When Albert Whale, the cybersecurity titan, graced the Shine on Success podcast, we ventured together into the realms of digital fortresses and the echoes of 'Think and Grow Rich.' His journey, carved through the bedrock of determination and clarity of purpose, shows us the profound impact of unwavering persistence and the synergy of teamwork. From early days programming the Commodore 64 to fortifying post-9/11 national security, Albert's narrative is a masterclass in transforming hurdles into professional milestones.
Navigating through the brisk waters of today's business climate, Albert imparts the essence of concise communication, especially when capturing the attention of swift-moving investors. The episode takes a deep look into the world of mastermind groups, sharing how these collectives shape our trajectories in untold ways. We uncover the influence of self-help literature on our decisions and successes, and pull back the curtain on the writer's journey, demonstrating how penning one's expertise can establish thought leadership and amplify one's voice in the industry.
We wrap up with a glimpse into Albert's latest innovation, a network appliance that's a game-changer in internal threat detection, and his surprising showdown with a crypto miner hiding in a smart TV. Albert's experiences blend success principles and a positive mindset into a life philosophy, which will soon be encapsulated in his upcoming book "Getting Unhacked." As your host, Dionne Malush, I'm thrilled to share Albert's insights and anecdotes, inviting you to plug into this electrifying conversation and spark your own path to success. Follow us for more stories that turn life's challenges into beacons of achievement. Keep shining bright!
When Albert Whale, the cybersecurity titan, graced the Shine on Success podcast, we ventured together into the realms of digital fortresses and the echoes of 'Think and Grow Rich.' His journey, carved through the bedrock of determination and clarity of purpose, shows us the profound impact of unwavering persistence and the synergy of teamwork. From early days programming the Commodore 64 to fortifying post-9/11 national security, Albert's narrative is a masterclass in transforming hurdles into professional milestones.
Navigating through the brisk waters of today's business climate, Albert imparts the essence of concise communication, especially when capturing the attention of swift-moving investors. The episode takes a deep look into the world of mastermind groups, sharing how these collectives shape our trajectories in untold ways. We uncover the influence of self-help literature on our decisions and successes, and pull back the curtain on the writer's journey, demonstrating how penning one's expertise can establish thought leadership and amplify one's voice in the industry.
We wrap up with a glimpse into Albert's latest innovation, a network appliance that's a game-changer in internal threat detection, and his surprising showdown with a crypto miner hiding in a smart TV. Albert's experiences blend success principles and a positive mindset into a life philosophy, which will soon be encapsulated in his upcoming book "Getting Unhacked." As your host, Dionne Malush, I'm thrilled to share Albert's insights and anecdotes, inviting you to plug into this electrifying conversation and spark your own path to success. Follow us for more stories that turn life's challenges into beacons of achievement. Keep shining bright!
Hello and welcome to Shine on Success. I'm your Dionne Malush, . Today we're welcoming a cybersecurity expert, Albert Whale. With over three decades of experience in the field, albert has gone from assisting the FBI after 9-11 to safeguarding national critical infrastructures. His journey is not just about tech, but about overcoming challenges, making bold moves and teaching others along the way. Albert's work spans from the Veterans Administration to international banks, each step of the way of over adversity. Join us as we uncover the story of a man who's not just securing digital spaces, but also empowering others to find success in the face of change. Welcome, Albert. I'm so glad to have you on today. How are you doing?
Albert Whale:
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, Dionne.
Dionne Malush:
I'm so excited Together. We're in the Napoleon Hill Institute and you are a Napoleon Hill Institute coach. Certified coach, Certified coach. You've been a great mentor to me and I really appreciate it. I want to talk a little bit about how Thinking Grow Rich has affected you in your own life. Thinking Grow Rich emphasizes the power of a definite purpose. How is having a clear-purpose guide in your career in cybersecurity and your decision to assist the FBI post 9-11?
Albert Whale:
Wow, that's a really great question, thank you. So when 9-11 happened and I saw the planes hitting the buildings, you know that was the question came to me who's going to stop this? How are we going to protect ourselves? And that's when I decided that I needed to get into cybersecurity, because I was let go from the military. I broke four discs in my back so I couldn't do manual labor and I had started building the internet and worked for telephone companies to give them access to the internet. Okay, and right after 9-11, the FBI contacted me and said hey, we need your help. You know the internet. We need somebody to help us investigate the September 17th watch list. Okay, it was 36 pages and a nine-point font, double-sided.
Dionne Malush:
What? Yeah, that's a lot of information, wow.
Albert Whale:
That's why they needed the internet because you know you can get further, faster and you don't have to leave your home right.
Dionne Malush:
Yes.
Albert Whale:
Are we doing that now?
Dionne Malush:
What.
Albert Whale:
About leaving our home.
Dionne Malush:
We're doing the same exact thing, and you know what it's so amazing, like there's so much we can do in a day because we don't have to drive. You know, I'm so much more productive today.
Albert Whale:
Yeah, my drive time really sucks. It takes about 20 seconds to get there. Yeah, yeah 20 seconds.
Dionne Malush:
I like it. So that's interesting. So for me, just listening to you because we haven't had this conversation before like this it's just like I sit here and like shock, just knowing what I know about what you're doing and so you have experience You've been in the Navy and as a service vehicle veteran influenced your career in cybersecurity. How did that happen? How did that influence you?
Albert Whale:
How did it influence me? Well, when I got out of the Navy and I couldn't work a blue-collar job, I decided that I had to go back to school.
Dionne Malush:
OK.
Albert Whale:
And everybody told me you can't go to college. Now You've been away from school for six years, watch me. And so this is one of the principles from Napoleon Hill too. I didn't know this at the time, but adversity is a leverage and launching point for success. Right, I agree. And people tell you you can't do something that ignites that passion even more. Me too. You want to show them that yes, you can and yes, I will and I did.
Dionne Malush:
It definitely lights a fire under me as well. I love that. I remember when I was young and one of the young boys said to me you'll never be anything without me and I thought, oh really, really, watch and see. So I definitely ignited a fire for me. So Napoleon Hill talks about the role of persistence in achieving success. Can you share how persistence has played a role in your career, especially in the challenging projects or initiatives?
Albert Whale:
Yeah, persistence is really important when you're building a new product that's never been built before, and again people say you can't do that, watch me. So when I was going to college, I was programming computers that nobody had before. I mean, the Commodore 64 came out and I was already adding operating system commands to it.
Dionne Malush:
Okay.
Albert Whale:
But I'd never been taught how to do that. I had called up several software companies and I was working with another gentleman. He was an honor student. Yeah, he was worried about getting a B on his report card. I'm worried about paying the bills to go to college. I said look, if you take eight commands, I'll take the other 44 and we'll have a 52-command set.
Dionne Malush:
Okay, that's amazing.
Albert Whale:
He took those commands and he never finished.
Dionne Malush:
He didn't finish his.
Albert Whale:
He didn't finish his, I finished mine. I had people ready to buy, so persistence I've made my part right. Yes. Then I decided from there that I have to do everything myself. I can do it faster, me too. One of the Napoleon Hill principles is if you want to go somewhere fast, do it yourself, but if you want to go somewhere far, do it with others. Yeah, so now I have a mastermind and we're taking our cybersecurity tool that I built because of persistence, globally.
Dionne Malush:
So what is the commoner 64? What is that?
Albert Whale:
That was an early computer.
Dionne Malush:
Like 1964? Is that what it stood for?
Albert Whale:
No, it had 64K of RAM.
Dionne Malush:
Oh, that's it. Can you imagine running a computer on 64K RAM? I went as much RAM as I can possibly have the fastest computer I've ever done. Remember the policy.
Albert Whale:
It was the home where they had the big blocks and you were trying to hit the block on back and forth. Well, this was the next level above that, and it actually had color. The V20 came out first.
Dionne Malush:
I went to art school and we had the little Mac with the screen. That was about three by three.
Albert Whale:
Yes.
Dionne Malush:
If I still had that, it would probably be worth millions of dollars. But I actually learned. If I last semester of going to Art Institute, we learned on that computer and that was 1989, a long time ago. That's funny. So specialized knowledge, that's what you're all about In your journey. How have you continuously updated your knowledge and skills in the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity? How do you keep to be the best that you are?
Albert Whale:
It's continuous learning. I'm a lifelong learner. Besides having a degree in electrical engineering, I have six certifications in cyber security. I was one of the first CISSP's. That's a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, and if that isn't a tongue twister or nothing, but, I was number 28,730 in 2012. No 2002. That's when I got certified. I was one of the first people 28,000. So right now the number is close to 600,000.
Dionne Malush:
Wow, that's impressive. That was a long time ago, though. It's been a while Couple of days. I'm just teasing. One thing I love about what we're doing with the Napoleon Hill Institute is the masterminds that they have, and they do so much training. It's hard for me to keep up with them in a given week because I have so many other things I want to learn. I'm learning AI and I'm becoming a master mid-journey creator and I am a graphic designer. I am running this company of 200 people. It's a lot to do in a week, but it's such an important part of what they're teaching and since they're a key concept in Napoleon Hill's teachings. Other than Napoleon Hill Institute, have you been a part of any other groups in your professional life and how have they influenced your success?
Albert Whale:
Good question. Yes, I've been part of other groups. I was in the first cohort for Founder Institute, which was a business accelerator for entrepreneurs. It taught you about business and how to get in business and start your business and how to pitch your business so that you could find investors right and grow your business. And then I was in startup booths. Oh, so that program was, I think, 12 weeks.
Dionne Malush:
Okay.
Albert Whale:
And we met on Tuesdays for two hours, maybe three. Yeah, it was six to eight, two hours an evening and we started off with our speech about our company at three minutes.
Dionne Malush:
Wow. And that's a long time A long time right, I remember doing it one minute.
Albert Whale:
Many people couldn't get their idea across in three minutes.
Dionne Malush:
Wow.
Albert Whale:
And then we went down to one minute and then we went to 30 seconds, and the whole idea here is we're in this instant gratification society. Everybody wants what they want right now, and text messages demand your attention. Every time you get it, it's like call me.
Dionne Malush:
Yeah, that wasn't happening anymore.
Albert Whale:
So we had to learn how to get investors attention in 20 seconds or less.
Dionne Malush:
Okay.
Albert Whale:
Because if you don't get their attention, they're looking at their phone, they're looking at who's next, they want to see the other spreadsheets that are coming up or the power PowerPoint slides that are coming up. You know who's on the agenda because you lost them right, mm-hmm. And so that really helped me refine my sales pitch and my understanding of what it is I'm doing, so that when I was in my day job and I'm talking to Executives from General Electric about a new project that we want to build, I was picked Because I could communicate better.
Dionne Malush:
And so mastermind groups have been a part of your life Prior.
Albert Whale:
To yes, and they're. They're highly effective. Let me tell you, if you want to go far and you go with other people, build a mastermind too.
Dionne Malush:
It's amazing. I love, I love mastermind so much and you know so. Tell me about your, your history with Napoleon Hill, thinking very rich. How long have you been reading self development? How long have you been reading Napoleon Hill? Let's talk about that, because this is important, because my goal, just so you know, is interview 500 people in the next few years, just like Napoleon Hill did.
Albert Whale:
But to do a few years.
Dionne Malush:
If I drink a lot of caffeine I could probably do it faster, and I do drink a lot, so you never know what's gonna happen. But I still have to work, you know, and run my company.
Albert Whale:
So I forget when Rhonda Byrne brought the secret 2006, I think okay.
Albert Whale:
So my wife got me involved in Rhonda Byrne's secret and I watched that I don't know ten times. Yes, and she learned about it during her Education at night school and you know she was taking a psych class and they wanted to know more about the secret and everything. And I started Thinking about that and I said you know, I can think about this, these things, and attract them, right, that's the law of attraction. And I wasn't getting the success I wanted. So I started looking at all the co-stars that she had and she had quite a few people.
Dionne Malush:
He did amazing.
Albert Whale:
Joe Vitale.
Dionne Malush:
Bob Proctor.
Albert Whale:
Bob Proctor. He's the one I latched on the most. Because he's just an incredible human being so, I watched his YouTube videos. I watched his free webinars for about eight years Wow.
Dionne Malush:
I think I did the same.
Albert Whale:
I'm pretty much the same and you know, then I Was in a webinar and I got contacted by the coaches for Proctor Gallagher Institute. Okay, bob Proctor's company. Okay, and the coach that contacted me, the salesperson, was Cleona A'Hara. Hmm, and she told me look, albert, you've been studying this material for, did you say, eight years? Hmm, how far did you get with that? I'm not far enough.
Dionne Malush:
Yeah, I get it.
Albert Whale:
I feel this, I feel it right where you're saying and she said Until you make it the decision to join us, you're not gonna change. And that's what happened. You made the decision so I made the decision to join her and she was my coach and my mentor and Within 30 days I was writing my first book 30 days. I didn't know, I had a book in me, okay, and that book was called hashtag hacked what year was that?
Dionne Malush:
2021 2021, you decide you're gonna write a book in 2022 in 30 days 2022.
Albert Whale:
No, I started in October 2021. It published on Amazon February 2022.
Dionne Malush:
That's impressive.
Albert Whale:
My publisher took as long to publish it as I did to write it Eight weeks. It took them eight weeks to publish it and all they had to do was push a couple buttons on the keyboard.
Dionne Malush:
Yeah, you had to actually write the whole book and have it designed and all the stuff to put together, so you know well, people contact me right after that.
Albert Whale:
Okay and we started writing the second book behind me. Hashtag hack 2 and I had 12 cybersecurity professionals each contributed chapter you did we became a number one International bestseller in under 12 hours and 12 hours Wow, that's incredible. It took twice as long to write the book because I had other people writing it with me. Oh, of course and I kidded everybody that I was the chief cather it certainly did feel sometimes like I was herding cats.
Dionne Malush:
Well, I've been involved in two books like that over the years and I really loved it. And I actually wrote a book, too, called 25 Tips on Selling a Home in Pittsburgh. So I took some of that knowledge. But I was the only real estate agent to ever write a book like that. For me it was the best marketing tool I ever had, because I would sign it for them and I take the printed piece I self-publish. So it was kind of fun. I didn't go on Amazon like that. I went on Amazon to actually self-publish it. But writing a book makes you an industry expert and I love that part of my career. So let's talk about the point of the show is taking adversities and turning them into success. So let's talk about a time in your life where you had an adversity that you actually pushed through, got to the other side and created success from it.
Albert Whale:
Yeah, I was just talking about this last week when I was on a project migrating a client from their private data center to the cloud and we had I don't know 250 people working on this project and they had a problem getting communications running from the main data center in Europe through the cloud here in Virginia. And the network team was all gung-ho and they're saying everything's configured, we know it works. And I'm looking at what's happening and what I see communicating back and forth and I said, yeah, but it's not working, something's not right. And they're like no, it works fine, there's something wrong with your computer. And I'm like this happens from 10 computers, sir.
Dionne Malush:
It's not one computer that has a problem.
Albert Whale:
It's the destination. So it took about two weeks to get a troubleshooting team together that I was also involved in and the vendor, and it turned out the configuration was wrong. But as soon as we got that fixed we were back on target. So it benefited being behind the eight ball and having all of those problems come up, because we did find the actual solution but nobody else could find it until I got involved.
Dionne Malush:
So you're impressive. There's no doubt about it. I love having you in my life. I have to tell you that I really you have such an amazing personality To be so intelligent as I know you are, and then to have this incredible persona. I love talking to you. So let's talk about desires, because Napoleon Hill talks about that a lot. So he discussed this transformation of desire into reality. Well, it was one of your biggest desires or goals in cybersecurity, and how did you turn it into reality?
Albert Whale:
Yeah, I wanted to change the world. I still do. I turned that into reality by creating an appliance that sits inside the network to find the attackers that are already inside.
Dionne Malush:
So you've created that.
Albert Whale:
I created it and I stuck it in my house. I had a daughter working for Best Buys Geek Squad said Dad, you got to get this TV. This is the right TV. It's got all the buzzwills and the new whiz bangs that go along with new technology. And I'm like, yeah, I like Vizio, but you want a Samsung? All right, we'll try it. So we stuck the Samsung in our home network and the first thing that comes up is a crypto coin miner on the television.
Dionne Malush:
And the second thing is like yeah, that's how you get thatount what? Please explain that to me, because I had no idea.
Albert Whale:
Well, that means that, embedded into the networking on the device itself, is a backdoor to use your resource to mine cryptocurrency for whoever put it there, and as a side benefit they get backdoor access into your home network.
Dionne Malush:
What.
Albert Whale:
Most people don't see these things.
Dionne Malush:
No, and we were just talking today about. I said an agent's name, and then my partner had his phone and the agent popped up in his Facebook. Can you tell us how that works? It's so interesting to me. Is it geo-targeting? Is that what it's called?
Albert Whale:
No, that's not geo-targeting. This was built-in malware.
Dionne Malush:
So this is actually malware built-in.
Albert Whale:
So everybody's got technology in their hand.
Dionne Malush:
Okay, so fun Got it.
Albert Whale:
So where's this thing made?
Dionne Malush:
China. Good answer.
Albert Whale:
I usually say if it takes longer than it took you, I say it's a red country. It starts with the letter C, it ends with the letter A and it's not Canada, columbia, cuba or Croatia.
Dionne Malush:
So I got it, so there.
Albert Whale:
Yeah, they actually subsidize their manufacturing so that it costs less for us to buy technology from them than it would be if we made it here and made it secure.
Dionne Malush:
Made it secure, so you have so much knowledge and so you're extremely diverse with it. What's a common cybersecurity challenge you've seen across businesses and how do you approach this? Let's talk about both business and personal. Let's talk about that, because I watched your video the other day and it was so interesting about hacking on Facebook. But let's talk about in a business. What is one thing that you could give some advice about?
Albert Whale:
Yeah, well, I give 10 things in my first book slash hashtag hacked. Okay, I give 10 for business and 10 for personal. Okay, and the website gives additional information. It's called thehackedbookcom.
Dionne Malush:
Thehackedbookcom.
Albert Whale:
Okay, the main thing is, when a penetration test for a business is done, as soon as it's printed it's obsolete. Most businesses do a test in the network without the users and they do that so that the users don't have a bad day. So if you slow down the network, they're going to say, oh, the network's slow.
Dionne Malush:
Okay, so that's why they don't test the people they test the main one.
Albert Whale:
The problem with this testing philosophy that we have is, every time there's a breach, a person is involved, whether it's a user, an administrator, an executive, somebody's in the network that caused the breach to happen. So if we're only testing the resources that are there, we're missing the main problem. That's why my appliance looks at live traffic, with everybody there.
Dionne Malush:
And it doesn't slow down the system.
Albert Whale:
No.
Dionne Malush:
Hmm, are you selling this appliance at this point?
Albert Whale:
Yes.
Dionne Malush:
Hmm, can they find that on your website?
Albert Whale:
They can it's, it's safe, it's hyphen, safecom.
Dionne Malush:
So hope everyone hears that it's hyphen safecom where you can find this amazing appliance so that you can block everyone from getting your personal and professional information. So in wrapping up, which I hate to do some days I have to stop, but as a coach at the Napoleon Hill Institute, how do you integrate success principles and a positive mindset into your daily life?
Albert Whale:
You know I'm a product of the product. I've written four books in two years. My fourth one, getting Unhacked, is all about my journey that we just talked about, and also how does this come about, how does all of this work? And I included seven other coaches from the Napoleon Hill Institute in the book Getting Unhacked and, as a coach, you'll get a free copy.
Dionne Malush:
Oh, I'm so excited. When is it going to be published?
Albert Whale:
Next month. Hmm, that's fabulous.
Dionne Malush:
That's your fourth book in two years.
Albert Whale:
Yes.
Dionne Malush:
Wow, this is really working for you, this mindset, personal development.
Albert Whale:
Like I said, I'm a product of the product.
Dionne Malush:
I mean, that's the best answer of all, because it's just that simple. You believe it, you can achieve it.
Albert Whale:
I can take other people there. That's why I became a coach.
Dionne Malush:
Yeah, and you're doing a great job and you've been a huge help to me. So, as we wrap up, shine on Success with the most incredible Albert Well. From securing national infrastructure to pioneering cybersecurity solutions, albert's story is a powerful reminder of how resilience, expertise and dedication can lead to remarkable achievements. I'm DM Allish, thanking you for joining us on this insightful journey. Stay safe in the digital world and remember, in cybersecurity and in life, there's always a way to shine bright. And don't forget to follow us on social media as we journey together and turning life's challenges into triumphs. Keep shining and see every obstacle as an opportunity.