Shoulder Surfing in Hong Kong with Security Consultant Ilya Umanskiy

Ilya is an asset protection practitioner and sought after security specialist. After immigrating to the US from Moscow, he graduated and later taught at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. He spent his formative professional years at Prudential Financial HQ in Newark, NJ, under the tutelage of Paul DeMatteis. He then went on to Kroll Security for eleven years - starting in New York and then moving to Hong Kong. Ilya now consults and coaches under his own brand - Sphere State - and closely collaborates with a team of practitioners at Current Consulting, based in Hong Kong and mainland China. Ilya is helping clients protect people, information, reputation, and environments. He has worked for governments, corporations, and high net-worth individuals.

I wanted to talk to someone about corporate security and the spycraft and counter-espionage that goes into other than governmental operations – what I got was something I hadn’t expected - a nuanced discussion of the theory and application of security in our lives with terms like: digital pause, shoulder surfing, video analytics and my favorite fundamental aspiration. Ilya and I talked a bit about the psychology and history of security then veered into current events and ways to process the diluge of information available today. This was recorded in mid march of 2020 just as the world was becoming aware of the surge of Coronavirus cases. Two weeks later it already seems like the before-times, but this episode is a look into future challenges in the security industry.

Resources mentioned:

Talking to Strangers by Malcom Gladwell
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
The Gift of Fear by Gavin deBecker

The Benefits of Traveling Grey, by Scott Stewart, Stratfor
Misfit, by Ilya Umanskiy in Medium