Cybersecurity expert Eric Cole was recruited by the CIA when he was a college student in the 80s
Eric Cole has been working in cybersecurity since the 1980s, before the term was even widely known.
When he would attend parties and get-togethers, friends would either not know what cybersecurity was, or tell him they thought his profession was “weird,” he said.
Since that time, as more shopping has happened online, and breaches such as Equifax’s EFX, +0.99% have made Americans afraid of cyber attackers, they want to know how to stay safe. And many still aren’t taking the threat seriously enough.
“Security is an afterthought,” he said. “No one ever thinks about it until after the fact.”
Cole was recruited by the CIA when he was studying computer science at New York Institute of Technology. Since then, he has developed several security companies, including The Sytex Group, which Lockheed Martin Corporation acquired in 2005. That drew the attention of experts in the government, including the FBI, which led to Cole’s appointment as former president Barack Obama’s cybersecurity commissioner.
He has also served as personal cybersecurity advisor for Bill Gates and his family and is the author of “Online Danger: How to protect yourself and your loved ones from the evil side of the Internet,” which will debut in January 2018.
