Ep. 24 | Why White-Glove Matters in Personal Cybersecurity

It's becoming more difficult by the year to find good, quality human support. But tailored care from a dedicated team is often what distinguishes superior service from the rest, and you should expect nothing less from your cybersecurity provider. Hear one testimonial that drives home the importance of concierge support in any industry. 

If you're interested in learning more, you can contact BlackCloak here, or visit the BlackCloak website. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to Uncloaked, a podcast series brought to you by Black Cloak, the pioneer in digital executive protection and leader in personal concierge cybersecurity. I'm Dan Vasco, and today we're discussing why white glove concierge service matters, especially when it comes to cybersecurity. Joining me for this talk today is Todd Adams, Digital Executive Protection Advisor here at Black Cloak. Todd, thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Hey Dan, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to tell this story. It talks about blending, you know, that that aspect of life where it's professional and personal comes together and really goes hand in hand with what we do every day here at Black Cloak. So excited to share the story.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah, absolutely. It's it's been a long time coming. Uh, I know you when you uh first brought this to me, I was like, oh wow, this is like a perfect uh analogy to address uh this big gap that exists uh not only in the industry but but really across the board. I mean, it's uh it's a concept that is uh becoming more and more foreign as the years go on. It's there's that running joke now of you can never get a hold of a human on the phone for support. And what we're talking about today is the complete opposite of that. And that's why you know people gravitate to that more personalized, tailored service because they don't receive it most places. Your story, while completely unrelated to cybersecurity, it does drive home the impact that a dedicated team of experts and that instant support can have in one's decision making, but also for their overall peace of mind. So I'm gonna give the floor to you. Can you explain how you connected the dots uh in your personal experience?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, absolutely. And it's really all started about 10 years ago. Uh I was at a desk job, not eating well, not being healthy, and I was like, this is no way to live. I want to get back in shape. So in August of 2015, I signed up for a marathon in October after having been essentially dormant for a few years that maybe wasn't the best plan, and it didn't go well. I really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun, and I signed up for a few more of these races over the next couple of years, but I started developing this knee pain and it just was persistent, it wasn't going away. I felt like I was like running on a nail inside my knee. Like I saw a few doctors, they did a few things, but I really wasn't getting the results I was looking for. Uh I continued to run, having these issues, and all of a sudden my other knees started hurting. So it's just like continuously I'm out there, I'm looking for answers. And so I went and, you know, I started visiting surgeons. Like, hey, they did an MRI. They're like, Yeah, you have no carbs cartilage in your knees, but you're too young, you know, we can't do anything for you right now. And I was frustrated. So, doctor after doctor, I'd walk in, they're like, Well, what are you doing here? You're too young. It's like, oh, my knees are really bad and I wanted to run a marathon. And they pretty much said, get out of here, right? And I hit these roadblocks for years, and I did what anyone else would do when they hit this challenge. I went to Google and I joined this Facebook group for runners who had knee replacement. And so I went in there, I looked around for a while, and I said, Hey, I'm I'm here in Columbus, Ohio. I need to have this thing done. Who do you recommend? And a couple of people came back immediately and said, There's this uh Dr. Keith Barrend out in New Albany at JIS. He's fantastic. I'm like, I'm interested. Let me go talk to him. And so, as I mentioned, I went to these other doctors, and you know, they would say, Uh, you're you're not ready for this, maybe don't do this, but here's a pamphlet. Take a look at it. Call me if you want to do it. Like you decide. And when I went to see Dr. Baron, I walked in, I told him my story. And he's like, No, you're not too young. Because what he had was he had information and he had research, and he showed it to me. He's like, you know, you take a look at this information, take a look at these stats. I'm like, this is really interesting. This is impactful. This isn't just a pamphlet, this is real information. And he said, Before you leave, we also have this program where if you sign up with us, I'm gonna introduce you to my physician's assistant. Here's my scheduler, here's this person. He brings in two or three other people, and I want to make sure this is successful for you. So if you select us, I'm gonna give you a nice machine for post-surgery. We're gonna get you on a shake program full of nutrients before and after, so your body's prepared for it. After surgery, we'll have a meal plan set up for you. You have dedicated access to a physical therapist online, and then you also have a person you can call at any time with any questions. It's just really a wake-lift concierge serve. So it's not just a pamphlet. This is somebody who is, hey, I want you to be successful and we're gonna help you before, during the surgery, and after. You know, thinking about that from uh professional experience, what we're doing at Black Look, right? There are table stakes involved, right? There are hundreds of doctors out there who can do this operation. They can go in there and they can fix my knee. And I think about this in a privacy and cybersecurity aspect. We are a privacy company. We have cybersecurity, and they're the table stakes is privacy, right? There are a lot of companies out there who can reduce your online digital footprint. But what's that next step? What happens if they do that? Because their information is still out there. It's never going to be zero. So that's why I think we have that white glove concierge service. Because if someone comes to you, if they have a problem, we're gonna help you here, but we're gonna also help protect you. You have somebody to call. You know, we're gonna give you tools, we're gonna give you information in order to make a good educated decision. And because privacy security is not something that everybody deals with every day, you have somebody to call. You have that phone number, you have an email, and we will help you.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, no, that's I mean, it it really does correlate very well to what we do here because you know, you mentioned in your experience the before, the during, and the after was covered. And you could feel confident that there was specialized tailored support dedicated to each one of those phases, and it is like that with a lot of privacy protection, where okay, we've got data broker removal covered, which we do here at Black Look. A lot of other companies do that as well, but that's the before. What about during an incident? And then who's there after an incident to actually help empower you and protect, protect you moving forward, set you up for success to hopefully avoid the next time? And that's where the concierge comes into play. It's about that immediate incident response, it's about that walking you through and dealing with somebody directly to take care of that incident should it occur. And then also to, hey, let's let's make sure that you have all of your devices enrolled for this protection. Let's make sure that you've got the best practices that you need.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Even even beyond that, as somebody, you know, you have this medical thing and you go to these doctors and you feel alone, right? You're looking for someone to guide you, you're looking for someone to comfort you, you're looking for someone to take care of you because it's frustrating. If you have this injury or you have this ailment, you're looking for help, right? And we see that all the time through our clients is something happens. They're not comfortable with it, they're not not experts in it. They're looking for help, they're looking for someone to help take care of them. That conscience service is everything. I mean, you can look at numbers and all this other stuff. That's that's table stakes, the data broke removal, the knee surgery, it's table stakes. How are you helping me? How are you making me feel comfortable? How are you guiding me through this process, like you said? That's the most important thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, it really is. Um, knowing that somebody is in your corner and uh also listening to you and taking your specific case in mind, that's where the peace of mind comes in. That's where you actually feel that something's working for you. So, I mean, tell me a little bit about that process, too, for you, how you were feeling throughout. I I imagine that the prep was a lot easier because you were you knew what was coming, you knew what to be prepared for, you had seen the research and read it. Everything was specialized to you, and and the program afterwards was specialized. What did that do for your mindset and your overall recovery?

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah, we talk a lot here about peace of mind. There's a lot of peace of mind. You know, I I I scheduled a surgery, I knew when it was going to happen, I knew that they were putting things in place to take care of me. And so, you know, I had my shakes, I had my plan, I met with the doctor ahead of time. And then, you know, just like you know, here, you know, working on a black cloak, it's we're gonna we're gonna work with you. We're gonna give you a this roadmap to success. We're gonna do all these things in the background. And then when you actually sit down and meet with us, you're gonna feel comfortable, you're gonna have support. And then you you touched on a lot, you know, that post-support, right? We're gonna send you home, Todd. After your knees are done, you're on the ice machine, we're gonna take care of your food, we're gonna do all these things. You have access, you can call me if you have any questions, we'll handle the insurance for you, just like a black look. You know, you come in, we'll do all this prep work for you, we'll start doing all these things in the background. You sit with us, we'll answer your questions, we'll we'll make sure you have all the answers that you need. And then as you go on, as you continue from here, you'll have that as support anytime you need, you can call us, we'll take care of you.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

I'm curious in your conversations, because obviously you talk to both clients who have had incidents, and you also talk to um potential clients a lot. So, in this two-part conversation, the the first part when when discussing with clients who have had an incident and they've seen Black Cloak rise to the occasion, help remediate it for them. I'm curious what what you're hearing from them, what that experience is like that they're telling you about. And then on the flip side, when you're talking to potential clients, how do they react when you kind of lay out this concierge plan and tell them about what we do here?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, it's funny. When I talk to cybersecurity leaders, they understand, they get it, it makes sense, they live in this world, right? So they'll tell me, you know, I was asking them, you know, why are we here? Why are we talking? And they'll say, Well, we had this person, they had this reputation thing, they had this finance thing, and you know, we try and help them, but you know, how much time and money and resources can we dedicate, not only to them, but their family. Like there's a lot of things at stake here. And then meeting with, you know, individuals who have gone through something who are not the experts, who don't understand. Like I said earlier, it it's scary and you don't know the right thing to do. So, you know, one example I always like to share is there are a couple of attorneys who reached out. Uh, you know, I was I was working with them, and the one had an incident, right? They had all their information in a drop box, and that drop box had the same password as their Gmail. Whatever happened on the dark web, that Gmail and that password were exposed. They got into their Gmail, they had all that information, they took that copy in their dropbox, and this is passports, kids' information, uh, financial information, crypto wallet information, like six-figure loss, right? What do you do in that situation? So you're panicked, you're you can't think straight, you're you're just trying to react. So they reach out to black cloak, they sign up, and we guide them through this process, right? Okay, let's make sure this is now secure. Let's make sure the email is set, let's make sure you have a new password in place, make sure you file a police report, take them through this path to help them get back to where they need to be. Are they gonna get everything back? No, it's gone. But now we're gonna set them up for the future. So, you know, attorney in the same office hears a story, reaches out to us, says, Hey, I don't want this to happen to me. How can you help us? And in that case, we're being proactive. We're going through, like, let's take a look at your password. This one's on the dark web. Let's get you stuck with a new password. Let's show you how to use a password vault. Let's put an MFA in place, right? These basics, these building blocks of cybersecurity password or MFA. You know, let's make sure your accounts are secure. Give them some things to think about. Or you have young children as well. Are they on social media? Are you protecting their credit? All these things that we can help not only lay out for you, but you don't have to spend as much time thinking about it because you have experts on your side. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

And that also kind of leads me to the question about your experience. I think a lot of people, because you mentioned it earlier, you know, we're not you're not an expert on knee surgeries. You didn't know what was uh the what the intricate details um of a knee surgery are and and what it what it takes. It's the doctor's job, right? That's why they're the experts. A lot of people out there that we see, you know, when it comes to like the executives themselves or just the high profile individual, uh, a lot of people aren't very cyber aware. They don't have a lot of experience in cybersecurity or or understanding, even sometimes, of those basics, right? And then you think about the the complete package, because a lot of people do end at privacy. They think that's it, like, oh, if we can just get rid of my information that's out there, uh, then we're good. Little do they know that, you know, like you said, it's never zero. But also we're talking about protecting your home network, or how are your personal devices protected? What about travel best practices? Like, do you know about the latest uh threats uh at a destination you're going to? There's so many things that that tie into it that maybe people don't think about. And I'm curious, was it was that kind of a situation that you had too, where you were enlightened to something that you had never considered uh about when it came to your knee surgery and and maybe explain the mindset of of being shown and empowered uh with some of that information, whereas in many other instances you wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

No, that's that's a great point. It's it's that path forward afterwards, it's that comfort level, right? I knew that this event was going to happen. I knew there was gonna be the surgery. And what did it look like afterwards? What's my timeline? And you know, I did both knees separately about six weeks apart. Each one of them was different, so there's different experiences, but I knew like, hey, I'm having this pain here. Is this normal? I can reach out and call. Like, what should I be doing? Is this something of concern? Like, no, this is normal. You know, I obviously had access to physical therapists, so you know, they're able to tell me, why don't you work on this exercise? It's this muscle doing this. Okay, I didn't know that. So work on that muscle. Then, you know, when the next one's done, it's different problems, different sensations. I have somebody I can call walk me through it. And they set up the time and say, Hey, your first 48 hours, they're going to be really hard. And then the three days following that, you're gonna feel better. You're gonna have this tightness, you're gonna have this pain, you're not gonna be doing these things. They gave me that roadmap. Everyone's always a little bit different, just like when it comes to security, right? Everyone's at a different place. You know, it's a roadmap for the future. Like you, you like you suggested earlier. We're not experts in everything. And the people that we are working with, they're business leaders, they're smart, they're capable, they're driving a business, but maybe they're not security aware, and that's okay. That's why, you know, my my security clients, that's why they have a job. That's why we have a job is to help keep everyone safe and protected.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

And I think a lot of people really appreciate with our team here at Black Cloak, the expertise they bring to the table, of course, but the empathy that they do it with on the concierge team and the uh the confidence, they they know how to communicate properly to anyone and everyone. That's really important because I do think it comes down to the communication uh at the end of the day and and how you deal with certain situations. I mean, I just also went through physical therapy for my shoulder, and uh, you know, I was grateful to have a really good uh physical therapist to work with who showed me like how to do these things and and how to incorporate it into my daily lifestyle. Whereas in the past, I have had physical therapists that were much more, they'll just read off the sentence, they'll they'll tell, they'll say, do X, Y, Z and let you be on your way. But there is something different when somebody is like willing to sit down with you and explain this is why, uh, this is how it works, and don't worry, like this is the plan and we're gonna get it taken care of. So just simple things like that can make a world of difference, you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

I I think the key thing there's you know, the layman's term, right? Again, I talked about our clients, they're not security experts. So if I'm talking about MFA and password vaults and you know, EDR and all these things, like what I don't know what that means. When I'm at the doctor and he's like, Oh, it's your right medial menaditis. I'm like, what? He's like the inside of your knee is worn away, it's bone on bone. We're gonna fix this for you. Here's how we're gonna do it. Okay, that's good information. That's something I can relate to. Yeah, just like when we're working with our clients, we're not giving them all these acronyms that security people all know, right? We're saying, hey, we want to help set up your password. We're gonna help lock down this account for you. We're gonna show you how it's not gonna slow you down, it's not gonna impact your day. We're gonna do all the stuff in the background so that your stuff is secure and you can just focus on your job, focus on your family, focus on the task at hand. Same thing. Break it down, make it simple for our clients who are very smart to understand because even people like me, I need you know, a little bit of hand holding all the way through this process.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

For sure. I mean, it's there's so many aspects to cybersecurity, and it's growing every day with new and new threats and new ways to protect yourself. So it's it's impossible to ask of really the vast majority of people to keep up with that when they've got other jobs, they've got other responsibilities, they've got families. Uh, there's just not enough time in the day to keep up with everything. And and so that's why you do look to experts for that information and for that concierge service.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

So and really, it's it's the time. You know, I I saw these doctors, I took a lot of time out of my day. I'm going here, I'm visiting this person, I'm not getting the answers I want. You know, it's like, yeah, we'll do this for you. I had to go do this research, I had to go Google, I had to go to Facebook, I had to find until I got to the right person. But when you find that right person, you know, it makes a world of difference. Yeah, and you know it pretty quickly. You know immediately. When you find that right person, it's like, hey, yeah, we can remove your data broker stuff. Yeah, I can do your knee surgery, but have you thought about this? And here's how I'm gonna help you do it. And here are the people who are gonna help you be successful. So, you know, my experience with Dr. Barron is fantastic, and I really try and set my clients up for success when they join Black Cloak so they have that great experience as well, because they meet with experts on our team who will guide them through and talk to them like they are executives, they're you know, they're busy. And I want them to understand how are we engaging with them, how are we talking to them? How what does their experience feel like when they call in a black cloak? Are they being treated the way that they're used to being treated? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Yep, setting them up for their next marathon.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Cybersecurity is its own marathon. It is like in the top, you said you know there's a running joke, and I was like, Well, that's pretty appropriate because right. Very true.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

That was an unintentional punt, actually. So there we go.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

I caught it, it worked out great.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

So wonderful. Well, Todd, appreciate you sharing your story, and uh, it's really cool, really important, a unique way to drive home this uh extremely vital aspect uh of what we do here at Black Cloak. So thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

No, I appreciate it. It's really that peace of mind. Now I know I can go out, I can run comfortably, and I know that our clients can have that peace of mind and be comfortable living their daily lives, and they're protected.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

You can listen to all episodes of Uncloaked at blackcloak.io slash podcasts or on your platform of choice. And if you're interested in becoming a member or want to learn more about how to protect your digital life, visit us at blackcloak.io. Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on Uncloaked.