by Annabelle Klosterman, Cybersecurity Reporter, Cyber Defense Magazine
Overwhelming would be an understatement while walking through the 2023 BlackHat USA’s business hall. They featured over 440 of the industry’s leading information security solution providers. However – one stood out among all the others. That is BlackCloak. During an insightful conversation with Chris Pierson, the CEO and Founder, I learned about BlackCloak’s unique offering – digital executive protection for companies. Unlike most cybersecurity solutions that focus on the usual 9am-5pm business hours, BlackCloak extends its security coverage to the often neglected 5pm-9am personal side. The company’s unique approach to cybersecurity, focusing on the personal side of digital lives, has positioned it at the forefront of safeguarding executives, their families, and their valuable data.
A Shifting Landscape of Cybersecurity Challenges
The world of cybersecurity is in constant flux, with cybercriminals continuously refining their tactics to breach the seemingly impenetrable barriers put in place by security professionals. With the advent of sophisticated social engineering techniques, attacks on executives have escalated, targeting the softer entry points represented by their personal digital lives. Conventional security measures, designed to protect corporate networks during business hours, often fall short when it comes to fortifying the extended perimeter of executives’ private lives.
BlackCloak recognizes this shift in the threat landscape and has developed a revolutionary solution to counteract it. While many cybersecurity solutions focus on business hours, BlackCloak provides a comprehensive platform that offers digital executive protection beyond the traditional workday. Partnering with CISOs, security teams, and C-suite executives, the company’s award-winning Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy™ Platform bridges the gap between professional and private digital lives.
Addressing the Vulnerabilities
BlackCloak’s platform addresses vulnerabilities that have been increasingly exploited by cybercriminals. The Ponemon Institute’s report on Understanding the Serious Risks of Executives’ Personal Cybersecurity & Digital Lives underscores the severity of the issue. Cyberattacks against executives can lead to the theft of sensitive financial data, loss of business partners, intellectual property theft, and even improper access to the executive’s home network. The risk is real: criminals are attacking the digital assets and lives of executives and their families. The two most common cyberattacks are doxxing (57% of respondents) and malware infections on personal or family devices (56% of respondents).
Notably, the human element remains a critical attack vector, and executives are often the preferred targets due to their high-profile status. Cybercriminals have shifted their attention from corporate networks to the softer targets of executives’ home networks, where weak passwords and lax security measures are more prevalent. High-profile incidents such as the 2022 data breaches at Twilio and Uber serve as stark reminders of the potential consequences of inadequately securing personal digital assets.
Cybercriminals were able to gain access to sensitive company information at Twilio through a sophisticated social engineering approach that involved phishing texts designed to bypass the two-factor authentication (2FA) they used to protect their system. Similarly, bad actors were able to breach Uber’s systems with a social engineering text attack in 2022. However, it is not enough to defend against social engineering attacks — last year, criminals were able to enter Lastpass’s secure servers by remotely accessing an engineer’s home computer through exploiting a weakness in a third-party software package.
The BlackCloak Solution
BlackCloak has not only identified these vulnerabilities but has also developed a holistic solution to counteract them. They created a service that provides the solution. Digital executive protection from BlackCloak is a powerful, holistic approach to securing the private digital lives and assets of C-Suite executives and other high profile individuals such as board members, senior and executive leadership teams and other key personnel and their families from threats such as cyberattack, impersonation, harassment, and identity theft.
BlackCloak App
BlackCloak’s award-winning Concierge Cybersecurity & Privacy™ Platform combines sleek mobile and desktop applications with white glove concierge service. This unique approach allows executives and their families to maintain privacy and peace of mind, while benefiting from the same level of protection that they would experience inside the traditional perimeter of an organization’s network. The end goal is to provide users with secure, seamless protection that allows for the frictionless transition between private and professional digital lives.
Dr. Chris Pierson, Founder & CEO of BlackCloak, emphasizes the urgency of this paradigm shift in cybersecurity. “Cybercriminals have changed their tactics of attack and are looking outside the castle walls for executives and their families as a means to target them, cause real harm, and penetrate the company through a home network. The emergence of this change has been swift, the calls from CISOs more panicked, and the solution for holistic Digital Executive Protection never more clear. The home is the new battleground for corporate security.” comments Pierson.
The Time Is Now
In a rapidly evolving digital landscape where cyber threats transcend traditional boundaries, BlackCloak’s pioneering approach to cybersecurity offers a beacon of hope. By focusing on the protection of executives’ personal digital lives, the company addresses vulnerabilities that have long been overlooked by conventional security measures. They strive to empower executives to safeguard their families, digital assets, and personal well-being, while ensuring the continuity of secure and seamless professional engagements.
As cybercriminals adapt their tactics, the need for proactive, holistic cybersecurity solutions has never been more critical. BlackCloak’s dedication to securing the private digital lives of executives signifies a pivotal step towards achieving this goal, ensuring that the battleground of corporate security extends into the homes of those who lead organizations into the digital future.
About the Author
Annabelle Klosterman is a Cybersecurity Reporter for Cyber Defense Magazine (CDM) and CDM’s first Women in Cybersecurity scholarship awardee. She is the Technology Manager at First Farmers & Merchants Bank and the Co-Founder/Program Director of the Cyber Community Club. She obtained her Bachelors of Cyber Operations in 2022 and Master’s of Cyber Defense in 2023 at Dakota State University. Her areas of focus are offensive and defensive security, governance, risk and management, security consulting, program management, and cybersecurity training/outreach.
Throughout the years, Annabelle has competed in numerous competitions and placed nationally at the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in 2022 and 2023 and was a national finalist in CyberPatriot in 2019 and 2020. Additionally, she earned 1st place in the 2022 Idaho National Laboratory CyberCore CTF, and Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) CTF in 2021 and 2022. She holds SANS certifications in Cybersecurity Technologies (GFACT), Cloud Security (GCLD), and Incident Handling (GCIH).
Annabelle has spoken on cybersecurity and career topics at various events and organizations including US Cyber Games, RSA Conference, Secure360, Texas Cyber Summit, BSidesSATX, South Dakota InfraGard, Civil Air Patrol, and more. Annabelle’s goal is to be in a position that changes the way people view and handle security, for their protection and safety, and the benefit of everyone. Annabelle can be reached online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabelleklosterman and at her website https://www.annabelleklosterman.com/
