Scott Schober
Scott Schober is an American wireless cybersecurity expert. He is the CEO and president of Berkeley Varitronics Systems.
Education
Schober graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Kean University in 1992, after which he attended graduate studies in telecommunications at New York University.
Berkeley Varitronics Systems
Schober has been the CEO and president of Berkeley Varitronics Systems since 2000. The company has developed several devices that have been featured in the news. One product is used to help teachers and professors detect cell phones used for cheating on exams. Others are microwave-based devices used by the US military. BVS devices can also be used to root out or stop corporate espionage. Fortune Magazine wrote of the company that its partners included Abbott Labs, NASA and the Secret Service.
Media
Schober is frequently interviewed in the news media as an expert in online security. Examples of these InterViews include an October 2013 Bloomberg News panel discussing the fall of The Silk Road, including its affects on the stability of bitcoins and the ability for site users to remain anonymous. He has also appeared on Arise News to discuss issues including the problem of corporate espionage. He has stated that the trade secrets and intellectual property of companies, both large and small, are at risk. Schober has also discussed the international scope of the problem, and both technology and non-tech methods of preventing espionage, such as non-disclosure agreements, instituting background checks for all new employees or searching social media sites for information before hiring someone.
On CTV News, Schober has discussed the role of government in forcing Internet companies to divulge the personal information of its users. In an interview that aired on Blaze TV, he discussed the methodology used by the NSA to access the email messages of American citizens as well as foreigners in order to extract national security information. On Fox News Network, he discussed potential future government proposals for tracking drivers with the intent to levy a tax correlated to the amount of miles driven by individual cars. He has also discussed the security of government computers from hackers, particularly during software upgrades or other government computer system maintenance. Other subjects he has discussed in television news segments include the hacking of the computer systems of companies like Twitter and The New York Times.
In September 2013 Schober was featured in the CBC television documentary Faking the Grade, regarding hi-tech devices to catch cheaters and spy on illegal cellphone use. In the media, he has also discussed the collection of consumer data by the government via consumer products such as videogames.