Rich Owen
Retired and former CISO
AKA Johnny Security Seed
Rich has over 50 years of experience in the field of information protection. He is a past International President, Distinguished Fellow and Honor Role member of the Information Systems Security Association. He is also member of the Information Security Hall of Fame (ISSA), the 2021 recipient of the Harold F. Tipton Lifetime Achievement Award (ISC)2, a Fellow of the Ponemon Institute and an advisor to the EU Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. He has had multiple certifications to include CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CIPT, MBCI, and CPP.
Rich created the information security programs for:
- Mission Operations, at Johnson Space Center, NASA,
- American Traffic Solutions
His current mission is to help individuals and companies protect their information. In this effort free classes have been given to schools and civic organizations about:
- Security and Privacy (How to protect yourself)
- The Evolution of Computers (with stories from the space center)
- An Introduction to Cyber Security (How to build a program)
As a part of this effort, he has begun a series of books to promote an interest in Cyber Security for today’s youth. The Cyber Security Sam adventures are about a high school freshman who ends up working with the FBI to solve cyber-crime. The stories are based on real cyber events. The first book in the series is "Time Out", which is about some timing issues in his smart school. The second book, "The Invisible Man" addresses several issues but focuses on a bank robbery where the main suspect appears to be a ghost. "Rosie I'm Home" addresses some automation issues and scams that are in place today.
He has written a professional line of books. The first is for all users of phone, email or messaging. It contains real examples of SCAMs; how to identify them and what to do about them. This is the book "Your Personal Information is at Risk: A Guide for Protecting Yourself".
"The Alchemy of Information Protection: A Cybersecurity Druid's Spell Book" is now available. It written for the non-cybersecurity executive and the person who is tasked with creating a program to protect the company's information. This book has been used a source document in a university program for a Certificate in Information Security Management and is being translated into Russian by the EU Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine.