Marc Goodman
Global security advisor, futurist, and New York Times-bestselling author of Future Crimes
Photo credit: CG Photography
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About Marc Goodman
Marc Goodman is one of the world’s leading authorities on global security and author of Future Crimes: Inside the Digital Underground and the Battle for Our Connected World —selected by the Washington Post as one of the 10 Best Books of 2015 and by Amazon.com as the best book of 2015 in Business & Investing. He has addressed audiences around the world, including: TED Global, The Economist’s Ideas Forum, Google Zeitgeist, Wired Magazine’s Forum, and the INTERPOL General Assembly. He frequently advises industry leaders, security executives and global policy makers on the risks and opportunities of emerging technologies and has operated in more than 70 countries around the world.
In his talks, Marc Goodman answers key questions for business, government, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, NGOs, and individuals concerned about digital security. An engaging and entertaining speaker, Goodman provides a call to action for better security measures worldwide and empowers audiences with the education and tools to protect against these technological risks at both the corporate and personal level. Goodman’s TED talk on “A Vision of Crimes in the Future,” has been viewed nearly 1 million times and was selected by TED as one of the top two talks of 2012 to “freak-out” the TED community.
Goodman founded the Future Crimes Institute to inspire and educate others on the security and risk implications of newly emerging technologies. He also serves as the Global Security Advisor and Chair for Policy and Law at Silicon Valley’s Singularity University, a NASA and Google sponsored educational venture dedicated to using advanced science and technology to address humanity’s biggest challenges. Goodman’s current areas of research include the security implications of exponential technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, big data, synthetic biology, virtual worlds, genetics, the Internet of Things, and location-based services. He also offers a popular e-course on digital privacy through Creative Live.
Over the past twenty years Marc Goodman has built his expertise in next generation security threats such as cyber crime, cyber terrorism and information warfare through work with INTERPOL, the United Nations, NATO, the Los Angeles Police Department and the U.S. Government. For over a decade, Goodman trained numerous expert working groups on technological security threats while serving as a Senior Advisor to INTERPOL’s Steering Committee on Information Technology Crime. He has worked with various UN entities and was asked by the Secretary General of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to join his High Level Experts Group on Global Cybersecurity.
Marc Goodman’s articles have been published by the Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, Forbes, The Economist, Wired, Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, Jane’s Intelligence Review, and the American Bar Association, among many others. He holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University and a Master of Science in the Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.
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Speaking Topics
Securing Your Business in the Post-COVID World: Responding to Mounting Cyber Threats and Protecting Your Employees in the Age of Telecommuting
As challenging as the world of cybersecurity was before the COVID-19 outbreak, the global pandemic has led to a drastic increase in cyber-attacks against companies and their employees. One respected cybersecurity firm has recorded a 30,000% increase in phishing, malicious websites, and malware targeting remote users related to the COVID-19 virus. International organized criminals have wasted no time in taking advantage of unprecedented changes in the corporate workplace. Their goal: to steal your money, your company’s secrets, and your intellectual property. Unfortunately, almost all prior corporate cybersecurity efforts have focused on protecting a company’s technological infrastructure—not employees’ personal computers and networks. Unsuspecting employees and their insecure home Wi-Fi routers may now be the weakest link in protecting your company from cyber attackers.
The only solution is to teach workers how to protect themselves as a key line of defense. Working from home may be the new normal—let’s do it safely and securely. In this highly engaging and humorous presentation, Marc Goodman explains how to take your weakest link and turn it into your greatest strength. Goodman will teach your employees to protect themselves so that they can protect you. Creating a culture of cybersecurity may be the single most important step you can take to protect yourself and your company from the drastic increase in global cyber-attacks. After all, cybersecurity is not a department, it’s an attitude. Marc Goodman will show you how to get there.
Security in a Connected World
A huge proponent of technology, Marc Goodman knows that the positive aspects of the Internet are manifest. But as one of the world’s leading authorities on global security, he also recognizes that when it comes to technology, the increased scale of influence can be used both for good and for ill. In a global society run by computers, whoever controls the computer code can control the world. Every day we connect more and more devices to the Internet, ranging from laptops and mobile phones, to critical infrastructures including financial systems and electrical grids. We trust what our screens tell us, but all technologies can be hacked to provide a stealth window direct into an unsuspecting user’s home, office, family, or social life. In this eye-opening talk, Goodman provides access to his deep insights about the future of technology and where the next threats will come from, along with the preventative measures we need to take before it’s too late.
The Future of Financial Crime
Financial fraud is on the rise and transnational criminal networks are innovating more quickly than business and government can keep up. The result: fraud on a mass scale across all sectors. In this lecture, Marc Goodman will explain how technologies are being leveraged to create vast networks of fraudulent identities and shell accounts. He will share the latest intelligence on criminal tradecraft in the world of financial crime, including a thought-provoking analysis of what industry must do to prevent mass damage to their business moving forward.
Lessons in Innovation from the Criminal Underground
This presentation draws surprising conclusions about what legitimate businesses can learn from international organized crime–a two trillion dollar a year industry. Global criminals have become sophisticated managers of technology and talent. While businesses around the world are struggling to keep up in the era of big data, international organized crime is masterfully exploiting these opportunities. This lecture takes a look at the lessons to be learned from the “early adopters” in the criminal underground.
Security & Privacy in Medicine and Healthcare
Increasingly technology is being integrated into every aspect of medicine and healthcare. These fast-paced advances in science hold phenomenal opportunities to cure disease and diminish human suffering. But what happens when medical devices, medical records, and even the human body itself is hacked by a vibrant network of organized criminals? In this lecture, Marc Goodman presents a compelling overview of the latest criminal tradecraft affecting the healthcare industry and looks at how practitioners and patients can ensure technology continues to heal rather than harm.
Building a Culture of Cybersecurity
Every day in the news there is story after story a major cyberattack. According to Juniper Research, businesses around the world will lose nearly $2 trillion dollars to data breaches by the year 2019. Most companies respond to these rapidly emerging threats by spending increasing sums on technology—firewalls, intrusion detection systems and the like—but technology alone will never eliminate cyber security risk without considering human factors. According to IBM Security, 95% of security incidents involve human error and employees may unwittingly be putting their organization at increased cyber risk. In this highly engaging and humorous presentation, Marc Goodman explains how to take your weakest link and turn it into your greatest strength. A vigilant and informed workforce can vastly improve your company’s cybersecurity and a human firewall must be a top priority. Goodman will teach your employees to protect themselves, so that they can protect you. Creating a culture of cybersecurity may be the single most important step you can take to protect yourself and your company from the drastic increase in global cyber attacks. After all, cybersecurity not a department, it’s an attitude. In this talk Marc Goodman will show you how to get there.
A Dynamic Duo: How IT and HR Can Secure a Company from Cyber Threats
In most companies, the department charged with cyber security issues is the IT department. While technical solutions, policies, and procedures play a large part in keeping a company safe, they alone will never be able to secure a company from security breaches. The key to cybersecurity is the attitude and training of employees—and it is here that HR professional have a vital role to play. In this talk, Marc Goodman will open human resource managers’ eyes to the people problem behind cyber risk and outline the key strategies that HR managers must employ to create a cyber-savvy workplace. Topics to be covered include background check policies and procedures, the importance of social media polices for all employees, and the need to immediately secure access to company systems after an employee leaves an organization. Other topics that Goodman can address as part of this informative talk are the risks of workplace cyber-bullying and the cost it can bear for companies as well as ways to hire and train the best cybersecurity talents in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Using case studies from across various industries and relevant research findings, Goodman motivates HR and IT professionals to work together and empowers them to maintain a more secure, and ultimately more productive and enjoyable work environment.
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Praise for Marc Goodman
— USI – Unexpected Sources of InspirationThe event was fantastic and Marc was an absolute hit. He delivered a fantastic keynote speech and everyone really enjoyed talking to him after during the book signing.
— Merchant Risk CouncilMarc Goodman’s presentation on the future of crime was the chilling awakening our audience didn’t know they needed. His style was fresh and informative, educational and entertaining, and geared to the specific interests of our audience. All of these factors have earned him a spot as one of the ACFE’s highest rated keynote speakers. The cyber world holds many dangers and unknowns, and Marc successfully opened the eyes of nearly 3,000 anti-fraud professionals by inspiring them to gain the skills and knowledge they need to protect our future. There’s no doubt everyone in the room learned something new that they applied to their professional and personal lives.
— Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Director of EventsThe event went great! Marc did a great job of engaging the audience and speaking to them at their level. He used a perfect combination of stories, pictures, video and content to make his points. The hour he spoke flew by and although some of the things he spoke about were a bit worrisome, he did a great job of keeping a positive yet a cautious outlook for the future.
— Attendee at LANDESK Interchange 2015Praise for Future Crimes
Future Crimes helped me develop a grasp of the internet, and gave an indication what we’re possibly in for and what is already happening. In order to be modern, you have to read this book.
— Steven Martin, actor, comedian, and author of A Wealth of PigeonsThe hacks and heists detailed in Future Crimes are the stuff of thrillers, but unfortunately, the world of cybercrime is all too real. There could be no more sure-footed or knowledgeable companion than Marc Goodman on this guided tour of the underworld of the Internet. Everyone—and the business world especially—should heed his advice.
— Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive and To Sell is HumanAddictive….Introduces readers to this brave new world of technology, where robbers have been replaced by hackers, and victims include nearly anyone on the Web…He presents his myriad hard-to-imagine cybercrime examples in the kind of matter-of-fact voice he probably perfected as an investigator. He clearly wants us never to look at our cellphones or Facebook pages in the same way again—and in this, Future Crimes succeeds marvelously.
— The Washington PostExcellent and timely…Mr. Goodman is no neo-Luddite. He thinks innovations could ultimately lead to self-healing computer networks that detect hackers and automatically make repairs to shut them out. He rightly urges the private and public sectors to work more closely together, ‘crowdsourcing’ ideas and know-how…The best time to start tackling future crimes is now.
— The EconomistFuture Crimes is a risk compendium for the Information Age….Exhaustively researched….Fascinating….Thrilling to read
— San Francisco ChronicleIn Future Crimes, Goodman spills out story after story about how technology has been used for illegal ends…The author ends with a series of recommendations that, while ambitious, appear sensible and constructive…Goodman’s most promising idea is the creation of a “Manhattan Project” for cyber security…[Future Crimes is] a ride well worth taking if we are to prevent the worst of his predictions from taking shape.”
— Financial TimesA superb new book.
— The Boston GlobeYou couldn’t ask for a better [cyber risk] overview than Future Crimes.
— Harvard Business ReviewMarc Goodman is a go-to guide for all who want a good scaring about the dark side of technology.
— New ScientistUtterly fascinating stuff…Goodman weds the joy of geeky technology with the tension of true crime. The future of crime prevention starts here.
— NPR, San FranciscoA well-researched whirlwind tour of internet-based crime.
— Science Magazine“By the middle of the first chapter you’ll be afraid to turn on your e-reader or laptop, and you’ll be looking with deep suspicion at your smartphone…[Goodman’s] style is breezy but his approach is relentless, as he leads you from the guts of the Target data breach to the security vulnerabilities in social media…Mr. Goodman argues convincingly that we are addressing exponential growth in risky technologies with thinking that is, at best, incremental.
— Pittsburgh Post-GazetteA riveting read.
— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, professor of engineering at NYU and New York Times bestselling author of The Black SwanFrom black ops to rogue bots and everything in between, Future Crimes is a gripping must-read. Marc Goodman takes readers on a brilliant, ‘behind-the-screens’ journey into the hidden world of 21st century criminal innovation, filled with one mind-boggling example after another of what’s coming next. Future Crimes raises tough questions about the expanding role of technology in our lives and the importance of managing it for the benefit of all humanity. Even better, Goodman offers practical solutions so that we not only survive progress, but thrive to an extent never previously imagined.
— Peter H. Diamandis, New York Times bestselling author of Abundance; CEO, XPRIZE Foundation; Exec. Chairman, Singularity UniversityFuture Crimes is the Must Read Book of the Year. Endlessly fascinating, genuinely instructive, and truly frightening. Be warned: Once you pick it up, you won’t put it down. Super cool and super interesting.
— Christopher Reich, New York Times bestselling authorTechnology has always been a double edged sword—fire kept us warm and cooked our food but also burned down our villages. Marc Goodman provides a deeply insightful view into our twenty-first century’s fires. His philosophy matches my own: apply the promise of exponentially growing information technologies to overcome age old challenges of humankind while at the same time understand and contain the perils. This book provides a compelling roadmap to do just that.”
— Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author and futuristMuch has been discussed regarding today’s cybercrime threats as well as the cybercriminals’ modus operandi. What is lacking, however, is what we can do about them. Mr. Marc Goodman’s book Future Crimes brings our global dialogue on safety and security to the next level by exploring how potential criminals are exploiting new and emerging technologies for their nefarious purposes. It provides a futuristic perspective grounded on current case studies. Future Crime is an essential read for law enforcers, corporations and the community alike. It offers answers beyond what comes next to what we can do, both individually and collectively, to secure ourselves and our communities.
— Khoo Boon Hui, former President of InterpolA tour de force of insight and foresight. Never before has somebody so masterfully researched and presented the frightening extent to which current and emerging technologies are harming national security, putting people’s lives at risk, eroding privacy, and even altering our perceptions of reality. Future Crimes paints a sobering picture of how rapidly evolving threats to technology can lead to disasters that replicate around the world at machine speed. Goodman clearly demonstrates that we are following a failed cybersecurity strategy that requires new thinking rather than simply more frameworks, more information sharing, and more money. Read this now, and then get angry that we really haven’t taken the technology threat seriously. If the right people read Goodman’s book and take action, it might just save the world.
— Steven Chabinsky, former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber DivisionAs with Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything and Robert Whitaker’s Anatomy of an Epidemic, Future Crimes deserves a prominent place in our front-line library. Goodman takes us behind the computer screen to a dark world where Crime Inc. flourishes at our expense. When the criminal mind conceives “what if” it is only a matter of time before its dream becomes our nightmare. Goodman urges us to take responsibility for this new world we are speeding towards. If we don’t perhaps the greater crime will be ours.
— Ed Burns, co-creator of The WireThis is a fantastic book and one that should be read by every cyber crime fighter. Technology breeds crime…it always has and always will. Unfortunately, there will always be people willing to use technology in a negative self serving way. Your only defense is the most powerful tool available to you—education. Read Future Crimes and understand your risks and how to combat them. The question I am most often asked in my lectures is, ‘What’s the next big crime?’ The answer is in this book.”
— Frank Abagnale, New York Times bestselling author of Catch Me If You Can and Stealing Your Life -
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Future Crimes
“Future Crimes by Marc Goodman, which I read several years ago, helped me develop a grasp of the internet, and gave an indication what we’re possibly in for and what is already happening. In order to be modern, you have to read this book.” —Steve Martin
“OMG, this is a wakeup call. The outlaws are running faster than the architects. Use this book to shake up the companies you buy from, the device makers, telecom carriers, and governments at all levels. Demand that they pay attention to the realities of our new world as outlined within this thorough and deep book.”—Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired Magazine and bestselling author of What Technology Wants