Giving back: Trilogy helps older populations better understand cyber threats and how to fight them

Cybersecurity Meets Community Impact with Joe Mazzie

After he retired from the FBI’s Information Technology (IT) division, Joe Mazzie found a new passion: helping older populations better understand cyber threats so that they do not fall victim to scams. Threats, such as email, text message, and telephone spam, are threatening to all ages, but seniors are heavily targeted by bad actors.

Joe Mazzie, Business Development Advisor at Trilogy Innovations

Mazzie’s ability to connect with seniors on this topic was serendipitous for this 33-year FBI veteran, as it aligned perfectly with Trilogy’s desire to give back to local communities.

“A local church group asked me to talk about it since I was known as ‘the IT guy,’” laughed Mazzie, who worked at the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The Clarksburg, West Virginia, native actually helped move the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division to his hometown, where it officially started operation in 1992.

“A couple other groups asked me to speak to their groups since that first presentation, and I really enjoyed doing that,” he said. “Then I found out it was a perfect fit with Trilogy.”

Mazzie has longstanding friendships with Trilogy CEO Brandon Downey and President Randy Cottle, connections that occurred long before the two co-founded the company in 2010. Mazzie liked that one of Trilogy’s foundational pillars is giving back to local communities and, after speaking with Downey and Cottle, the pieces came together for a great fit.

“This is centered around cybersecurity for seniors,” Mazzie said. “That’s who these bad actors are targeting, and the vulnerability of seniors makes them targets.”

Topics to senior groups range from suspicious emails and phone calls to safety measure when using ATMs and gas pumps to the importance of using “tap to pay” devices whenever possible. His presentations have given audiences comfort and confidence in a world where, sadly, fraud is a common foe.

“This gives me the ability to give back and I’ve been very well received,” he said. “I’ve been shocked at and proud of individuals at these meetings who have stepped forward and told of how they’ve been victims of these scams. One person I spoke with had been defrauded of $150,000. That can’t be easy to talk about, but it was still important for this person to learn as much as possible about these threats.”

Mazzie’s presentations have also spread to other audiences such as youth groups and sees the popularity growing of what he and Trilogy are doing. While he has presented to audiences located near Trilogy headquarters in Bridgeport, W.Va., as well as near its Morgantown offices, he can envision the importance of the messaging leading to groups farther away.

“With Trilogy, I have the ability to do something that mirrors a part of the company’s mission. I know this is part of what the company is all about, and that’s important to me,” Mazzie said.

“I’m not a cyber guy; I’m an IT guy. But I like helping people keep their personal information secure. And that’s a wonderful way to give back.”