|
October 2025
Greetings!
Seven years ago, I shared my thoughts on a summer thriller – "The President is Missing" by James Patterson and Bill Clinton – where a catastrophic cyber attack plunges America into the Dark Ages.
At the time, I noted that cyber experts assured us this apocalyptic scenario was "just a figment of imagination" and that our biggest threat was at the individual level.
Well, they were half right.
While we haven't seen a nationwide grid collapse, what has materialized is far more insidious. In May 2021, the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies roughly 45% of the East Coast's fuel, was shut down for six days by ransomware attackers. Gas stations ran dry. Prices spiked. Millions of Americans felt the impact of a cyberattack in their daily lives.
The vulnerability that started it all? A single stolen password without two-factor authentication.
That's it. Not a sophisticated hack. Not a security flaw in a billion-dollar infrastructure. A password—and the absence of one simple safeguard that takes 10 minutes to set up.
The threat hasn't gone away – it's evolved and become deeply personal. But here's the empowering truth: you don't need to be a cybersecurity expert to protect yourself. The same basic protections that could have prevented Colonial Pipeline can protect your financial accounts, identity, and peace of mind.
Over the next month, I'll be sharing practical resources to help safeguard your information. Today, I'm starting with two simple tools:
| 
