For John Sileo, cybersecurity is personal.
Sileo’s work as a speaker, author and cybersecurity expert stems from his personal experiences as a victim of cybercrime and identity theft. But it’s also personal in that, as he explains in his latest book, “Your Data is Showing,” we all have a personal responsibility to protect ourselves and each other from such crimes.
“I lost everything — my identity, my wealth, and my multi-million-dollar software company — to cybercrime,” Sileo says. “It just about put me in jail. It was one of those life-defining moments where you know this stuff really matters. The information that we handle every day is part of who we are, and it affects your life.”
Since that life-changing event 17 years ago, Sileo has taught himself cybersecurity from “zero” and traveled the country speaking to a wide variety of audiences, appearing on TV shows like 60 Minutes and Good Morning America and authoring four books. One of his next stops: the Manufacturing First Expo & Conference in Green Bay.
Sileo’s Oct. 26 keynote address at Manufacturing First isn’t just for IT types — it will be practical, actionable and, yes, even entertaining.
“[My presentation] will be geared toward people making leadership decisions using a framework called the ‘Blockbuster Cybersecurity Framework’ where I’m literally using blockbuster movies as a way to think through how cybercrime usually happens and how you can improve your storyline,” says Sileo, whose story inspired the 2013 comedy “Identity Thief” starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.
Sileo, who calls Colorado home, says he has relatives who live in DeForest and that he has worked closely with Kimberly-Clark in the past, so he is excited to return to Wisconsin — a place he rarely gets to visit, he says, because he speaks a lot in “conference towns” like Las Vegas and Orlando. He also says he is encouraged by the invitation to speak especially to manufacturers.
“Manufacturers, to this point, haven’t had the level of attack that we’ve seen in hospitals, defense, technology and financial, but it’s coming,” Sileo says. “Now they’re being targeted, but traditionally they were lower on the list — so we have a window of opportunity to do some protection before the breach happens. We have a chance to make a real difference [at Manufacturing First].”
Although manufacturers have been less targeted in cyberattacks, Sileo says they also have the most to lose. Software can be hijacked by foreign adversaries in a way that doesn’t just affect a company’s IT, but its OT as well.
“In manufacturing, you’re literally shutting the business down when that happens,” Sileo says. “That’s very different from the financial world, for example, where there’s backups you can utilize.”
And with COVID rapidly accelerating the blur of the lines between work and personal life, including our technology usage, understanding basic personal cybersecurity is more important than ever, Sileo says.
“There’s a really strong tie between how we protect ourselves personally and how we then expand that into a workplace,” he says. “Letting people know there’s going to be stuff they can implement at home that protects their wealth, that protects their health records, that protects their private, potentially embarrassing documents from being exposed…it doesn’t immediately seem important, but it is absolutely vital to getting the buy-in and the security hygiene people need to bring to the workplace.”
“UN-HACKABLE: Blockbuster Cybersecurity for the Manufacturing Industry” will kick off Manufacturing First Oct. 26 at 8 a.m. at Resch Expo in Green Bay. Sileo’s keynote will be introduced by Mike Schlagenhaufer of Acuity Insurance, this year’s keynote sponsor.
Schlagenhaufer will open the event by discussing the good, bad and ugly of Industry 4.0 and how it affects manufacturers’ security and liability. You can get a preview of his remarks in this issue of IOM. Turn to his “Insight From” feature on page 42 for more.
Presenting sponsor First Business Bank will also participate in the morning session. Senior Vice President Nancy Johnshoy and Vice President Jerimiah Janssen will take the stage to speak briefly on the topic of “The State of the Economy in Manufacturing.”
In addition, the morning session will be leveraged as an opportunity to expose students to the manufacturing world — something that is central to the mission of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance.
“One of the fun features of the event is that, for a portion of the morning, we bring hundreds of high school students to see firsthand the significant number of manufacturers in the region,” says NEWMA Executive Director Ann Franz, who adds that Manufacturing First has become a must-attend event for anyone interested in the industry.
Manufacturing First is expected to be bigger than ever this year, and organizers are excited for the expanded opportunities associated with the move to Resch Expo. This year’s event will feature three breakout sessions with four options each, as well as two lunch speakers.
St. Norbert College, a platinum sponsor of this year’s event, will bring celebrated leadership coach and consultant Steve Jones, the former Kimberly High School football coach who is now a faculty member in SNC’s Center of Exceptional Leadership, to the stage for a lunch session on “How to Grow Greatness.”
Following Jones’ presentation, platinum sponsor Wipfli will present on “Creative Recruitment and Retention Strategies” featuring Joe Girard, a Wipfli partner with more than 25 years of experience guiding clients in the manufacturing industry.
The Wisconsin Technical College System is also a platinum sponsor of the event and will provide expert speakers for the conference breakout sessions.
Breakout sessions will be offered at 10 a.m., 11:15 a.m., and 1:30 p.m. on a variety of topics. Session presenters will include:
• Bradley Ruh, Action Financial Strategies
• Curtis Schroeder and Michelle Rueckl, Consolidated Construction with Joe Bergner, O’Connor Connective
• Anthony Steffek, Davis|Kuelthau, s.c.
• Wendy Diem, Fox Valley Technical College; and Matthew Kelly, Moraine Park Technical College
• John Haase and Annie Eiden, Godfrey & Kahn
• Jason Trombley, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College; and Justin Dekker, Lakeshore Technical College
• Joe Kiedinger, Prophit Co.
• Joseph Kromholz, Dan Johnson and Patrick Fleis, Ryan Kromholz & Manion S.C.
• Anne Flinchum and Steve Lipowski, Ruder Ware
• John Katers and Jess Lambrecht, Richard J. Resch School of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
• Greg Linnemanstons, Weidert Group
• George Bureau, WMEP Manufacturing Solutions
Following the final breakout session, participants are invited to “Power Hour” with the opportunity to win prizes and to tour the exhibit hall, which will feature more than 180 booths. There will also be a cocktail reception with opportunities for networking.
“The last three years have been volatile and challenging, but our region’s manufacturers have maintained their enthusiasm for Manufacturing First and the value it brings to their organizations,” says Brian Rasmussen, publisher of Insight Publications. “We are grateful for the support and very proud to partner with First Business Bank and the NEW Manufacturing Alliance on what has become the largest manufacturing conference in our state.”
