Page 21 – BlackCloak | Protect Your Digital Life™

Information Week: Thoma Bravo’s $5B Darktrace Bet Highlights Cyber’s AI Excitement

April 29, 2024/in News & Media/by Rachel Quinn

Darktrace, the United Kingdom-based cybersecurity powerhouse — with a client list that includes the city of Las Vegas and Airbus — had refused earlier an Thoma Bravo bid.

Cybersecurity giant Darktrace, a UK firm specializing in AI-enabled threat detection, accepted a $5.32 billion bid by US private equity powerhouse Thoma Brava that would take the firm private.

Darktrace Chair Gordon Hurst in a statement suggested that Thoma Bravo’s most recent bid was too sweet to pass up. “The proposed offer represents an attractive premium and an opportunity for shareholders to receive the certainty of a cash consideration at a fair value for their shares,” he said. “The proposed acquisition will provide Darktrace access to a strong financial partner in Thoma Bravo, with deep software sector expertise.”

Find out what our CEO and Founder, Dr. Chris Pierson, had to say about this topic: https://www.informationweek.com/cyber-resilience/thoma-bravo-s-5b-darktrace-bet-highlights-cyber-s-ai-excitement

BlackCloak Joins Collaborative Cyber Intelligence Community RH-ISAC

April 16, 2024/in Press Release/by Rachel Quinn

Associate Membership Expands BlackCloak’s Ability to Protect the Digital Lives of Retail and Hospitality Executives

ORLANDO, FL, April 16, 2024 – BlackCloak, the pioneer in Digital Executive Protection and Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy™ for high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and corporate executives, today announced its new Associate Membership with the Retail and Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC). This strategic alignment underscores BlackCloak’s commitment to advancing cybersecurity resilience within the retail and hospitality industries.

As cyber threats continue to evolve and escalate, collaboration and intelligence sharing are critical. By joining RH-ISAC, BlackCloak will engage in a wealth of industry-specific threat intelligence, resources, and collaboration opportunities. This membership will enable BlackCloak to better serve its clients by staying ahead of potential cybersecurity threats and enhancing its defensive strategies.

Leigh Dow, Vice President of Marketing at BlackCloak, commented on the membership, “Joining RH-ISAC represents a pivotal step for BlackCloak in our mission to protect the personal digital lives of our members and their employers. Through this collaboration, we look forward to not only contributing to but also benefiting from the collective expertise and intelligence that RH-ISAC fosters among its members.”

RH-ISAC serves as a central hub for trusted cybersecurity information sharing and collaboration among consumer-facing sector companies in the retail and hospitality sectors. Its members include some of the most renowned brands in the industry, working together to defend their enterprises from cyber threats.

The retail industry is increasingly vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, including ransomware attacks, which are escalating in both frequency and sophistication. Cybercriminals often initiate these attacks through breaches in personal cybersecurity, exploiting individual vulnerabilities to gain access to the broader corporate networks. “Personal cybersecurity lapses are a common point of attack into corporate systems. This is particularly important in a sector where vast amounts of personal and payment information is processed daily,” said Dow. The resultant breaches can cripple operations and compromise sensitive data across supply chains, highlighting the urgent need for retailers to fortify their defenses with robust personal cybersecurity measures and protocols to protect against these pervasive threats.

BlackCloak’s membership in RH-ISAC will enhance its capabilities to provide top-tier Digital Executive Protection solutions and support to its clients, ultimately helping to secure the broader digital landscape of the retail and hospitality sectors.

About RH-ISAC

The Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC) is the trusted community for sharing sector-specific cybersecurity information and intelligence. The RH-ISAC connects information security teams at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels to work together on issues and challenges, to share practices and insights, and to benchmark among each other – all with the goal of building better security for consumer-facing industries through collaboration. RH-ISAC serves businesses including retailers, restaurants, hotels, gaming casinos, food retailers, consumer products, and other consumer-facing companies. For more information, visit www.rhisac.org.

About BlackCloak

BlackCloak protects corporate executives and high-profile individuals from cybersecurity, privacy, financial, and other reputational risks. Used by Fortune 500 companies across all industries, the BlackCloak Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy™ Platform is a holistic solution including mobile and desktop apps as well as concierge support. Executives and high-profile individuals get peace of mind knowing their family, reputation, and finances are secured. Companies rest assured that their brand, intellectual property, data, and finances are protected against threats coming through executives without having to invade their personal lives. Learn more at www.blackcloak.io, and follow them on LinkedIn and Twitter.

BlackCloak Media Contact:

Mike Sias

[email protected]

The Seattle Times: A congressman wanted to understand AI. So he went back to a college classroom to learn

April 15, 2024/in /by Rachel Quinn

Don Beyer’s car dealerships were among the first in the U.S. to set up a website. As a representative, the Virginia Democrat leads a bipartisan group focused on promoting fusion energy. He reads books about geometry for fun.

So when questions about regulating artificial intelligence emerged, the 73-year-old Beyer took what for him seemed like an obvious step, enrolling at George Mason University to get a master’s degree in machine learning. In an era when lawmakers and Supreme Court justices sometimes concede they don’t understand emerging technology, Beyer’s journey is an outlier, but it highlights a broader effort by members of Congress to educate themselves about artificial intelligence as they consider laws that would shape its development.

Frightening to some, thrilling to others, baffling to many: Artificial intelligence has been called a transformative technology, a threat to democracy or even an existential risk for humanity. It will fall to members of Congress to figure out how to regulate the industry in a way that encourages its potential benefits while mitigating the worst risks.

Read the full article here.

ABC News: Cybersecurity expert shares what guests, hotels should know in wake of Omni breach

April 15, 2024/in News & Media/by Rachel Quinn

In the wake of a recent cyberattack on Omni Hotels & Resorts that prompted a “shut down [of] its systems to protect and contain its data,” experts are reminding people of the actions guests can take to preserve their digital safety and weighing in on risks facing the hospitality industry at large.

“We are currently working to determine the scope of the event, including impact to any data or information maintained on Omni systems,” the company said in an statement following the cyberattack on Friday, March 29. “Our investigation into the incident remains ongoing and we are working with external specialists in this process.”

Read the full article here.

Schwab Network: AT&T Data Leak: The Holy Grail for Cyber Criminals

April 4, 2024/in News & Media/by Rachel Quinn

AT&T confirms that the personal information of 73M users has been leaked on the dark web. Dr. Chris Pierson and Shira Rubinoff go inside AT&T’s massive data leak. Pierson notes that the type of information leaked is considered the holy grail for cyber criminals. They then go over the importance of cybersecurity.

https://schwabnetwork.com/video/at-t-t-data-leak-the-holy-grail-for-cyber-criminals

ABC News: Tips on protecting consumer identity in light of AT&T data breach

April 2, 2024/in News & Media/by Rachel Quinn

ABC News’ Erielle Reshef spoke with Dr. Chris Pierson, CEO of BlackCloak on what customers can do if their data was compromised in the AT&T data leak.

Chris provides his tips on how to protect yourself form a security breach.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/tips-protecting-consumer-identity-light-att-data-breach-108725046

Introducing Incident Response as a Service (iRaaS)

BlackCloak Incident Response as a Service - Elevating Executive Personal Cybersecurity Defense

April 2, 2024/in Press Release/by Rachel Quinn

Extending Digital Executive Protection on Demand to other Key Individuals in an External Cybersecurity Incident

ORLANDO, FL, April 2, 2024 – Today, BlackCloak, the pioneer in Digital Executive Protection and concierge personal cybersecurity for executives and senior leaders, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices, announced the expansion of BlackCloak’s Incident Response as a Service (IRaaS), designed to offer rapid, expert-led privacy and cyber security incident response to corporate clients who have other key employees targeted in cyber or privacy attacks on an ad hoc basis.

The IRaaS launch comes at a critical time when cyber and privacy threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, targeting individuals in their personal lives. Attacks targeting employees’ personal phones, email accounts, and families have been on the rise. As the Pioneer of Personal Cybersecurity™, BlackCloak’s IRaaS will allow organizations to expand coverage beyond the executive suite, offering assistance in remediating cybersecurity or privacy related incidents to other senior executives and key personnel at the company.

For Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and Chief Security Officers (CSOs), BlackCloak’s IRaaS marks a pivotal shift in managing cybersecurity threats, especially when an executive’s personal cybersecurity breach becomes the gateway to compromising the corporate environment, their personal reputation, or could impact the company’s brand. This scenario is increasingly common, with cybercriminals targeting high-profile or high access employees as a point of weakness in the security chain.

“By combining cutting-edge technology with the expertise of our Security Operations Center and the Concierge Customer Experience teams, BlackCloak offers a rapid and comprehensive approach to personal incident response,” said Rob Duncan, Vice President of Global Sales at BlackCloak. “BlackCloak IRaaS ensures an organization has the ability to extend their current coverage of Digital Executive Protection on the fly to other key persons within the company who may be suffering a privacy or cybersecurity incident.”

Dr. Chris Pierson, CEO of BlackCloak, emphasizes the critical need for such services in today’s digital landscape: “In an era where cyber threats are evolving at an unprecedented pace, it’s essential for organizations to be enabled to respond quickly when their key employees have issues outside the work environment. Our Incident Response as a Service is not just a solution—it’s a strategic advantage. With IRaaS, we’re offering peace of mind to businesses, ensuring that they can immediately mitigate cyber and privacy incidents targeting their employees beyond the executive team. Our team of experts is on standby, ready to respond.”

BlackCloak IRaaS is set to redefine how companies approach personal cybersecurity and privacy events that could have material impact on their organization. The service includes immediate incident response, assistance with remediation, post-incident analysis, and tailored recommendations for strengthening security postures for those affected in their personal lives.

About BlackCloak

BlackCloak Media Contact:

Mike Sias

[email protected]

Bank Info Security: Alert: Hackers Hit High-Risk Individuals' Personal Accounts

March 27, 2024/in News & Media/by Rachel Quinn

Calling all high-risk individuals: Ensure you’re taking adequate steps to secure your personal devices and accounts against hacking, tampering and other types of interference.

Britain’s National Cyber Security Center is warning that criminals and nation-state hacking groups, confronted with well-managed corporate cybersecurity defenses, have turned their sights to individual personal devices and accounts.

Read the full article here.

Daily Mail: Scammers are writing fake obituaries to make ad revenue - here's how to make sure you don't get targeted

March 26, 2024/in News & Media/by Rachel Quinn

‘Obituary pirating’ is a twist on an old scam from the early noughties
Cybercriminals use AI to generate fake obituaries about trending names
Experts explain what to do if you are targeted by cruel con

Experts are sounding the alarm over a rise in AI-generated obituaries mysteriously appearing online.

In one disturbing ‘obituary pirate’ case, an LA Times reporter read her own obituary and watched a video whereby ‘news anchors’ discussed her death.

Fraudsters are able to make money off ad revenue generated through the fake article and specifically target people with high-traffic searchable names, experts say.

Read the full article here.

USA Today: An LA reporter read her own obituary. She's just one victim of a broader death hoax scam

March 22, 2024/in /by Rachel Quinn

Do some checking to make sure an online obituary is legitimate and the person actually died – or that it’s not a fake obituary for you.

That’s because scammers are using AI-generated fake obituaries to try to get at lucrative ad revenue in a new scheme reported by CNN.

A Los Angeles Times reporter, Deborah Vankin, read her own obituary and watched “news anchors” in an accompanying video discuss her untimely death, CNN reported.

“Without her knowledge, Vankin had become the latest victim of scammers who fabricate death announcements to get clicks and ad revenue,” the CNN story said. “Some of the so-called ‘obituary pirates’ are turning to AI to create death announcements padded with key words for Google searches, spreading alarm and misinformation, experts said.”

Read the full article here.

PROTECT YOUR DIGITAL LIFE™