Local IT expert T. Robin Cole III contributes to cybersecurity book

T. Robin Cole III is president and chief executive officer of The Rite Group, a Jackson-based company specializing in business technology and information technology solutions.

He has been interested in the computer and software industry for close to 60 years. On March 19, he collaborated with 28 other IT experts worldwide to launch his first book, “From Exposed to Secure” about the subject.

The book describes how people can take action to protect computers and information systems from cyber criminals.

“Every organization, whether it’s a profit, nonprofit or government entity, is running on data,” Cole said. “Everybody is running on computers and data. It’s an exception of all exceptions for that not to be the case.”

“From Exposed to Secure” is written for those wishing to keep personal accounts, businesses or organizational sites safe from scams. Cole said it uses language anyone can understand and doesn’t rely heavily on technological jargon.

Many people who think they’re not vulnerable to cyber trickery actually are, he added, and he said optimistic bias of them not being impacted sets them up to be targets of increasingly organized scammers and thieves.

“Very similar to a wave of armyworms attacking a wheat field this time of year and just coming and eating it all, from all over the world, through the internet, we’re in an information war,” Cole said.

According to the 2023 FBI Internet Crime Report, the American public filed more than 880,000 complaints about cybersecurity threats last year, with financial losses exceeding $12.5 billion.

Phishing is one topic tackled in his book, and a particularly notable one. The FBI reported twice as many phishing attacks in 2023 than the number of extortion, non-payment and personal data breach attacks combined — just shy of 300,000.

“The primary defense against phishing is to train employees not to make mistakes,” said Cole, adding that the book informs readers how to make training interesting.

Cole was just one of dozens of writers who helped compose the 232-page book.

“There’s a tremendous depth of wisdom and knowledge that comes to play here,” he said.

His involvement with the book was a yearlong endeavor and he said he was pleased with peoples’ interest in it.

“From Exposed to Secure” is available at online retailers, as an e-book and in print from New York-based Morgan James Publishing.