Cybercrime is in Your Home Right Now: A Cyber Expert's Wake-Up Call | Ep 066

➡️ Cybersecurity expert Jocelyn King discovered her "strong" passwords didn't stop criminals from hacking her smart home, installing bedroom surveillance, and stealing $500,000. Now she reveals the keys to protecting yourself in 2025.

🔑 Think your passwords protect you? Think again. Cybersecurity expert Jocelyn King lost everything to hackers despite following "basic" security advice. Now protecting clients across 7 continents, she reveals why passwords alone won't save you - and what will. 

In this episode you will learn:

➡️ Why traditional password advice fails
➡️ How hackers really breach your accounts
➡️ Critical steps beyond passwords
➡️ AI-powered threats in 2025
➡️ Essential home network protection

➡️ Chapters:
00:00 "They Were Listening to Our Bedroom Conversations"
03:14 From Perfect Life to Cyber Nightmare
05:25 The Night the Smart Locks Opened at Midnight
08:43 Hidden Microphone Discovery
13:50 The Long Game: How Hackers Really Work
20:02 Top 3 Actions to Protect Yourself Now
25:20 The Dark Side of Smart Home Technology
29:50 Is Your Phone Spying on You?
31:29 How to Spot Hidden Cameras in Airbnbs
35:57 AI and Social Engineering: New Threats in 2025
37:10 Critical Steps to Take Today

📲 Connect with Jocelyn King:  https://www.jocelynking.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleerjocelynking/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynking/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CLEERjocelynking

⭐️ Subscribe for More Transformational Stories: www.youtube.com/@UCsRyuQWlLAYzM4IyJlF2IWQ 

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#cyberattack #digitalsecurity #cybercrime
#passwordsecurity #onlinesafety #datasecurity
#smartsecurity #cyberthreats #identitytheft
#ransomware #technews #cybersafe
#cyberprotection #networkprotection #onlineprivacy
#digitalprivacy #smarthomedangers #cyberdefense
#securitytips #hackingdefense #digitalfootprint
#onlinefraud #homeautomation #smarthomesecurity
#cyberstalking #onlinesurveillance #securityrisk
#hackerprotection #cyberexperts #cybersecuritytips
#cybersecurityexpert #passwordprotection #malware
#surveillance #spyware #digitalwellness
#cyberawareness #internetsafety #cybervulnerability

Transcript

00:01 - Stacey (Host)
Mark yes. 

00:03 - Mark (Host)
Stacey, have you ever been hacked? You know what? It's funny you asked me that question. I was hacked two weeks ago maybe, and it wreaked havoc on my life for many days. True story. It's terrible. It culminated in me buying a new computer. 

00:18 - Stacey (Host)
What'd they do? 

00:19 - Mark (Host)
They got into everything except my finances. 

00:22 - Stacey (Host)
Did you click on? 

00:22 - Mark (Host)
something I don't know. That's the disturbing part. Don't click on anything. That's the disturbing part. It's part of me that says I had to have clicked on something. 

00:30 - Stacey (Host)
So how many days do you think you lost? 

00:31 - Mark (Host)
Three, three days, so that's money. 

00:33 - Stacey (Host)
24-hour days, that's turmoil that's freaking out. You're still dealing with it now. 

00:40 - Mark (Host)
I'm not even convinced that they're not in my new computer. Yet I'm not. There may be malware. It's terrible, and that's why it's important to talk to people like we did today. Jocelyn King yeah, she was amazing. She was a victim herself, and then I mean a victim. 

00:56 - Stacey (Host)
Well, I mean, like terrible. She had cameras in her bedroom and microphones in her bedroom, people listening to her most personal of conversations. 

01:08 - Mark (Host)
On top of having her identity taken, having her bank account emptied. It cost her her health, it cost her her marriage, it cost her everything. But she fought back. She rebuilt her life. And guess what? She rebuilt her life as a cybersecurity expert to where she's now been named one of the top 10 women in that industry. 

01:27 - Stacey (Host)
Right, and she's got so many great tips, dude. I had so many questions for her and she had so many answers for us and I was literally on the edge of my seat, that whole podcast recording. I'm not kidding. 

01:38 - Mark (Host)
I mean, there were so many takeaways. You know what I'm left with? 

01:41 - Stacey (Host)
What. 

01:41 - Mark (Host)
We're all screwed. 

01:43 - Stacey (Host)
I am scared as hell. 

01:45 - Mark (Host)
There are 30 things she tells you that you could do right now to get more Protected, safer. Yes, you get safe but you're never safe. 

01:53 - Stacey (Host)
But I feel like there's things you can do right now, like if you listen to this podcast right now which she tells you to do. You can do it right now and it'll save you possibly what happened to Mark. 

02:03 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, yeah, and in her words, you're in the top 10% of those who are safe. If you do these things, that's not saying anybody can't get in but, far less likely, far less. 

02:18 - Stacey (Host)
It's not just change your password, that's the easy one, but that's in there. 

02:22 - Mark (Host)
There's probably I think five or six more. 

02:24 - Stacey (Host)
Right, and then other things, just to watch out. For that you really should listen and or watch. And I do something weird I dress up like a cyber thief for the introduction, which is odd. 

02:37 - Mark (Host)
But I did that, it was not odd. You can check it out on YouTube. Yes, please, acting weird. Please look at this one on YouTube. 

02:43 - Stacey (Host)
Acting weird. Please look at this one on YouTube Acting weird. No, it was amazing and I think you guys are going to really enjoy Jocelyn King. 

02:49 - Mark (Host)
So enjoy, Jocelyn. I just said enjoy. Jocelyn, I would really like to. Why do? 

02:53 - Stacey (Host)
you have to say it again. 

02:54 - Mark (Host)
I want last word. Why do you have to? Oh, you have last word Go. No, well done, enjoy jocelyn king. You guys, hi, I'm stacy and I am mark, and this is the gurus of game changers podcast. Everybody, welcome to the show. 

03:14
So just a few years ago, today's guest, jocelyn king's life was great. Everything was great personally, professionally, her marriage, her marriage, her kids, finances, career, you name it. Everything was going wonderfully until she was targeted by cyber criminals and not just cyber criminals, flat out criminals who not only took everything from her, but they also managed to break into her home and plant surveillance devices. Could you imagine? She was devastated. Of course she was devastated, but Jocelyn's also a fighter. She recovered, she rebuilt her life from scratch unbelievably, and now she dedicates her career to helping others avoid the same trap that she fell into, but also helping them work through any desperation or any hardship to positively transform their lives, which is what she had to do. If anyone has the street cred to speak about cyber security, cyber crime, it's Jocelyn King. She went from victim to becoming named as one of the top 10 women in the industry. We are thrilled to have her here to help all of us better understand how we can protect ourselves. 

04:21 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Jocelyn thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, mark and stacy, for having you. Hey, jocelyn, I'm here with my own cyber criminal. 

04:29 - Mark (Host)
I'm not stacy today I'm a cyber criminal. 

04:31 - Stacey (Host)
Okay, you look the part that's what I'm trying. 

04:33 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Let's, let's, let's jocelyn special day you get to have, you get to come up with your dark web hacker name, then so your alias dark web hacker name I like it. That's okay. I like taking the hoodies off the hackers and explaining how hackers work, because they're very predictable. 

04:50 - Stacey (Host)
Oh, that is a beautiful transition. 

04:53 - Jocelyn King (Host)
So once people know how they operate, it's much easier to protect yourself. As with anything, when you know what you're dealing with, it's easier to protect yourself and stay safe. 

05:02 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, well, you should know, you are a top 10 woman in cybersecurity. Am I saying that right? 

05:08 - Mark (Host)
It's amazing. 

05:08 - Stacey (Host)
Yes, and you protect people on all seven continents including Antarctica, you just said. But first take us through that moment, if you can, with a little background, when you found a microphone over your bed. 

05:25 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Yes, with a little background, when you found a microphone over your bed. Yes, so I had things had been happening to me and my family and we knew we were being surveilled and some people knew where we were going, they knew what we were doing and it was like, how was this happening? And we knew that they had hacked into our network because one night at midnight our deadbolts opened, unbeknownst to us. We're asleep in our beds, but the next day when I get up on my security system, I just notice an alert that says the locks on my office door, which is a separate building, and my home were opened at midnight. And I think we're both asleep. So I go back. Fortunately, we have a motion detector in one part of our home, so if we had gotten up and sleepwalked or done anything like that, that would have been picked up as well. There was nothing. We were in our beds, fast asleep, and our deadbolts were opened. 

06:18
I called the security company, I did all these things and here's the horrible part once you know when, once you're a victim of cyber crime let's say they take, you know, they drain your bank account or they do whatever the secondary part is then trying to get help, because you're appealing to you know the law enforcement and to your the people you're paying money to to help protect you, like security systems and things, and you end up and things and you end up filling out reports and you end up being told, actually being questioned. You know, like they, when I said what had happened, they questioned whether you really know what's happening or not. And that's kind of compounding this injury, of course, because you're being doubted and you're suddenly like a suspect of whether you're capable and competent and sane. Some of the cyber criminals they've gotten past security cameras and there was a time when people got out of a vehicle and came up and they should have been detected under security cameras and they weren't. Fortunately, I just happened to see them on my monitor and I manually hit record when I called the security company and I'm telling them. They said well, no, they'd be picked up. I said they weren't and they said, well, no, they'd be picked up. I said they weren't and they said, well, are you sure they came? I said I manually record. I had to have proof to show my own security company why the security wasn't working. And that's devastating emotionally and mentally when you're already feeling victimized. So I just want to warn people about that, because one of the biggest rude awakenings was actually calling law enforcement and I don't fault our law enforcement at all, but I called the sheriff and filed a report and I called the FBI but nothing came of it Because I learned I was one of just shy of a million cybercrime reports filed with the FBI that year A million in one year. 

08:01
There is no way they can help everybody, wow, after this has been going on for a while. So I'm already paranoid. I'm already exhausted. I haven't been sleeping forever. I'm now on antidepressants and Ambien. I'm distracted from work. You know there was a promotion I should have been able to get at work. I could not apply, couldn't do it, so it affected the trajectory of my career and my income. It was taking a huge toll on my health, my husband's health. It ultimately imploded our marriage and then we lost over a half million dollars. That was unrecoverable. So these things were happening and we're reaching out for help and we're spending money on former law enforcement that are private investigators and cybercrime people. 

08:43
I was having my car swept for surveillance, my house swept for surveillance and they didn't pick it up. 

08:49
And what it turned out to be. Ironically, we had a leak in the roof. We had it fixed and we had to have some insulation replaced and in moving the insulation, the microphone that was in our bedroom ceiling popped out Because they were in the middle of replacing it. I see it in the bedroom and then it disappears because it got sucked up in their vacuum. So then we try to get it and it's mangled and we can't really identify it. And so I'm calling you know, and there's no. 

09:12
Even if we had had it completely intact, it was a near-field communication device which meant it was from somebody using it when they were in the neighborhood, or from a neighbor or something in the neighborhood, or from a neighbor or something. But they could not. It wouldn't be traceable to anybody. So still, nobody's going to get caught, nobody's going to go to jail and I'm not going to get made whole. And that's the scary truth about the real cost of cybercrime. It's not just the $4,478 that the average, you know, cybercrime incident costs a consumer for a low, you know, a low-level incident. It can cost millions. It's the toll it takes on you and the toll it takes on your life and what it does to making you feel unsafe and unsecure. 

09:58 - Stacey (Host)
How in the world does someone put a microphone in your ceiling without you knowing? How did that happen? 

10:05 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Well, they broke into the house. See, normally what happens with a break-in is you come home and your jewelry drawer is. You know everything's taken and your valuables are taken and there's things are turned over and your lock has been forced and you call the police and you've been the victim of of a burglary. When people break in and they're hacking into your accounts in order to get past your security because your security system sees that it's you doing it and when they get in to plant surveillance or to do things to get information on you, they don't leave a trace that's the other devastating part. When I realized that we knew that people knew things they shouldn't know that we were only talking about in our home. In fact, the reason I had my car swept is because we knew that, okay, people are hearing things and learning things that we're only talking about in our home. Because we were so paranoid we weren't talking about it anywhere else, we were talking about it in our bedroom. 

11:08 - Stacey (Host)
Which people Like? How would you who? 

11:10 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Well, it can be any number of people who are after you for long haul. They could be after information about you because they want to social engineer you, to get into a company you work for, or they could just want your assets. They could want to make you move. They could want to drain your accounts. Maybe you have a relative who has valuables or things that they want and they want to go through you to socially engineer getting it from them. I've seen so many of these. There's so many ways this can happen. There's a lot of cybercrime that is not that one-time event of they got your credit card number or they got your bank account and they drained your account or they applied for a loan using your credit. There's a lot of cases of these kind of like long-haul cybercrime that go on. They don't want to leave a trace. They're intentionally not leaving fingerprints. 

12:02 - Stacey (Host)
So when you heard something that you only said in your home, where was that Like? 

12:08 - Jocelyn King (Host)
was someone email you and say hey, I've heard that, you know no no, it's that we went somewhere and some weird things were happening there and we're like it's like they knew we were coming here. I was an executive in a top Silicon Valley company at the time and I was speaking on stage. So I started getting paranoid. I'm supposed to be posting on social media what I'm doing and I start, and I wasn't. I was waiting till after the events and then posting wow, that was a great event because I was. I did not want people to know my whereabouts. 

12:37
I was going back and getting all kinds of self-defense training and stuff because I thought I'm not safe in my home. They could break into my home home. When I'm traveling I may not be safe. Right, I was looking over my shoulder all the time, but what happened when I when you learn that they're doing that? We started then saying we're just going to talk in my car. 

12:54
The reason I had my car swept for surveillance was we said we're only talking about these things and we had some litigation going on. We had some things going on that were also instigators. That's the other thing. If anybody has lawsuits going on, you're much more susceptible to this kind of thing If you have property deals going on buying a home or being part of something, or there's a lot of things that you don't think about that could actually be triggers, and I've spoken to so many people who have been in like somebody who's been in an ongoing litigation for over 10 years and there are people from that they know are somehow associated with the opposing side that occasionally do things to them and prank them and like flatten their tires when they're placed, that know where they are, and it's just that feeling that you're never safe and that they could get at you anytime they want to is very devastating to your mental health and emotional health. 

13:50 - Mark (Host)
Let me ask a couple of quick clarifying questions, just for the audience and for me, quite honestly, to make sure I understand sort of the timeline and how this kind of played out. You were first hacked or the stick with cybercrime. You were. Somebody got into your system, into your server. This is personal, this is business, or it is both at the same time. 

14:08 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Personal, Personal. It had nothing. It really didn't, was not business related per se. 

14:13 - Mark (Host)
Got it. So now they're into your accounts and they drain your bank account. They do a lot of things that no, they weren't draining it. 

14:19 - Jocelyn King (Host)
They weren't draining it. So this is one of the things, and this goes along with ransomware. This is a form of ransomware that wasn't the kind we think of, where they block your screen, but but where people are getting information on you. So here's the thing the average ransomware attack that happens to an organization people. It could be less time. The hackers are in there for nine months to a year before they trigger the ransomware. And I'll tell you why. They're getting into the systems to get access to the company's information. And what they're really looking for is the email correspondence and documents about the cyber insurance of the company. 

14:56
Because if you have cyber insurance that covers you for X amount and you say and we will pay no more, this is the biggest chess game. They keep doing things undetected. So you're going to work, you're picking up your kids, you're going to the store, you're going to the gym, you're going to soccer, you're going home All the while this stuff's happening in the background. So usually nine to 10 months after they get in, they do the ransomware on the company and guess what? The ransom amount is $5 million Because the board's already approved, you've only got hours and you pay them and your CFO and team work to get the $5 million into cryptocurrency to pay the bad guys, and you may or may not get the key to unencrypt and even if you unencrypt it, they still have it and can sell that information on the dark web. So you're paying for something that's already been replicated. 

15:45 - Stacey (Host)
So just to back it up for someone who doesn't know exactly what it means ransomware is what. 

15:50 - Jocelyn King (Host)
So ransomware is when you put malware on your phone or your laptop. They'll do that. You think you're on Amazon buying something and there's pop-ups and pop-backs. Very often they'll use a pop-back, which means you know when you're closing, you're done shopping and you close and there's this little thing that says you need to upload this or need to do that and it looks legitimate and they're using the logos of companies that you're doing business with. So it looks legitimate and you think you're and you click on it and you're and even if you have a little spidey sense going off and thinking maybe I shouldn't click on this, you click on it. Hold your breath a little, it updates, okay, but nothing bad happened. Well, what happened is they just got you, just created a tunnel. Just help them open a door into your laptop and they're going to sit there. 

16:35
My partner did this incredible trick. So I'm I'm not the pure play hacker technologist. I work with them, right, but I've learned so much and I get on the dark ones up, but I'm I'm a script kitty, as they call it. You know a novice, but the I work with the serious hackers who help. These are the people who hacked into the government or the Pentagon when they were teenagers and were told you can come work for us or you can go to prison. They decided to work for the government and they protected our nuclear submarine codes and they've protected Fortune 100 companies and they protect billions of dollars and trillions of dollars on the Wall Street trading floor. These are the good guy hackers. 

17:13
I work with them and one of my partners did this with a journalist. The journalist said I want you to come at me and try to get in. So he already thinks he's adequately protected. He knows he's going to get hacked by a top hacker. My partner sits down with him and shows him. He says I not only got all your passwords to all this. He shows him his forget social security number, you know, but like the passwords and the actual accounts to all his financials, to everything could have drained his accounts had he been a bad guy. And he says and here I've been taking a screenshot and a picture of you through your camera on your laptop every two minutes, every time you're on. He showed him pictures of him being at his mom's house. At his mom's house. He saw pictures of him at starbucks drinking his latte for three days every two minutes what are we gonna? 

18:01 - Stacey (Host)
do. What are we gonna do, jocelyn? 

18:04 - Mark (Host)
is there any hope? 

18:05 - Jocelyn King (Host)
I don't feel like there is. 

18:06 - Mark (Host)
There is hope, there is hope, so if I the average person at home with their laptop yes, so a couple things, and and I going to scare you with one more thing. 

18:15 - Stacey (Host)
first, that's fine. 

18:16 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Keep scaring me If you're not already motivated to take some positive action to protect yourself, which you can do. You can protect yourself. I'm going to give you one more thing. Ai is a powerful tool that's helping cybersecurity companies improve their tools. It is also helping to empower the bad guys. They are all over AI. 

18:37
I'll go in and talk at companies to educate their employees, because their IT heads and their security heads put out these mandatory trainings for people to learn how not to click on phishing emails. But you kind of learn how to pass the test more than how to change your behavior. But when I come in and I talk to people and teach them how to protect themselves, if you know how to protect your own emails and not click on phishing, you're now going to be protecting the company right. So I'll go in and I'll talk. 

19:05
The number of hams that raise that people have had either an actual cyber crime incident or a close call. It's doubled and then it quadrupled and it's going to 10x in this year with AI, and that's not my personal opinion. That is simply proven. So right now, this month, you can protect, taking some steps. You do not want to be the person who takes a knife to a gunfight, so you are a sitting duck and you can change it. You can go from sitting duck to sitting pretty and I can give you some tips to do that. 

19:40 - Stacey (Host)
This episode is brought to you by Mainline Studios and the Podcast Factory, where great content feels right at home. Located in beautiful Wayne, pennsylvania, our creative rental space offers high-end tech in a space that feels like your best friend's living room. Book your session or a free tour at mainlinevideostudiocom, and back to the show. 

20:02 - Jocelyn King (Host)
So, first thing, I've been on the dark web and I see that a lot of people are still trying to protect their social security number from getting out or their birth date from getting out and everything. And you've already given it to the world. You have to. What I tell people is I want you to think that your social security number, your birth date, your mother's maiden name and all that has already been sold on the dark web a thousand times. You want to protect yourself from it being used against you. 

20:25
Okay, that's a very it's a different mindset, but it's really really going to help you. And with that because that information is already out there they can get access to your credit. So if you have not already frozen your credit at all three credit bureaus, you go in and do that and that is not a big deal to unfreeze it. If you go to buy a car, within six minutes you can go into the apps of each of the credit unions, temporarily remove your credit freeze and just for that afternoon or day they're going to run the credit check and then your credit is still frozen. A few years ago it was a pain, it was a big deal. 

21:00
You had to have the PIN with you that they sent you no more. So there's no excuse for not freezing your credit. So do that and, while you're at it, go into the gov site and freeze your social security number from being accessed. If you Google social security administration, you go in. You log into their site. If you have never set up an account, set one up. But if you have one, you log in and you can look for how you freeze your social security number access. 

21:25
Let me give you a statistic. There are all the organizations and the government organizations that surf the dark web and look for what's on there, and the data have estimated that over 300 million American Social Security numbers are on there or have been on there for sale, and they don't really get removed. You could go into one site and remove it, but it's kind of like think of like an Excel file or a Word document that's been emailed you know a thousand times. You can delete it off of one computer, but it's sitting out there in lots of places. That's the same thing with the dark web. So, over 300 million. There are 333 million americans. So you know your odds of your social security number not being on there are very slim, so just assume it's out there. Sure, and you want to protect it, and some people who, of course, are really at risk or have had issues, will go in and ask for a new social security number. But but it's only a matter of time until that gets on the dark web too, because it's not about how well you protect it, it's the fact that it's in all of these large corporations and government entities that are hacked. The top two areas of cyber attack outside of consumer are small businesses and education, and followed shortly by, of course, medical. So you could do everything you want to protect your social security number, but the college that you went to can be hacked and your social security number is out there. So you don't want to be getting a new social security number every year. So just really more try to protect yourself from it. So, number one freeze your credit and your social security number. Number two, you really want to be updating your software on your phone and on your computer. You know we all log in in the morning and say, oh, you've got software updates and people are like, oh, I've got to get on the meeting, I've got this, and they put it off. What's happening with those? They have security updates in them. So those security updates are protecting you from known. They're patches for known issues and you want to update them as quickly as possible because you're protecting yourself. 

23:34
Number three, and which is actually a little more important, is your passwords. Tell me anybody who hasn't heard that they have to have. You know unique, complex passwords, but most people don't know how to do it. Therefore, they don't take the time to do it and they don't understand the true risk. 

23:48
The reason your password is so important is hackers do what they call brute force attacks. Password is so important is hackers do what they call brute force attacks, a spray and pray mode, where they're just literally taking your Yahoo email account and you know password 123, 1111. The top 10 passwords that people use still are things that everybody tells you not to use. So, please, people, what I'm urging you to do for your own safety, you use a password manager, very simple to set up, and when you have that, what you do is you let it create a unique password for you for each account. Password managers are your best friend, and especially in these AI days. 

24:26
So I recommend and LastPass is great if you have a small business or you have a lot of you know, or a large business corporations because you can have hundreds of users and stuff like that or just a family, and there are ways you can protect Wi-Fi so that you can be on. I travel a third of the time and I'm living in hotel rooms and stuff, so I have a little device that I use that plugs in and sometimes when I don't have it or don't want to plug it in and my cell's not working, I will get on Wi-Fi. But there are certain things I will never do on Wi-Fi which are about personal PII, personally identifiable information and you know and credit card and account logins. I will never log into a retirement account or bank account. Basically, what you want to do is just get on Amazon and search for portable Wi-Fi slash VPN and you're going to get something and you're going to be between $60 and $120. 

25:20 - Stacey (Host)
For our audience we always talk about, because most we talk to very successful people like yourself now. But when you've gone through an obstacle like that, what was it like to be in the bottom of the trench? 

25:33 - Jocelyn King (Host)
It was horrible. I could not sleep and I was taking Ambien and even with Ambien I wasn't sleeping well and was still awake and I was nervous. I was afraid somebody was going to break into my home and harm me and harm my family. And as somebody who's generally just a happy, peaceful person who wants to just be left alone and live a good life, I was like is life going to be like this? Do I have to learn how to use weapons and self-defense so I could protect myself against an MMA level person? Is this what life's going to be like for now? And it was horrific. 

26:10
My husband had a series of heart attacks that were undetected and stuff and had huge health things come about and almost died and then had a, you know, had a personality change from the stress and had PTSD and I had PTSD. And there was a day I woke up and I looked over and I had one and a half bottles of Ambien next to my bed and I was thinking is there a reason to not take it? And then immediately, thank God, I thought, yes, I can't let the bad guys win. I mean, I thought of all the people and the effect it would have on them. 

26:46
And then I thought and I'm leaving them vulnerable because I didn't figure out how to take care of myself, and I thought I got to put my oxygen mask on and then help them. Because a lot of people ask how did you go from that to this? Because I'm very happy and I'm living a wonderful life now and I feel incredibly blessed and grateful and I love what I get to do and get to help people. And they said but you lost all that money. It's like, well, I'll make more money Through one action and another. And then talking to somebody and they couldn't help me, but they referred me to somebody. That's how I met these wonderful cybersecurity people. Outside of the cybersecurity and IT world, I don't meet people who want to learn it. I want people who just I want to get this done and over with as quickly as possible so I can live my life and I want to spend as little time as possible on staying current on what's happening and what I need to do and that's what I'm dedicated to doing. 

27:40
For that reason, who wants to learn this? Here's the other thing. I want to talk for a second about small business, if I can. Small businesses we don't hear about as much in the news because it's when there's a big breach, like CrowdStrike and stuff it makes the headlines everywhere, for understandable reasons. But strike and stuff it makes the headlines everywhere for understandable reasons. But small businesses are more targeted than big corporations and big and big corporations are able to protect themselves better because small businesses like I own a small business and you own a small business and who's your chief information security officer? 

28:13
and who's your team and your red team and who's your it or who are the full-time people doing this and who is their 24-7 call center? Well, you don't have that, understandably. And so small businesses are one of the top targets and, unfortunately, two-thirds of small businesses that are targeted go out of business within six months, oh Jesus, because they can't recover and especially if it's a ransomware attack, because they've lost the information. They've lost clients. 

28:46
I worked with a veterinarian who had a wonderful he was a wonderful man and he had a wonderful office manager, a woman. Both you know salt-of-the-earth people. She was dating a guy who had a private life and she was logged into the veterinarian system at home. She was trying to catch up, you know, on something and went to take a shower or something. Her screen was not unlocked because she's at home on her personal and while she's in the shower, her boyfriend downloaded all of the client's account information and all of their credit card information, and the reason the veterinarian found out about it is because the FBI came calling, because the one thing that all these cases had in common was that they were clients of him. I've talked to so many who have closed and people filed bankruptcy. The ways it affects your life is so expensive and so costly to you financially, emotionally, mentally and physically. It's just not worth it. 

29:46 - Stacey (Host)
Is there an app right now on our phone that's spying on us? 

29:50 - Jocelyn King (Host)
That's a great question. Here's what I recommend. Most people download apps without paying attention to who the developer is or and where they're from. Doesn't pinpoint just because they're from central europe or wherever you know you can. You can have a hacker in the middle east or the midwest. Most of us have apps on our phone that we're not using, that are getting information. Delete all the apps that you're not using and don't sign up for an app unless you see it as credible and from a known good source. 

30:22 - Stacey (Host)
You knew that. 

30:25 - Mark (Host)
I delete, he deletes everything. He's a deleter. 

30:28 - Stacey (Host)
He's not a hoarder at all, like I am, but did you know that there's apps that supply? And then you know our phone is always listening to us, right? 

30:37 - Mark (Host)
It's always 100% listening to us yes, apple just did that again, yeah you just have to deal with that right yeah, it's kind of the day. 

30:44 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Well, for those of us who are old enough to remember 30 years ago and weren't in diapers, there's a sense of like what being a child was like, of privacy and you know things and people just didn't know stuff about you that you just have. Every generation gets more and more used to having cameras everywhere and lack of privacy and things. The trick is, besides just the health benefits of not having electromagnetic frequencies on your phone coming out, there's a reason why people put their phones and stuff in another room. I have an episode I'm going to be putting out showing of my videos showing some of the spy cam stuff and you know, it looks like it's a screw in a thing or it's a even in a charge port. 

31:29
I do a lot of traveling. A lot of people ask me how do I protect myself when I'm in an Airbnb and here you've got a power outlet to plug into and the top one's a regular one, but the bottom one is blocked? It's because there's a camera in there. 

31:41 - Stacey (Host)
How do you know? How do you know, how do you see it? 

31:44 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Well, first of all, you can't plug anything into it, so that's one. 

31:47 - Stacey (Host)
Red flag. 

31:47 - Jocelyn King (Host)
The one thing to detect surveillance on is have the room completely dark. You want complete black and then you just want to look for any little lights or anything reflective. Take a, the light will come back at you, It'll reflect back to you because the lenses all are reflective and I have worked with people who have had spy cams. You know in the Airbnb they were at that, were in the smoke detector, you know in the ceiling and stuff. 

32:14 - Stacey (Host)
Can I just FaceTime you next time I go to an Airbnb and we can go through it together. I'm so freaked out right now. 

32:21 - Jocelyn King (Host)
The reason cybersecurity professionals are called paid paranoids is because they are very paranoid 24-7 and they have reason to be. But even they don't feel 100% protected, and certainly about their families and stuff. So the thing is to just be prepared. If I got hacked somehow, it would be, it would, it would. It's almost like that counting coup. Somebody would say, oh, we hacked her website or we hacked this or right. 

32:45 - Stacey (Host)
We hacked the cyber security, but at the same time, exactly who's got the protections, and? 

32:50 - Jocelyn King (Host)
and so a lot of it was like, oh my gosh, I can't go do this kind of work because this could you know what happens? Well, you're brave right now you're brave, I'm protected by all these people, okay right so I'm I'm inside the castle back off with the, with the, with the fortress walls and more fortress walls and moats and everything and an army, and so if they can get to me, they could certainly get to you. All the more reason for you to protect yourself is there anything new? 

33:16 - Stacey (Host)
like, as we're kind of closing out, is there anything new that you want everybody to know to protect themselves? Any, any something's coming down the pike like something we should not do really be careful of social media. 

33:27 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Here's one thing I will say in in 98 of cases, at least 95 people have a little spidey sense, a little gut feeling of like this doesn't seem right, I shouldn't do this right. And the way cyber criminals work, they get you into panic mode. Our prefrontal cortex is where all our great thinking happens. That's where you and I do our best, most intelligent stuff, we make the right decisions and all that. And then we've got our limbic system, which is the fight or flight mode. Right Fight, flight or freeze. They get you out of here and into here. And once you're here and your adrenaline's going, you can get back in, but you can only. You're only fueling one part of your brain or the other. So once you're in your fight or flight mode, it's harder to get back. The way to do it is to calm down and say you know what, I know what to do. I remember listening to the interview you know on gurus and game changers. I remember what to do. I remember don't you know? Take a beat. You know, because five minutes is not going to make a difference. And one of the things that people do like if you get a text saying it's your bank, or like during the CrowdStrike episode when people were grounded in airplanes. What was happening is they're getting all these, they're posting on social media that they're grounded and this is horrible and all. And then they're getting text messages, supposedly from their airline, but it's from hackers who are going oh cool, these people suck. Hackers love disasters because it gives them an opportunity to get you because you wouldn't normally, you wouldn't normally, right. And so what they do is they're texting. They were saying we're so sorry, we saw your post. We're so you know, we're sorry, we can get you on. You know this next flight to so-and-so and so you know, but we need, you know, the $100. We just need a $100 deposit or whatever. So you do the $100 deposit In the meantime and you're getting there and finding out there's no such flight. They want you in panic mode. So if you're in panic mode and your spidey senses are going off, going, something doesn't seem right. You need to stop, put it down, ground yourself. What I recommend is you just take several deep breaths and feel your feet on the floor, feel your legs in the chair. What's happening is you're putting yourself in the present moment, so you're getting out of worrying about oh my gosh, what's going to happen. You try to get yourself out of panic mode, bring your heart rate down and then think okay, what should I do? 

35:57
Assume that 10% of your friends' Facebook accounts have been hacked. So if they're asking you for something like oh my God, I'm stranded in Cancun and I need, could you just send me 200? Usually it's a small number too. What they really want is access to your account. Do not go through the Facebook messenger, because it's going to. Don't go through your Facebook chat to the person because you were talking to the hacker. Your friend's probably not even on Facebook, yeah Right, but they look like them. So social engineering is increasing with AI, so that's why you have to be more careful and put these protections on your passwords on your accounts the things we're talking about. If you do the basic hygiene, you're going to be 10 times safer than you are today. I guarantee you. 

36:41
You're listening to this podcast, you're a sitting duck in at least one, if not 10, areas. And the bad guys only have to be right once is the mantra we have. The bad guys only have to be right once and you have to do your best to take care of yourself so you could be really strong in passwords, or? Yes, I've frozen my credit, but when was the last time you updated your router software? 

37:07 - Stacey (Host)
Ever, I don't think I've ever done that. Oh my gosh. 

37:10 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Have you ever changed the password, or is it still admin, and 1111 or 0000? Once you can see your digital house, your online house, you can protect it as good as you protect your current house. Amazing, I want to help people live safer, better lives and I want to thank you for having me on. 

37:29 - Stacey (Host)
Of course You're so wonderful. 

37:30 - Jocelyn King (Host)
I hope that your audience has gotten some tips out of this that they can use, and we'll use them today. So please, if you're listening, pick one thing you're going to do and just do it today. And what's your website again. 

37:43 - Mark (Host)
SmarterOnlineS to do, and just do it today, and what's your website again, so they can smarter online? 

37:50 - Stacey (Host)
Yes, smarter online safetycom. Smarter online safetycom. You're amazing. You're so awesome. 

37:53 - Mark (Host)
I've learned so much today, right, haven't you learned a lot? I have a to do list, but I feel like it's just. 

37:56 - Stacey (Host)
We're just digging into the surface of what we need to know and like, and I'm just more scared. 

38:02 - Jocelyn King (Host)
So well, I'd say this is this scare. You know what this scare is like. This scare is like when you go to the doctor and they're telling you you know you're overweight and you're not exercising and you're having your life. 

38:13 - Stacey (Host)
Have you been at my doctor's appointment with me? 

38:14 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Bath scare is to get you to sign up for a gym. That's a good scare, and I hope that this is a good scare, okay. 

38:20 - Stacey (Host)
It. This is a good scare. Okay, it's a good scare and I will go to the gym. Thank you, John. 

38:24 - Mark (Host)
That was a subtle way of telling it, really, I wasn't speaking to you. 

38:27 - Stacey (Host)
That's kind of surreptitious, but okay, fine, fine, that's how we read it. Thank you again. Thank you so much. 

38:33 - Jocelyn King (Host)
Thank you so much and thank you, guys for watching this You're still here. 

38:41 - Stacey (Host)
You're still here. You're still listening. Thanks for listening to the Gurus and Game Changers podcast While you're here. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to rate this episode and leave us a quick review. We want to know what you thought of the show and what you took from it and how it might have helped you. We read and appreciate every comment. Thanks, See you next week.