CISO Lessons from a Children’s Novel as Cybersecurity Outgrows IT and Building Talent – Tom Arnold – BSW #429
Cyber threats and cyber criminals indiscriminately target the old as well as young regardless of race, creed or origin. Teens and young adults must realize that on the Internet nobody knows you’re a rat. How do we keep kids and young adults safe in an era of AI-driven attacks?
Tom Arnold, Adjunct Professor, Digital Evidence & Forensics, Cybersecurity Graduate Program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, joins Business Security Weekly to discuss his new book: The Digital Detective: First Intervention. We examine how technologies like deepfakes, voice cloning, and hyper-personalized scams are being used to target younger audiences, and what parents, educators, communities, and CISOs can do to build awareness, resilience, and smart digital habits.
Learn how today’s highly organized operations, powered by automation and advanced AI, power the bad actors’ tools, techniques, and procedures—making them more effective than ever. Understanding the past helps us prepare for the future—and protect the next generation online, including our employees.
Segment Resources:
- https://www.idigitaldetective.com/blog
- https://www.idigitaldetective.com/
- https://www.unlv.edu/degree/ms-cybersecurity
In the leadership and communications segment, Executives say cybersecurity has outgrown the IT department, The Most Dangerous Leadership Mistake Isn’t a Wrong Answer. It’s a Wrong Question, Building cyber talent through competition, residency, and real-world immersion, and more!
Tom Arnold teaches in the Cybersecurity graduate program at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. In the past he Co-founded Payment Software Company (d/b/a PSC), part of NCC Group. Based out of San Jose, California. In his most recent role, he headed up the forensics and audit teams, specializing in internal and external security assessments related to US and international standards. In early 2025, Tom Arnold’s novel The Digital Detective: First Intervention was released. The story is how a 14-year-old and his friend use forensics to foil an international terror plot. The novel is targeted at age 9+ readers and structured as a first chapter book with the intent of teaching cyber hygiene and security to young adults and readers.
Mr. Arnold has been directly involved investigating security breach cases involving unauthorized access to computer systems and cloud environments. He has been the lead investigator on large breaches where environments spanned over 7,000 servers and involved complex threat hunting to find the adversary. Mr. Arnold has provided consulting to the US Secret Service, gives policy guidance to US government and regulatory agencies, and is on the steering committee for the Las Vegas branch of the USSS/Cyber Fraud Task Force. He also was sought out to give expert testimony to the US Senate and House of Representatives on the proposed SAFE Act and Export Administration Act. Mr. Arnold has an extensive background in Internet eBusiness systems and electronic commerce, having published several white papers, and designed and consulted to some of the most successful electronic businesses.
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Matt Alderman
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