursday morning, grab a cup of coffee and sit down at your desk to check your email. You log in, and you wait. And wait. Nothing happens for a few seconds. Then your screen turns bright blue. A pop-up banner appears with some devasting news: You've been hacked.

Welcome to the hell known as ransomware.

Now you have a choice to make. Either you can pay the cyber-criminals $150,000 in bitcoin by the end of the day or all your data will be destroyed. All your confidential information and private emails will be released onto the internet. Your customers' personally identifiable information will be sold on the black market. The icing on the cake? The hackers will report this incident to the press.

You can pay the thieves who are holding your data hostage, but there are no guarantees. They may still carry through on their threats or just ask for more cash.

If you don't think it could happen to you, think again.

Regardless of your industry, or how many employees you have, if you lead a small or midsized business there is a 48% chance you will become the victim of cybercrime sometime within the next year. That's pretty much the flip of a coin – and it just keeps getting worse.

The approaches and methodologies in this book are crucial for anyone looking to protect themselves or their business by mitigating the risk of cybersecurity threats and ransomware.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098382919

Book preview

Title

Introducing CodeLock™

Described by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as being able to stop the most sophisticated criminal malware. (DHS, 2021)

Copyright © 2021 ProtectedBy.AI, Inc.

CodeLock™: U.S. Patent Pending, Application No. 63/129,388

All rights reserved.

Stay Cyber Safe: What Every CEO Should Know About Cybersecurity

ISBN: 978-1-09836-889-0 Paperback

eISBN: 978-1-0983829-1-9

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission. For information on bulk purchases or corporate premium sales, please contact ProtectedBy.AI. Call 1-844-We-Are-AI or email [e-mail].

Legal Disclaimer: Because we are afraid of our lawyers (and hate paying attorney’s fees as much as we suspect you do), we are compelled to remind you, Dear Reader, that although the authors have made every effort to ensure the information in this book was correct at press time, and while this publication is designed to provide accurate information in regard to the subject matter covered, the authors assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any other inconsistencies herein and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

This publication is meant as a source of valuable information for the reader, however it is not meant as a substitute for direct expert assistance. If such level of assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. The information provided herein likewise does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; all information and content presented is for general informational purposes only. Readers are strongly encouraged to seek the advice and guidance of legal counsel on all matters pertaining to the topics presented.

CodeLock™ is a patent-pending invention and the intellectual property of Dr. JT Kostman and ProtectedBy.AI, Inc.

We dedicate this book, our company,

and our professional lives to helping anyone who has ever

been bullied; on the playground, at work,

by criminals, or by people in positions of power.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why Did We Write This Book and For Whom Did We Write It?

Foreword

1 The Times They Are a-Changin’

Bridging the Digital Divide

Danger Will Robinson!

2 The Rising Tide of Cyber Crime: A Brief History

The Worm Turns

Going Viral

Birth of a Criminal Nation

Cyber Tsunami

3 Something Wicked This Way Comes

Extraction

Obstruction

Insertion

Holding Data Hostage

Paving the Road to Hell

4 Winter Is Coming

Legislating Security

5 May You Live in Interesting Times

Frontal Assault

Hidden in Plain Sight

A Cautionary Tale

Size Does Not Always Matter

Finding Hay in a Haystack

6 The Enemy in Our Midst

War Gaming

Cyber Savvy

Beat the Clock

Companies Are Left to Fend for Themselves

7 Storming the Castle

Security by the Numbers

Trojan Horses

8 The Fault Is Not in Our Stars, But in Ourselves

The Most Wanted List

Timing Is Everything

Unwelcome Guests

Security from Within

Maintain the Evidentiary Chain

9 Blockchain 101

Blockchain Database

10 CodeLock™

How It Works

Technically Speaking

Defense Mechanism

Matched Set

11 Parting Thoughts

Glossary

Geek to Plain-Speak Dictionary

About the Authors

Why Did We Write This Book and For Whom Did We Write It?

We, the authors of this book, are from two generations, but we have quite a bit in common.

We both started our professional careers as EMTs and went on to become Paramedics, then Police Officers.

We both had an affinity for computers and technology, and we both ended up in the private sector – as business executives and then as entrepreneurs and investors.

We are both driven by an ethos that has pervaded all our work; a compulsion to serve and protect. That was the impetus for founding our company, ProtectedBy.AI with goal of protecting people, property, places – and the profits of the small and midsized businesses (SMBs) that drive the U.S. and global economies.

Our company is committed to bringing the same capabilities to SMBs that the Tech Titans and Fortune 500 are now using to gain an unfair advantage and monopolize every industry.

Our mission, in short, is to help SMBs contend with the Goliathan forces allied against them by arming them with customized, cost-effective ‘slingshots’ – and making sure they know how to use them.

This brief book is focused on one of our key capabilities: Cybersecurity.

In the pages that follow, we will empower you by providing insights into the challenges and enemies you face, and we will offer some guidance on what you can do to keep yourself safe.

We also want you to know that this book does not end at the last page. It comes with an open and never-ending offer.

While we