Join us for an insightful episode of a new Brand Story with BlackCloak, as CEO Chris Pierson takes a closer look at risks for high-net-worth individuals in crypto investments to unveil the complex landscape of digital threats facing venture capitalists and cryptocurrency investors, emphasizing the need for bespoke cybersecurity solutions.
In the recent installment of Brand Stories with BlackCloak, co-hosts Marco Ciappelli and Sean take a journey into the escalating issue of cyber threats facing venture capitalists, private equity professionals, and affluent individuals invested in cryptocurrency. This episode stands out for its insightful analysis into how cybercriminals are increasingly targeting high-net-worth individuals, employing sophisticated strategies to breach their privacy and security and to steal their cryptocurrency. The discussion, enriched by the expertise of Chris Pierson, CEO and founder of BlackCloak, along with in-depth research from his team, highlights the imperative for tailored cybersecurity solutions in an era where financial investments intersect with digital vulnerability.
The conversation begins with an overview of the emerging trend where cybercriminals meticulously target individuals at the apex of financial and technological investments. Pierson’s input paints a detailed picture of the advanced tactics these nefarious actors use, ranging from social engineering to advanced phishing and hacking methods. These tactics are not random; they are precisely aimed at exploiting the unique lifestyles and the consequent vulnerabilities of high-net-worth individuals, making the need for customized cybersecurity measures more critical than ever.
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to discussing the necessity of concierge-style cybersecurity services. Pierson emphasizes that BlackCloak’s approach is far from generic; it offers bespoke protection plans that cater to the individual’s specific lifestyle and risk profile. This personalized approach is crucial, as the assets and digital footprints of high-net-worth individuals are far from ordinary and require specialized protection strategies.
Pierson further outlines essential mitigating controls and risk reduction tactics that are pivotal in safeguarding against cyber-attacks. The focus here is on creating a multi-layered defense system that protects personal devices, secures network connections, and minimizes vulnerabilities related to one's digital presence. This strategy is not only about defending against current threats but also about being agile enough to adapt to new risks as they emerge.
A key insight from the discussion is BlackCloak’s proactive stance in anticipating future cybersecurity challenges. The cyber threat landscape is dynamic, with criminals continuously innovating to find new ways to breach defenses. BlackCloak’s methodology is centered on staying ahead of these threats through anticipation and preparation, ensuring their clients remain protected against both current and future vulnerabilities.
This episode goes beyond traditional cybersecurity discussions, focusing on the nuanced challenges faced by individuals whose financial success makes them prime targets for cybercriminals. It underscores the importance of investing in advanced, personalized cybersecurity solutions in today’s digital age. For venture capitalists, private equity professionals, and cryptocurrency investors, the message is clear: sophisticated, tailored cybersecurity and privacy protection is not an option but a necessity.
The insights provided in this episode of Brand Stories with BlackCloak offer a comprehensive look into the complexities of protecting high-net-worth individuals in the digital realm. It serves as a crucial resource for anyone involved in high-stakes investment sectors, highlighting the need for vigilance, sophisticated security measures, and a proactive approach to cybersecurity in the face of evolving threats.
Note: This story contains promotional content. Learn more: https://www.itspmagazine.com/their-infosec-story
Guest: Chris Pierson, Founder and CEO of BlackCloak [@BlackCloakCyber]
On Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/drchristopherpierson/
On Twitter | https://twitter.com/drchrispierson
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BlackCloak Exposes a Surge in Cyber Attacks Targeting Crypto-Invested Venture Capital and Private Equity Firms | A BlackCloak Brand Story with Chris Pierson
Please note that this transcript was created using AI technology and may contain inaccuracies or deviations from the original audio file. The transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original recording, as errors may exist. At this time, we provide it “as it is,” and we hope it can be helpful for our audience.
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[00:00:00] Chris Pierson: Marco.
[00:00:01] Sean Martin: Sean. I, uh, I was checking out, uh, my wallet the other day.
[00:00:09] Marco Ciappelli: Your wallet? My wallet. Yeah, the real one or the virtual wallet?
[00:00:15] Sean Martin: My virtual wallet.
[00:00:17] Marco Ciappelli: Mine are both empty, so it doesn't matter.
[00:00:19] Sean Martin: And mine was too, which is the sad part.
[00:00:23] Marco Ciappelli: Wait, was it full before and then was empty? Because mine was just empty from the beginning.
I had
[00:00:29] Sean Martin: tons of coins in there. And, uh, yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about.
[00:00:36] Marco Ciappelli: Coin? A heavy one? You know, the one up in the air. We
[00:00:41] Sean Martin: don't know. The one in the air. There are many, many different coins, and I'm not talking about the quarter or the half penny. But, uh, no, I think the sad reality is that, of course, coins, especially recently, a lot of coins have risen in value.
And, uh, people, people like money, virtual or otherwise, if they can get their hands on it. And. They, uh, they've, I think they've figured out a way to, to understand or learn who has coin, where they have it and, uh, target those folks through many different ways. And it turns out our good friend, Chris Pearson from Black Cloak.
Chris, good to, good to have you on.
[00:01:27] Chris Pierson: Great to be here.
[00:01:29] Sean Martin: Yeah, patient. We were, I know I
[00:01:30] Chris Pierson: couldn't
[00:01:33] Marco Ciappelli: do it.
[00:01:36] Sean Martin: I can barely do it. No, I'm joking. But the, uh, Chris and his team. I'm going to talk over you for a minute, Chris, uh, continue to look at the world of, uh, threats targeting individuals, uh, specifically executives and high net worth folks and private equity and venture capital investors.
And you name it too. If somebody has money, guess what? Somebody wants a chunk of their cash somehow, some way, some do it through. Normal means like, Hey, I have an idea. Can I pitch you the, can I pitch you this idea? You give me some money and hopefully we'll make some more money together. Others go around the backside and say they have money.
I'm going to figure out a way to grab it. And, uh, Chris and his team have done a lot of research on this front, uh, and have uncovered some things that I think are really interesting. So I'm, I'm excited to get into this, Chris. Um, Yeah, before we do though, I know you've been on the show a number of times, uh, Marco did a post on LinkedIn.
I don't know how many years ago we, we met you, uh, when you had this great idea of, of Black Cloak and we're like, this is so cool. We're so excited for you to get this going and it, and it's tremendous to see the growth. Um, for those that haven't, Heard from you at, on the show, or I haven't met you yet out on the circuit, if you will, uh, a few words about you and, and the broader picture of what you're doing with, with Black Cloak.
[00:03:04] Chris Pierson: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. It's always good to be back here with you guys, uh, both Marco and Sean, both of you. Um, well, you know, I'm Chris Pearson. I'm a CEO, founder of Black Cloak. Uh, Black Cloak is digital executive protection. We protect corporate executives, C suite, board members, ELT teams. It could be 1, 10, 50, it could be 300 individuals at companies.
We protect them in their personal lives, the area where the CISO doesn't want to go for privacy and legal reasons, where they definitely don't want to go from a pain point perspective, and we go in and protect that, which is outside the four walls of the castle. We protect their personal lives, their family's personal lives.
Personal devices, privacy, device protection, the home protection, and then quite honestly, the concierge. We also do that same thing for high net worth, ultra high net worth individuals. So it's a same population because they're both going to be really highly exposed, high profile individuals. Um, but you know, that side gets really, really fun as well.
You know, celebrity, politician, rock star, uh, folks that are just, you know, phenomenal, phenomenal wealth and all the rest. And so they are, um, A lot of times they'll have physical protection, um, they'll have kidnapping ransom protection and all the rest. Um, but on the cyber front, uh, they are left, uh, you know, left to defend themselves with, you know, 999 point solutions, uh, that really don't do the job for their crazy life and their lives are crazy.
So love doing that, you know, former CISO, former chief privacy officer, and, but, you know, 10 years in as a special government employee into the, uh, into DHS, but I mean, you know, really it's all of that that's informed us. And so what we're doing, where we want it to go and kind of solving the pains of the past for me.
I
[00:04:43] Sean Martin: love it. And we've had a few discussions where we look at this from the ELT, the executive perspective. So we've talked about the idea that companies provide protections against ransom, provide healthcare protection, provide, uh, uh, yeah, other, yeah. Other types of. Protection. I can't remember all the ones we talked about, but when we start looking at rock stars who have a lot of money, they want to invest that money.
They become an investor. They're not sitting behind a corporate.
Firewall, right?
No, they probably not even, and we'll talk about the, the VC firms and those folks as well, but I'm just thinking like a rockstar or some, uh, an actor or whatever, they put their money into something that they don't have the backing of a firm.
Whether it be a VC firm or something else. So they're, they really are sitting out there, but it's not hard to figure out that they've invested in something.
[00:05:49] Chris Pierson: No, not at all. And, and, uh, you know, for a lot of, uh, a lot of, I mean, number one, if it's going to be in their own name or in through some separate.
Family office construct that they have, they advertise it. It's known and ultimately SEC documents get out there. So, you know, they're an investor, you know what they're doing. Um, I mean, they have all sorts of weird footprints. I mean, they have full blown studios in their homes, the intellectual property that's there on personal quote unquote devices, uh, they're owned by them is just astonishing.
I mean, their attack surface is so massive, so massive. Uh, but also in the area of. And some, some great, some actors are like amazingly wonderful. They have VC firms, they have some great investments, uh, action culture being one of them, uh, right. They, they, their, their VC firms are quite, uh, you know, have a laundry list of, uh, quite amazing investments and opportunities.
[00:06:39] Marco Ciappelli: You know, there, there isn't a psychology aspect on this, right. I mean, we, we talk a lot of, since the beginning, like it's. There's the psychology of the bringing the privacy and protection in their home. We always talk about, you know, the CISO in the corporate doesn't want to eventually deal with that. I mean, it could, but it's inviting their privacy.
So there's that element of privacy they want to, they want to retain if they work for a big company, if they are not working in a big company, but you know, there is a lot of bleeding in between one and the other. And then there is the psychology of being independent. Like in that case, and maybe posting that they bought, I don't know, cryptocurrency and they posted on Instagram.
And so, uh, you know, that's pretty public right there. So that psychology behind it, you guys look into, into that as well, right?
[00:07:33] Chris Pierson: We do. Um, I mean, think about it this way is that, you know, and especially with what the threat intelligence team here at Black Cloak has uncovered, uh, uh, in just released today, kind of, uh, uh, out on the wires is, The fact of the matter is, is that if you are investing in something else and you're getting shares, options, RSUs for it, those are going to be things that are publicly listed.
If you're a VC, you're going to be putting up the logos on your website. Um, once the investment is done, usually you have, you know, somewhere in that 30 to 90 day period of time to go ahead and post it. And so your logo, you're putting up the logo for that investment. Might be a crypto, might be a wallet, might be a whatever, but you're putting up the logo, you're telling your story and you're doing it, number one, to like, make sure people know what you're doing, make sure people see that your firm is active, that you're active, know your expertise, but also so that other future folks might know who to call if they want to get investment in the financial area, in the crypto area, in the mining area, whatever it is.
Um, and so that becomes something that is. Extraordinarily public for you, the partner, the principal at the VC firm or private equity firm. And it becomes something that is public and notarized, uh, for the actual firm itself, right? It's one of the big tiles, one of the big tombstones that goes up on the site.
Hey, we invent or we invested in Acme coin. We invested in Acme wallet. You know, this is the type of firm that we are because we won the deal. We won the relationship. We won the trust and we're able to help. And, you know, potentially, right. Their imputed success is also because of. Us and our wisdom, helping the founders achieve greater things.
And so quite honestly, in terms of VC firms, PE firms, and the like, uh, even private investors, they want to shout from the mountaintops as to what their investments are, what they're doing, um, attracting more LPs that are going to write, give more money into the firm. Um, and then you have a bigger fund to go ahead and invest with.
[00:09:26] Sean Martin: So these, these folks, uh, their job is to invest and some of them, it's also to act or play guitar or something else, right? Paint paintings. So they have a job, an original job, some of them, that then turned into an investor job. The job isn't cyber security, right? Your job is to not understand everywhere they're exposed, both physically from Uh, from their home perspective, digitally from, from their device perspective, and then I'll say mentally from a sociological perspective, social engineering perspective.
So can you talk to me about some of those, maybe those are the three things, maybe there's something else as well, but those areas where they either don't understand or maybe don't have an idea of how to. How to protect themselves in those areas.
[00:10:27] Chris Pierson: Yeah. So it's, I mean, it's interesting whether you're a venture capitalist, the VC, or someone that's in private equity, if you're someone that's investing in, in that population, You essentially are going to have one cell phone, one tablet, and one computer.
That's it. Your goal is to have as many people know about you as possible. So your firm, you know, AcmeBC. com, your firm email is known. It's up on the site. In fact, your cell phone is many times known because you handed it, used to hand it out on business cards. You bump the phones now, whatever. You want to get what's called deal flow.
You want people saying, Hey, wow. That guy, you know, Chris, that guy, Larry, that guy, you know, that person, uh, Jennifer, whatever, they are the, they are the movers and shakers in this area. You should meet them. You should introduce yourself to them. Let me help get you connected. And so that information is out there, but your personal life is inextricably intertwined with your corporate life.
One device, one cell, one tablet, one computer. You're not double duting it. You have one. Yeah. You might have a Gmail address too, but essentially you got one number and all the rest. And so what that becomes is a. As it relates to the firm and the firm computer, it's protected. Your cell phone, tablet aren't necessarily going to be protected.
Your home network's not protected where you're, you're working out of home as well as coffee shops, quite honestly. And your personal email is not protected as well. And of course that's the keys of the kingdom for your crypto accounts, wallet accounts, all the rest. And so if you're in the position of being a VC, a PE, You have that footprint where your personal life and your work life are just totally combined.
There is no separating it and things that you might invest in, uh, in terms of your firm and you invest in, you oftentimes use, right? If you're an investor in Under Armour, guess what? You're not walking into the board meeting, wearing a bunch of Nike stuff. Uh, right. You're wearing Under Armour stuff. Uh, if you're an investor in CrowdStrike, guess what?
Your VC firm is all going to be using CrowdStrike. Whatever you had before, you're ripping it out. You just gave them 50 million, 200 million of fuel growth. You are going to be eating that all up and you're going to be going full in. When VC firms invest and PE firms invest, they go full tilt on whatever it is.
If they're, right, if they're any good. If they're not, it's. Kind of a different story, but right. They want to go full in. They put in their LPs, their limited partners, their investors, money. From the funds into that company. So they want to use it as it relates to like cryptocurrency and wallets and things like that.
And things in the financial sector, they also use that too. They eat their own dog food. They invest it. They use it.
[00:13:12] Marco Ciappelli: So the methodology here, it's, I mean, I feel like it's a little bit different, but we've talked about. That's what they do, right? They, they go lateral, they go to the family, they, they go on the dark web, they cross reference the information that are public, as you say, and then, then what?
[00:13:32] Chris Pierson: Yeah, so I mean, here's the thing that the, the Black Cloak Threatened team, uh, uh, uh, uncovered. We've uncovered an alarming trend, an alarming escalation in venture capital firms, venture capital individuals, private equity firms, private equity individuals, being targeted. Because of the investments they've made in crypto, in wallets and things of the same sort of the same elk, they are being targeted in their personal lives.
So we'll just say, you know, Coinbase favorite, you know, popular wallet of, of many. It's public, which VC firms and they call it 10 VC firms invested in Coinbase. Well, it's public that it's those 10 firms. And it's public that there are two, three people that are part of the deals. You know, one partner that might be on the board and you have one or two observers.
It's public of who they are. It's public of information as to who they are, and people are deducing, cyber criminals are now deducing, and now specifically sniper targeting those individuals and those firms for cryptocurrency scams, for attacks into their wallets, for attacks into their crypto holdings, because they know more likely than not which ones they have, what wallets they have, and what things from a crypto perspective they're involved in.
They also have it from the fireside chats. They have it from the webinars. They have it from the different town hall meetings. They do all that stuff, especially in COVID is all digital has all been. Broadcast everywhere. And they are finally, finally targeting them and they're winning. That's the other cool thing.
They're actually winning super smart audience, robust audience. They're winning. How are they doing it, Marco? Well, some of the same tactics. Number one, they've identified the audience specifically. They didn't fight the audience because of who's invested in what number two. They're grabbing in data broker information.
So about 200 data brokers in the U. S. The 411. com, Spokio, ZivaSearch, all the rest. They're grabbing in, they're making sure they have the right cell phone number, and they're grabbing in that personal gmail address, yahoo address, whatever it is. They're grabbing in that personal email address, and they're also doing the same for the other family members.
Doing the same for the other family. Maybe Larry won't click on the Crypto thing saying, Hey, your wallet is, uh, uh, key is expired. Go ahead and click here to re enable maybe he or she, the person that's working at the VC room in their personal life, maybe they won't go ahead and do that, but what about the spouse or significant other or the husband or the wife?
What about them? Are they at that same level of education and training by which they are not doing it? Perhaps not. And if they are not, and they get access, right, reset the password, all the rest they're getting access. That's what we're seeing. So we're seeing data broker information leading to the intelligence that is needed to launch the attack.
The other cool thing is a lot of this is happening because people of this ilk, they have dual factor turned on, but most of them have it turned on via SMS text messages. So they have it turned on via Verizon, AT& T, T Mobile, Sprint, have it turned on via the telcos. And as a result of the data broker information and deep web, dark web information, right, they have already have their email address.
They have their commonly used passwords. They also now have that phone number. Then they know which carrier it's on. They're able to go ahead and use that limited information from breaches to go ahead and convince them to do a SIM card swap or to just log in. Cause oftentimes it's the same username and password they're using.
That's already been breached, but now the SMS code goes to their phone, the bad guy phone, as opposed to the good guys. And they're able to divert that, that, that text away from them. They're able to then log in and then go ahead and ladder the funds into a number of different other wallets and, and all the sorts.
Um, it is a great attack. It's a streamlined attack and it's one that's born out of data that already exists. Already is present, is already leaked. And you know, that's the key part. You know, that these people are in that wallet, in that cryptocurrency because of their investments. It's really, really an elegant attack.
And it's one, quite honestly, that's. Working. It's actually working really, really well, which is what, you know, thank goodness, our intelligence team, but really one of the cool things that they've been able to spot. And we've seen a marked increase in that this year.
[00:17:32] Sean Martin: When you, when you say work really well, um, depends on what, I guess, different, different Criminal groups want to accomplish, but do they go in and wipe out the wallet?
Do they grab a little bit so it's undetected? Um, what, what kind of stories are you hearing? What was it? I think it was the research. And then I think obviously you don't want to name any names, but any, uh, any stories that you can say or share.
[00:18:05] Chris Pierson: We've had some of the biggest firms, the most prolific investors that you can think of in this space have money taken, have money taken out of their wallets and transferred and all the rest.
Um, we've actually seen small amounts, you know, literally small amounts. I mean, crypto is now, I think it was, uh, uh, Bitcoin was up to like 68, 000 yesterday. Um, so new record high. Um, but you know, we've seen small amounts in the, uh, uh, under 100, 000 up to like 300, 000, I'll call that kind of small amounts in terms of equivalency, um, into millions of dollars actually transferred.
Um, now in terms of their total net, not necessarily going to impact them, but still millions, um, you know, there is, has been a little bit of like, um, uh, what do you call it? Maybe gating or speed bumping on things. Making sure that it's little amounts that go out. So there's not a big rush of a, no, we need to do a phone call verification back in.
Once again, if the SIM card or the phone is ported, it's going to go to the bad guy. Um, but, um, we have seen people be really cautious about this, but it is a really, really sophisticated attack because you just can't run through a normal script. This has to be done very, very carefully, but you're almost assured of getting someone that actually has exactly what you want, how you'd want it stored, and in dollar amounts that are better than, quite honestly, some ransoms that are going on and better than knocking over some companies.
[00:19:25] Sean Martin: And these folks quickly, Marco, these folks are, I mean, they're deep into some heavy duty activities like MNAs and investments and IPOs and all these different things that are, I'll just say at high stress, right? So the last thing they're focused on that transaction, whatever the pitch they're hearing or whatever it is, that's immediate, yes, they care about their wallet, but it's easy to get.
Distracted.
[00:19:57] Chris Pierson: It is. I mean, it's, uh, it's easy to get distracted. It's super easy to get distracted. Very, very, very, uh, uh, super easy to get distracted. Speed matters a lot for them. And so sometimes there's a quick click, the quick this, the quick phone call that might come in from somebody pretending to be from wallet.
We've actually had that happen to the VCs. They get the phone call and they know enough information about the wallet because they've already logged in, uh, that they're able to have some, some type of confidence or trust in their scam or scheme. Um, so there's a lot there.
[00:20:28] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah. I mean, I've talked so much about social engineering.
I've talked to, with you, we'll talk about stuff that they are triggered and calculated exactly when. You're gonna get the, the one about, uh, buying something online because it's Christmas and you're late, or something happening in somebody's life. It's like, there's always that element in social engineering of urgency, fear.
Something that make a trick that doesn't make you think. And the reason why I'm saying this is because as Sean mentioned, these people don't want to think about this. I mean, they, you know, they're busy. And, uh, and so you can have this conversation with us. We can share it with a ton of people. Maybe some of them are going to look at this, but they're going to be like, yeah, but this is great.
But what am I going to do now? I'm not going to be the one worrying about this. So they need to outsource these. So what do you guys do for them?
[00:21:31] Chris Pierson: Yeah. I mean, so in these, in these cases, I mean, the, the things that really are important are this number one, you had to limit the attack surface, shrink that down.
It makes them a harder target to hit. Now it's kind of antithetical to their business because they want to be reached, they want to have Eve called, all the rest. So what we'll do is actually be able to limit that data broker information down for their family and for other information that might enable some type of scam to have a better chance of happening.
Second, in terms of DeepWeb, DarkWeb, I mean, really grabbing their passwords, showing them and telling them that their passwords are out there, which ones they are, and doing the threat intel risk assessment on that. So they know whether or not they need to change their crypto passwords, whatever it is, the wallet, crypto, doesn't matter, but whether they need to change that, super important, you know, to make sure that we're protecting our security operation center.
It's not, you know, not just the endpoint, but it's the whole security operation center, protecting them, their devices, all their families devices. So you don't have any malware on there. Um, and then making sure that they're, uh, uh, making sure that their phones are hardened, there are a number of different selections that can be done at the carriers to go ahead and prevent porting and SIM card swapping, making sure those are enabled.
Finally, getting them off of SMS text based, uh, uh, multi factor authentication. Um, this is one of those areas where you absolutely 100 percent want a, either a. Um, uh, application on your phone. So you have a software, uh, uh, enabled authenticator, you know, Google, Microsoft, AuthA, whatever, it doesn't matter, um, where you have an authenticator or you have something that's actually a hardware token, hardware key, like a YubiKey, like a Google Titan key, um, any one of those.
Um, of course, you know, hard storage or cold storage versus the hot and warm storage. I mean, that also gets into a separate layer and that's really going to be dependent upon what the actual individual wants themselves. But once again, removing from, in this case, probably removing from, well making sure dual factor is on, but removing it from a phone based, SMS based, uh, network, that's gonna be the number one thing to do if you said do, do one thing and one thing only, it's gonna be getting them on a, a software based authenticator at the very least.
Yes, hardware based, people will write in and email you, no, it's gotta be hardware based. We want to, we want to get them up to the, we want to get them up to 95 percent from SMS texting area of, uh, you know, maybe 70 percent cyber secure. Want to get them up to the 85, 90, 95 area. Yeah. You know, a hardware token, we'll get them into the 99 or something.
We want to, we want to just get them in the right direction. Um, and get them moving down that path.
[00:23:56] Sean Martin: Well, talk to me about this, Chris, because it's one, one thing to recognize and kudos to you and the team for recognizing this trend and, and, and the impact it's having on this community. It's another to understand.
where the exposure is, right? How it's, how it's happening. It's another to understand what some of the mitigating controls are or risk reduction areas are to reduce exposure and, and the ability for them to succeed, the bad actors to succeed. And then it's another to actually do it. So you mentioned a few things, right?
Get hard on the phone. Uh, from SMS to other forms of two effect, get set up multiple email accounts. So you're not using the same email for the important stuff like banking and wallets that you use for, uh, you're logging into Tik TOK or whatever it is.
[00:24:47] Chris Pierson: Uh, Sean, you can just keep those on your AOL.
[00:24:50] Sean Martin: You hit, you know, them all, you know, um, so talk to me about that because again, we, we've mentioned a couple of times that this isn't what they want to do.
These folks want to do their deals. Yeah. Um, They need your help to get them that last mile, right? Because even if they did all that other stuff, it's, it's that final last mile of getting it all in place. That that's a real bear.
[00:25:13] Chris Pierson: It's sort of like, uh, um, you know, it's like, uh, every single person has a, like, uh, a to do list at home, right?
Um, uh, uh, yeah, we're going to paint this wall. We're going to, you know, fix this room up. We're going to do this. We're going to do that, whatever. At some point in time, the list just gets like way too long. And then you like pretend it doesn't exist. Yeah, we all have them. Um, Fact of the matter is that, look, I mean, the reason why we're successful, the reason why our members, our customers, our clients are successful is we do it with them and for them.
And with them is super important. We don't want to ever have access, ever have control, ever have the ability to access or see that information. What we want to do is do it with them and for them. So we want to effectuate the end result. Staying there as a partner with them as part of our relationship. I always be like, Oh, you know, what are you a software company?
Are you a tech service company? Are you a tech enabled service? Are you this? You're mobile. Yeah. Or, you know, tech enabled service, I guess, you know, if you want to classically define it as that, but at the end of the day, we're a relationship company, anything cybersecurity and privacy related, we're going to help you achieve the results.
We'll run next to you. We'll help you do this setup. So help you lift the weights. We'll help you paint the walls. We'll do all this stuff to help you actually get there. And in many cases we can do it on your behalf. But sometimes, right, like, especially crypto, we're not going to take over your crypto account, we'll help you get there to better cybersecurity.
And it's that extra oomph. It's like a, uh, you know, personal trainer. It's like a concierge medical doctor. It's like that, that wonderful company that helps you trim your palm trees in, in Naples, uh, markup. Right. It's like, you know how to do it. Probably a really bad idea to climb the hundred foot palm tree.
You're going to break your neck. Not a good idea. We do the stuff that is hard, that people don't want to do with them and for them.
[00:26:51] Marco Ciappelli: You know, going back to that beautiful day in Santa Monica, when you told us about this, uh, over a drink, uh, you know, the word that really got me was concierge and you, and I was like, is he going to say it?
Is he going to say it? I'm going to say it for you. No, you did, because that's, that's the key. It's, it's a concierge service. So if people are used to this kind of concierge at the hotel, when you travel, when you get a car, whatever it is, this is what it is. It's personal, it's reliable, and it's not intrusive.
And you develop this relationship to do what works for them. You're not just one fit at all. You, you go in and you're like, okay, what do you need? You're the guy, right? You don't, you don't want to fix the home yourself. Call the guy.
[00:27:40] Chris Pierson: It is, you know, you know, it's interesting. It's one of the things that a lot of early on, I mean, there's, there's a lot of hard work to get into a scalable, uh, you know, to run a scalable business that is concierge, that is bespoke.
It's like going to the tailor and getting the perfect dress, getting the perfect suit, every single thing just fits. It's all tailored right to your body, right at that moment in time. And that's what we do. It. We do it with every single person and the husband and the wife, they're sometimes massively different.
The kids, sometimes they're massively different. Every single person. Is bespoke concierge cybersecurity and privacy protection for them using our platform, but every single thing of what they get is TAN tailored for them. And we just figured out a way to do it at scale. Um, and, and with, uh, with, uh, great, great kind of metrics, so to speak.
So, but, uh,
[00:28:31] Sean Martin: but also with style, that's where your research team comes into. Oh my gosh. Right.
[00:28:36] Chris Pierson: This theme is awesome. Yeah,
[00:28:37] Sean Martin: absolutely. The style. They, they know what the trends are. They know what to watch out. What do you want to dress in? For that event, you want to be prepared. You want to, you don't want to wear something five years old.
That's not going to hold up. You got to be, got to
[00:28:50] Chris Pierson: be trendy. It's um, it's actually, um, I mean, we literally, we literally morph and change what we are doing almost month by month in terms of when we spot something, we adapt, we include it. When Apple, when windows, when changes are made on Facebook, whatever.
We're responding to that. Where's the new privacy menu? Where's the new privacy selection? How do we think about this? How do we go ahead and tackle this? Um, you know, when threats and vulnerabilities come out, you know, XYZ firewall, and we're like, wow, we know that we have 2000 of our clients homes that are using that type of device.
How do we actually think about this differently, folks? Like, Literally, we're there to think for them so they don't have to. And we're there to take care of it for them so they don't have to. But also when they want us, when they need us, we will hand tailor everything right for them. That's what they love.
That's what they love.
[00:29:39] Marco Ciappelli: And you know, we have many conversation with you. Every time you discover something, you come, we have a new chapter of the brand story with the Black Cloak and you, and sometimes you bring other friends. We had fantastic conversation. I want to invite actually. People to check at the black cloak direct directory on ITSP magazine because there is this story.
There is car stories. There is many more. We talk about privacy and it's a great way to discover what you guys do and the way you do it. And I'm going to say Sean, check your wallet again because it may be even more empty now.
[00:30:21] Sean Martin: Yeah, I think, uh, I think I'll, I'll, I'll, uh, I'll look to Chris to help me, uh, keep my wallet in check.
[00:30:28] Chris Pierson: I'll help you out. We'll make sure you keep all the coin in there.
[00:30:30] Sean Martin: I appreciate that. Appreciate that. Well, Chris, it's always a pleasure, my friend, and, uh, we, we look forward to and enjoy these conversations. They're always informative and, and, uh, and educational. And Certainly meaningful for, for those on the other side of, of these threats that you're, you're seeing.
And, uh, so hopefully, hopefully folks understand, especially this particular community, VCs and PEs and, and, uh, another high net worth that the rockstar, that rockstar, we want to protect their wallets too. Absolutely. We want them to be able to buy that new guitar.
[00:31:12] Chris Pierson: They need it. They need it.
[00:31:15] Sean Martin: All right, Chris, well.
Thanks so much and uh, thanks everybody for listening and watching and uh, we'll see you on the next episode and Chris, hopefully we'll see you in person.
[00:31:25] Chris Pierson: You'll see me in RSA and definitely in RSA.
[00:31:27] Sean Martin: Yeah. Yeah. I'll be there for that. Excited for that. So stay tuned, uh, subscribe, follow Black Cloak, connect with Chris and uh, stay cool and protected everybody.
[00:31:40] Chris Pierson: Thanks guys. See ya.
[00:31:41] Marco Ciappelli: Thank you, Chris.