Brian Gill is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and angel investor. Brian currently serves as Chairman of Gillware, which provides cyber risk assessments, data recovery, incident response, and digital forensics services. He is a co-founder of Phoenix Nuclear Labs and served on PNLs board from inception to when it decided to spin-off SHINE Medical Technologies. Those two companies have raised over 100 million dollars of venture capital and employ hundreds of people in Wisconsin.
What you will learn from this episode:
- How Brian first began a successful data recovery business before getting involved in funding nuclear science technology research
- How the rise in ransomware attacks has helped position Brian’s data recovery business as an industry specialist spinoff of the main business
- How ransomware works, how criminals can gain access to your network, and how “social engineering” scams are the keys they use to get in
- How criminals will encrypt all the data in your network and then blackmail you into paying large sums of money to release your own data
- Why many of these criminals work for state-sponsored criminal syndicates and aren’t even breaking the law in their local jurisdiction
- Why too many business owners are reticent to spend money on security systems, leaving their businesses vulnerable in ways they may not even understand
- How investing into your data security now can help you stave off or minimize costly financial disasters later
- Brian shares some of the early challenges he encountered and mistakes he made and discusses the key lessons he learned
- Why choosing your investment partners to raise capital for your business is vital, and why the right investors can bring more than just money to the table
- How Brian uses both internal and external marketing and thought leadership as a powerful way to repurpose content and connect with existing and new audiences
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