There was once a time when a business’s worst nightmare would be a group of clandestine and hooded thieves smashing a window, cracking the safe or cash register, and making away with a pile of hard-earned cash. But times change.
Today’s threat landscape is significantly different, as well as much more sophisticated, aggressive—and scarier than ever. A well-trained, computer-savvy thief can enter a home or business while you’re working or watching TV and extract extremely sensitive and protected data. With the click of a few buttons, they can open the floodgates and obtain personally identifiable information (PII), or in the case of business’s client information, credit card numbers, intellectual property, trade secrets, and other content that could cost a company time, effort, and endless amounts of money. Masked bandits have been replaced by calculating and infiltrating computer hackers. These are the cybersecurity thieves.
Cybercriminals do not care who they steal the money from—businesses, individuals, or family members. Identity theft is one of the world’s fastest-growing forms of cybercrime today and has more than tripled over the last decade. In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission stated that nearly 1.4 million cases of identity theft, out of a total of 5.7 million fraud and identity theft reports, have been reported across the United States. Credit card fraud has long been one of the most common forms of identity theft, but a new fast-growing crime—synthetic identity theft—is now occurring. Cybercriminals use your stolen social security number but attach it to a different name and address—though the credit issues still get tied back to you.
For businesses, a cybersecurity breach can put small to midsize organizations out of business or, at the very least, inflict damage that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. That may pale in comparison to the significant damage to a brand’s reputation.
Business leaders are responsible for not only the traditional success of a company but cybersecurity issues as well. They can be held fiscally accountable for a cyber breach. As such, they should anticipate and prepare for future events that could significantly impact their organization. One of those events is a cybersecurity breach. Leaders of companies face enormous cyber challenges: a limited understanding of cybersecurity business risks, responsibility for the full financial and business impact of a breach, and analyzing and evaluating the investments necessary to protect against these threats.
The goal of Cybersecurity: Everything You, Your Family, And Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know is to provide an in-depth understanding of these significant issues while learning exactly what steps you—whether an individual, family member, or business leader—can take to properly prepare for today’s constantly evolving threat landscape.
My name is Phillip Ferraro and I’m one of the top Chief Information Security Officers (CISO) in the country. For more than 25 years, I’ve defended organizations against the world’s most sophisticated cyberattackers. I give international keynote talks on all aspects of cybersecurity and am one of the few CISOs to make presentations on cybersecurity and advanced threats to Senate and Congressional committees on Capitol Hill.
In short, I have seen it all.
The last several years of my career have been specifically focused on helping individuals, families, and small businesses better protect themselves.
Most books on cybersecurity focus either on defensive technologies or a very speculative high-level approach. The problem is that the tech approach is written for CISOs and the staff who implement such technologies. This high-level approach delivers a 50,000-foot overview, describing threats and couching them in the language of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Such books do not take the time to provide the details necessary to understand the overall concepts and sensitivities found within the cybersecurity realm—how threats can impact an organization and what can be done to ensure you, your family, and your business are safeguarded.
This book provides hands-on tips and procedures that can be implemented right now. Because I have many years of experience presenting to and advising boards of directors and C-suite executives, I provide an in-the-trenches approach to handling cybersecurity issues before they occur. I provide clear and concise facts about cybersecurity and how to develop comprehensive defenses—not only for a business but for families as well. This book will help readers immediately apply this knowledge. Comprehensive cyber programs include many functional areas; this book cuts through the fog to provide a clear picture of where and what to focus on to effectively manage cyber risk.
I am confident that reading this book will be an excellent investment of time and money and that you will keep it close and refer to it often as a reference book. You’ll also learn a great deal about the cybersecurity industry, including how some of the best-known information breaches that have occurred. There are valuable lessons from these stories, including a much better understanding of cybersecurity threats, why big companies are getting breached, and what to do to significantly lower risk, raise security, and avoid becoming a victim. I cover how to implement a comprehensive cybersecurity program and get it up and running immediately, the full impact and financial effects of a potential breach, and the steps necessary to manage a cybersecurity crisis.
We now live in a world with cyber threats around every corner. One small data breach can be catastrophic to a business or family. But preventative maintenance is not nearly as difficult as you might think. Investing a little bit of time and money now can be the difference between success and demise. So, together, we can overcome the new generation of thieves who can literally rob you blind.
After reading this book and you would like personalized assistance, please reach out. I am very happy to provide cybersecurity consultations and can be reached through my website at phillipferraro.com.