Leonardo DiCaprio can help protect your business... Here's How

Leonardo DiCaprio Signing Documents (flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/presidenciamx/)

Leonardo DiCaprio can help protect your business... Here's How

Leonardo DiCaprio is a hugely popular actor from movies like inception and The Great Gatsby.

One movie that he was nominated for was "Catch Me If You Can", where he plays a con artist name Frank Abagnale Jr.

What you may not know is that Frank Abagnale Jr is a real person and "Catch Me If You Can" is based on his true story.

Between the ages of 15 and 21 Abagnale was a conman, check forger and imposter who assumed not less than 8 identities and stole $2.5 million dollars over his 5 years as a criminal.

After serving just 5 years of a 12 year prison sentence, Frank Abagnale Jr was brought into the FBI as a special consultant for financial fraud.

Since then he has founded a financial fraud consultancy company called Abagnale & Associates to help businesses protect themselves from fraud and cyber crimes.

---

Leonardo DiCaprio and Frank Abagnale Jr

An interview by Wired revealed some of his expertise on cyber crime and how to protect yourself it.

When asked if he respected some of the capabilities of today's cyber criminals, Frank Abagnale answered: "No. They are breaking the law"

then he went on to say, "A lot of what happens is our fault"

"For example, I've been involved with the FBI for 37 years. Every case involving cyber crime that I've been involved in, I've never found a master criminal sitting somewhere in Russia or Hong Kong or Beijing. It always ends up that somebody at the company did something they weren't supposed to do. They read an email, went to a website they weren't supposed to. So they opened the door that allowed the person to get in. It's not that these people are that talented but they wait knowing that with a company of 10,000 employees someone is bound to open the door. They just wait for that door to be open."

When asked how individuals can protect themselves his answer was, "It's an education thing."

It's important to be careful with what you post on social media and to educate yourself.

He also stated, "Technology breeds crime and we are constantly trying to develop technology to stay one step ahead of the person trying to use it negatively"

What can you do to protect yourself from cyber crime

Frank Abagnale Jr giving a speech to Experian (flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/experianday/23445871675)

Abagnale Jr offered this advice:

Never post Front facing pictures online.
These photos, along with information like where you are from, date of birth, etc are about 98% of what a cyber criminal needs to steal your identity.

Never use a USB drive that isn't yours. 
One of the things he does to expose the risks that companies face is to randomly place USB ports on the ground that read 'confidential'.  When those curious workers pick up that USB and plug it into the computer they are greeted with a message that reads "This is a test and you failed".

Read More: What To Do After A Cyber Attack

Using this advice, as well as having the proper insurance coverage, can help you protect yourself from being hacked or having identity theft issues arise.