Pod Insights Vision Pros Live Podcast Cyber Security & Situational Awareness: Stay Safe with Robert Siciliano About this episode Are you unknowingly making it easy for hackers to ruin your life? In this episode of Vision Pros Live, Robert Siciliano, #1 Amazon bestselling author, Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), former private investigator, and one of America's top cybersecurity keynote speakers, shares the simple steps that put you in the top 10% of the most secure people on the planet. Plus, Robert opens up about his harrowing personal experience at the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and how it shaped his lifelong mission to help people develop real situational awareness, online and in the physical world.
Connect with Robert Siciliano:
🌐 Website: https://protectnowllc.com
🌐 Safr. Me http://Safr. Me: https://safr.me
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsiciliano
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertsiciliano/
Timestamps:
0:00 - Welcome and intro: who is Robert Siciliano?
1:36 - 30+ years in security: why cybercrime is more organized than ever
2:00 - The basics most people skip: digital hygiene 101
3:57 - How to get into the top 10% of secure humans, 3 simple steps
4:01 - Step 1: Use a password manager 6
:47 - Step 2: Never reuse passwords, 300 billion records exposed
7:06 - Step 3: Enable two-factor authentication
7:22 - Jackson's concern: what if your password manager gets hacked?
9:09 - Keep your devices updated: the basics that protect everything
10:43 - The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing: Robert's firsthand experience
16:00 - What surviving that day taught him about situational awareness
17:00 - The lesson for visionaries: pay attention to what's around you
18:16 - Final wisdom: don't worry about it, just do something about it
18:44 - Closing thoughts and how to connect with Robert
#CyberSecurity #VisionProsLive #RobertSiciliano #ProtectNow #DigitalSafety #PasswordManager #SituationalAwareness #IdentityTheft #CyberAwareness
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome into Vision Pros. I have got the Robert Siciliano in the house. This guy is a security buff. As you guys know, I did a pre-show basically highlighting his social proof and his brand and how he's been able to help people see the value that he provides to the market. We talked a little bit about his emotional story from Boston Marathon and the bombing that incident that took place there. I'm going to hope to dive in with him on that as well, but I really see the value of what he provides right there on that home screen of protect now LLC.com. Robert, I'm gonna put him right in the spot. We'd never met before, but welcome into Vision Pros Live.
0:36 Speaker 01 Hey, good day to you. So happy to be here.
0:40 Speaker 00 Awesome. And Vision Pros, again, this is our first chance to meet. I don't know what type of research Roberts had the opportunity to do, but when you've got a brand like Roberts and you're kind of part of the Taylor Swift Club or the LeBron James Club and you're all over the world, he gets a pass for if he hasn't done any research on Vision Pros and Jackson Callum and what I do and how it goes, because he always shows up ready to serve. And that's what I saw in those testimonial videos from people. That's what I saw in his keynote speeches. So Robert, again, thanks for being here, man.
1:09 Speaker 01 Happy to be here. This is great. Thank you so much.
1:12 Speaker 00 Absolutely. So we teach visionaries about how to pursue their vision, how to find their passion, live with purpose, lead with love. And we're always trying to inspire them to, if they want to scale what they're up to, then find great mentors to learn from. So you represent that while you also are obviously somebody who's got a lot of experience in IT and security. Robert, where do you want to start?
1:34 Speaker 01 You know, I have been doing what I do for 30 years professionally. For 40 years, I've been involved in personal protection as it relates to violence prevention and making sure that people are safe, you know, from predators and thieves. And what's occurred over the past 30, 40 years is that criminal hackers are more organized than ever. They treat fraud as a business. And the majority of us, we don't engage in basic 101 digital hygiene. Like, we're not doing what we're supposed to do. Essentially to make the bad guy's job harder. Many of us are using the same passcode across multiple accounts. We're not using password managers.
2:18 Speaker 01 We're not using two factor authentication. We're not locking the doors to our home or having a home security system. Like this is what I see. And as a result, the bad actors, sociopaths, psychopaths, you know, this is, this is who does this, right? Those who the medical community considers antisocial personality disorders, right? Those that don't experience empathy, sympathy, guilt or remorse. These are people that truly have no shame, right? They would just assume see your mom or dad homeless and take all the money out of their bank account. And what we need to do as consumers, as citizens, is do our part to make the bad guy's job harder.
3:01 Speaker 01 And that's by making very small changes in our behavior and our strategies to reduce risk.
3:08 Speaker 00 Dang, I am all ears on this. I live in Ecuador and down here, a sense of security. And I live in a very, very safe community as well, but you can come across scares like this anytime. And in most cases, I would say that someone's just driving FOMO, you know, or driving a sense of fear of the unknown. But in your case, you've been living and breathing this for decades and looking at the realities of it. So what are, what are some light secrets? If you don't mind, or things that we're overlooking as consumers that we can do? You mentioned one, we can make sure that we have different passwords for different accounts. But what else do? And I watched that movie IT with Pierce Brosnan several years ago. I was like, oh gosh, you know, like I, I, okay. That's another level of, of security hacking.
3:53 Speaker 00 So go ahead and continue, Robert. I'm fascinated.
3:55 Speaker 01 So, you know, I tell my audience, it's plain and simple. I can make everybody in the room. Top 10% of secure humans by doing these basic things. 10% top 10%, it's that simple, right? So, right now, as we speak, there are, there has been as many as, some studies show as many as 300 billion of our records exposed. 300 billion, that's names, addresses, phone numbers, usernames, passcodes. And of those 300 billion records, about 15 billion of those records are in fact passcodes. Right? So if you're using the same passcode today that you use five, 10, 15 years ago,
4:39 Speaker 01 there's a really good chance it's on the dark web. And the bad guys today, they don't necessarily hack you. They just log into your accounts because they have your credentials. And once they get inside your email, they essentially own you. So the key to becoming a tougher target, you know, is essentially adopt a password manager. This is the easiest way to go. Do a quick Google search for password manager. You'll find all kinds of articles that talk about the top 10 best password managers for 2026. You'll see how it's easy to download and install one. Some are free, some are a small fee.
5:19 Speaker 01 And truly, less than 10% of the public actually uses a passcode manager, a password manager. So, once you download a password manager, they facilitate the process of essentially helping you to facilitate changing all the passcodes that you have on all your various accounts. So the password manager will generate a different passcode for each account. Uppercase, lowercase, numbers and characters. You don't need to remember those passcodes going forward because the password manager remembers it for you. Similarly, I don't remember any of the phone numbers that I have in my mobile phone. I don't have to because my mobile phone remembers it for me the same way that a password manager remembers your passcodes for you.
6:00 Speaker 01 And from there, now you have a password manager, a different passcode across each account. You train that password manager over days, weeks, months, over the course of a year. And now, every time you want to visit your bank or PayPal or eBay or Amazon, you simply type in AMA, it brings up Amazon, and it goes in and logs in the username and the passcode instantly. And then from there, the next best thing on top of layer of security is two-factor authentication. Okay, that means that when you log in, you get a one-time text message from that particular website with the code to log in on top of your username and your passcode.
6:44 Speaker 01 So between a password manager, changing up your passcodes, never using the same passcode twice, and two-factor authentication enabled for each of your critical accounts, which includes your email, Amazon PayPal, and so forth, now those three things, you are in the top 10% of all secure humans.
7:03 Speaker 00 That's awesome, and it's validating. It's something that I want to dive in a little bit deeper. I don't want to play devil's advocate as much as make sure I just understand some of the questions that some people may have concerns about regarding these systems. And so, one of my fears with, um, one LastPass is a little bit glitchy. And so that's one of the systems out there that I've struggled with and been like, I'd like to adopt this more, but it tends to struggle with multiple passwords and usernames per platform, which oftentimes I have to deal with. But more importantly, when it comes to LastPass, I guess one of my worries, Robert, is what happens if somebody hacks my LastPass? Then they have access to everything.
7:48 Speaker 01 Okay, so, a couple of things. That's a very common concern, right? Everybody asks the same question.
7:54 Speaker 00 Good.
7:55 Speaker 01 It's good. So, LastPass, in fact, has been hacked, maybe two or three times, back, I think, two to three to four years ago. And of course, you know, like any technology company, whose job is security, they learn from their mistakes. And I know that LastPass has learned from their mistakes. And so going forward, LastPass is probably one of the most secure password managers out there, due to the fact that they have experienced certain breaches. Now, even though LastPass had breaches-
8:28 Speaker 00 Makes sense.
8:29 Speaker 01 -I don't know that any of the consumer client information was exposed. So all of the data that they have on you and I, our actual passwords, is encrypted in such a way where they didn't get access to that. From my understanding, that being said, they're not the only password manager in town. There's plenty of others. If you do a quick search.
8:51 Speaker 00 And I wasn't even referring to the breach of their system. I was more so referring to what if somebody just guesses or hacks mine personally?
8:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, so the likelihood of your password manager being hacked on your own device begins with like, are you on a newer device versus an older device? So for example, like I'm on a 2025 Mac with an M4 chip with updated OS, updated browser, you know, a fully encrypted disk, right? Basics like those are all the basics, right? And then from there, I make sure that my OS is updated automatically. My browser is updated automatically. Like if you're on a device like a 2017 Dell laptop running Windows, you know, seven or eight for that matter. If you're not on Windows 11 at this point, you're vulnerable, you know?
9:43 Speaker 01 So updated hardware, updated software, updated browser, updated OS. Generally, you should be pretty good. Like the only way that your OS, your, your, your, your browser would be compromised is if it's older, outdated, antiquated. You know, you're in the dark ages, so to speak. So the likelihood of your password manager being compromised in your own device is kind of slim. Actually, if you're doing the basics.
10:08 Speaker 00 So it's, it's very hard for somebody to just come in, guess my password. And then it's, it's connected to FA. So they'd have to have access to that as well. So you get a good point. Thank you for that. Robert, I'd love to invite you to come back if you're able to in the next 12 weeks or so to talk more about security, talk more about AI as well. And how these AI agents and things like that, there's a lot of stuff that's creating new vulnerabilities and new opportunities. Would you be open to that?
10:35 Speaker 01 Let's do it.
10:36 Speaker 00 Oh, awesome. Okay, fantastic. Well, that's great news. I want to take the last couple of minutes to give you a chance to talk about the, the story that I mentioned about the Boston Marathon. Do you mind elaborating for us? What happened to that and how did that lead to even further inspiration of what you do?
10:49 Speaker 01 Yeah, so I was, I've, I've run 13 Boston marathons for charities in the Boston area. You know, Children's Hospital. Dana Farber Cancer Research and I do that, you know, to give back, right? And also, you know, of course, as a leadership role for my own family to show them, you know, this is what's possible, right? And so in 2013, I was rounding the corner off of Harris' Harrahford Street, which is like the last leg of the Boston Marathon. There's about point two miles to go. I just run 26 miles and onto Boylston Street. And as I'm rounding the corner, they, the Boston Athletic Association and local Boston
11:29 Speaker 01 Police created a human chain preventing us, the runners, from going any further. And what occurred was obviously the second bomb had just gone off and they prevented us from, you know, heading down the course. And when you've run 26 miles, you just want to get to the finish line. And you're not thinking a bomb had just gone off and we didn't know that to begin with. And so we were all kind of frustrated, like, why are you stopping us from going any further? And we started kind of getting a little argumentative with the officials. And they were like, oh, you know, we don't know what's really happening. Somebody said a bomb might have gone off. And we're like, there's no bomb. I literally said, there's no bomb. I gotta go.
12:13 Speaker 01 My wife and kids were at the finish line. And when you're running a marathon, it's the strangest thing because it's like a 26 mile tailgate party, which means people are barbecuing burgers and dogs and ribs. You're smelling all this like wonderful food. So when I got to Harrahford Street and then I got to Boylston Street, when the smoke eventually hit me in the face, it had that sulfuric egg smell, like when you're at the fireworks.
12:43 Speaker 00 Hmm.
12:43 Speaker 01 And my brain just kind of flipped and I'm like, oh, that's a bomb. And immediately, like, I went on my phone and called my wife, who's at the finish line. Couldn't get her on the phone because my, everybody's calling their wife and their kids, finding out what's happening. And I kind of flipped out and I broke through that human chain and I started running down the course, which meant I am now the only runner on Boylston Street because everybody else has either gone through the finish line or was re-diverted or was being stopped. I was where I shouldn't have been. And now I'm running by people on the ground bleeding.
13:24 Speaker 01 Many of them being assisted by officials. And I'm like, do I stop? Do I go to get my wife and kids? And um, and then a Boston cop sees me and he starts yelling at me to get off the course. And I wasn't listening to him. I just kept going forward towards the smoke. And then another, he radioed to another cop who intercepted me. And he grabs me and he said, I will cuff you to this telephone pole unless you get off the course now. Which I did. And then I hopped over a fence, ran behind the alleyways. Where everybody was being evacuated from the stores and the bars that had just been blown up.
14:06 Speaker 01 Eventually, as I'm running through this alleyway, I'm running by people that are now also bleeding from being blown up in front of the stores or in the stores or the restaurants. People that are drunk, like it's a surreal scene, you know? People pat me on the back, you got this brother? Like it was just so.
14:25 Speaker 00 Oh, wow.
14:26 Speaker 01 Dark. I get eventually beyond the finish line to the backside of the finish line. And now I'm looking for my wife and kids and I can't find them. I finally get my dad on the phone, who's on a different network than my wife. And he explained to me where they were. I ran about another mile. Found my wife, who's holding my four-year-old at the time, who's like 40 pounds, you know? She's haggard. And um, we just kind of walked in the middle of the road to my car, another half a mile away. We all piled in. And um, man, like. This is like one of the first times I've talked about this and have not broken up about it. Because like, when you come that close to evil.
15:12 Speaker 01 Like true evil, which is what we all did. It messes you up, you know? And and and because like, I I'm in the media, like I do lots of TV and radio. I have lots of friends in the media, you know, CNN and all that stuff. My, and I post that I'm running the marathon, here's my link to raise money for my charity. My phone literally lit up with like, networks saying, hey, can you come down to the compound? The media compound that was quickly created to do some media to talk about your experience.
15:45 Speaker 01 Which I did, like I met with Maria Menounos from, from, I think it was Inside Edition. And I did like media all over the world, like over the next forty eight hours. And as my experience as a security professional and being there, right? I gotta tell people like, like, the chance of something like that happening to you is like really slim. But there's a chance, you know? And I've been doing this all my life or all, all my adult life, you know? And it's like, I don't worry about these things, but I do pay attention. So, and I think like, as long as we're engaged in basic levels of situational awareness, as long as you're paying attention to your surroundings.
16:25 Speaker 01 As long as you're, as long as you don't worry about these things, but you understand what risk is. And you anticipate risk in a healthy way. Like I'm always paying attention to the perimeter of my body. Like I always have, like if I'm on the phone and I'm in a crosswalk, I'm paying attention. I'm not gonna like walk into the street and get hit by a car. And like, in the past five years, more pedestrians have been killed because they're not paying attention. And drivers aren't paying attention and people are getting killed. It's like, what this boils down to is like, pay attention to your surroundings. Don't worry about these things, but be aware of it. It's like, what, what a lesson that, that I learned.
17:09 Speaker 01 And this is what I do, you know, just to simply pay attention to your surroundings. And I, I didn't even think or want to believe a bomb had gone off and it did.
17:19 Speaker 00 Right. That's such a powerful lesson, especially for those of us as visionaries. It can be so tempting to get stuck and lost in the future. But I would also equate it to driving, for instance. I can see the mountain range and appreciate it down the road while paying attention to what's right in front of me as well. We do have those, those human capabilities to do so. So Robert, this is such a blessing for me and for other visionaries who are looking at protecting ourselves. My friends, I hope you do go to protectnowllc.com. At least take his first several paragraphs on there that talk about wetware, the brain of the systems in the network. I hadn't heard of that term. I'm probably going to take that, talk to Claude about it in the meantime, and find out what can I learn about this based on what Robert teaches. But also, my friends,
18:02 Speaker 00 the best thing we can do when we come across a great book, or hear about a great mentor, is reach out to them and find out how can we work more closely with them, what types of consulting do they do, etc. So, Robert, again, thanks for being here today. Any final words of wisdom?
18:17 Speaker 01 Hey, listen, like I tell all my audiences, don't worry about any of this stuff, just do something about it, you know? Adopt a password manager, change up your passwords, use two-factor authentication, and just pay attention, you know? Whether it's on the streets or online, it's all about situational awareness, every situation you're in, phone calls, emails, text messages, what's the motivation of the person on the other end of the line? As long as you're paying attention to that, you're good.
18:43 Speaker 00 You heard it from me, Robert Siciliano. We'll see you in the next episode.
18:46 Speaker 02 Thank you for being here today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward. This is going to get more and more fun, and we'll have more and more engagement as well. We'll invite people to participate in the show, and thank you for giving us your time and attention. Have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a vision pro yourself.
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