Dr. Eric Cole once hacked into a utility company’s critical infrastructure using the password “password.” This wasn’t a stunt—it was a wake-up call. Today, as cybercrime costs soar toward $10.5 trillion annually, Cole’s mission through Secure Anchor Consulting is to immunize the digital world against threats most never even see coming.
From CIA Hacker to Cyber Sentinel
Cole’s career began in the CIA’s covert cyber division, where he spent eight years breaching systems to expose vulnerabilities.
“To defend effectively, you must first learn to attack,” he says, a philosophy he attained during his tenure at the signature three-letter agency. His work eventually caught the eye of tech titans—McAfee recruited him as CTO, and Lockheed Martin tapped him as chief scientist.
At Lockheed, he designed secure networks for high-stakes projects like the FBI’s Sentinel system, earning recognition as one of only 13 Senior Fellows among 130,000 employees.
But, despite the exciting nature of his work, corporate boardrooms couldn’t contain Cole’s drive. After founding Secure Anchor in 2005, he changed gears toward a more benevolent use of cybersecurity. His firm has since trained over 50,000 professionals and advised entities from Saudi Aramco to the White House.
“Cybersecurity is just as essential as physical security, maybe even more so in today’s era,” he insists. Such ethos has propelled his induction into the Infosec Hall of Fame and earned him the U.S. Air Force’s Cyber Wingman Award.
The Silent War Escalates
While headlines fixate on ransomware, Cole warns of subtler dangers. AI-powered deepfakes now manipulate markets and politics—a fabricated video of a CEO announcing bankruptcy could crash stocks within minutes. Quantum computing looms as a “cryptographic apocalypse,” capable of cracking bank encryptions in seconds.
Meanwhile, supply chain attacks, like the 2020 SolarWinds breach that compromised 18,000 organizations, reveal how one vulnerability can paralyze global systems.
The numbers are something to behold: 72% of companies report rising cyber risks, while hackers alarmingly expose vital infrastructure in developing nations. A 2025 WEF report warns that 42% of Latin American organizations lack confidence in thwarting significant attacks.
“Hackers don’t care about your budget or size,” Cole notes. “If you’re online, you’re a target.”
Immunizing the Digital Ecosystem
Secure Anchor’s methodology is similar to epidemiology—it identifies vulnerabilities, contains threats, and inoculates systems. Cole’s team conducts “cyber autopsies” on breached companies, reverse-engineering attacks to fortify defenses.
For a Midwest hospital chain, this meant neutralizing 12,000 daily intrusion attempts through AI-driven threat hunting. For a European bank, it involved overhauling legacy systems vulnerable to quantum decryption.
However, education remains Cole’s prime weapon. His SEC401 course, the cybersecurity equivalent of a medical residency, has certified 40,000 practitioners. “Knowledge spreads faster than malware,” he says.
“We’re not fighting machines—we’re outsmarting the people behind them,” Cole asserts. As AI turbocharges both cybercrime and cyberdefense, Cole’s combination of espionage-grade tactics and boardroom pragmatism offers a blueprint for survival. With as many as 30,000 websites falling daily to hackers, his cure starts with a simple premise: prepare for the inevitable or pay the price.
