October 29, 2025 • 32 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's that time time, time, luck and load. The Michael
Verie Show is on the air that I can hear you.
(00:33):
Let me tell you something.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm not in resistance of protecting anybody, and I think
that my work over the years that I've been involved
have been absolutely on point in dealing what has to
be dealt with in order to help the people. First
thing you've got to understand is services costs some money,
(00:55):
and we should be willing to get the richest people
in this.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Country, the riches one percent that is.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Protected, make sure they pay their fair taxes so that
we can have the money to provide the service.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
We have a.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Broken tax system, but let's elon musk freeload.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Off everyone else, and it needs to stop.
Speaker 6 (01:16):
Usually, if you're a billionaire, that means that you control
a massive system. It means that you own oil supplies,
it means that you control textiles, it means that you
have a massive labor force under your control. And to
(01:36):
be ethical, if you're a billionaire today, the thing that
you need to do is give up control and power.
So I don't want your money as much as we
want your power.
Speaker 7 (01:47):
For rich you're not paying their fair share in any nation,
that is facing the kind of employment issues, whether it's individual, corporate,
whatever the taxation forms are. And I go back to
the question about Brazil. Brazil has the highest tax to
GDP rate in the Western hemisphere, and guess what, it's
growing like crazy and the rich are getting richer, but
(02:08):
they're pulling people out of poverty.
Speaker 8 (02:10):
Do we want to keep tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans who don't need them and didn't ask for them,
or do we want to make sure that they're paying
their fair share?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Do we want to.
Speaker 8 (02:20):
Do we want to keep subsidizing big oil or do
we want to make sure we're investing in clean energy.
Do we want to jack up interest rates on millions
of students, or do we want to keep investing in
things that will help us and help them in the
long term, things like education and science and a strong
military and care for our veterans. We can't do both.
(02:44):
We can't have it both ways. We've got to make
a choice about what our priorities up.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well, let me tell you Donald Trump and his billion
and a half friends on.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
The my policies are going to pay a hell of
a lot.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
More in taxes today Texas in the future that they're
paying today. Ninety nine, p jo O Rourki humorists wrote,
eat the Rich. I thought it was hilarious. Little did
we know that would practically be the approach of the
left today. The left was much more moderate in nineteen
(03:16):
ninety nine you had the second Clinton term. The left
wasn't really the left. The only real fringe element of
the left was the most extreme unions. Because the heart
of the country was sort of a bell curve. So
everybody you had the really rich and the really left wing,
(03:41):
and most of the country was in the middle. It
was working class people and middle class people. The beauty
of America is rich people want to be called middle class,
and working class people think they are middle class. It's
a wonderful thing. It's what leads to our stability. No
other country had that. But what's happening is a hollowing
(04:04):
out of the middle class and every young person going
to college as the college is skewed far left has
meant you no longer have a middle class. So the
hatred of the rich, there is no balance left in
the system. You have an increasing number of people and
(04:26):
you're seeing this in New York. You have people who
are basically saying, let's storm the gates and kill those
people and take.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
All their money. And if they have their weight, that
is what they will do.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
There is no question in my mind. And they're trying
to find something they can throw at Trump because Trump's
too popular. So they've tried the king, They've tried the authoritative.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Oh, now we've got it.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
After all that money was spent on Barack Obama's presidential headquarters,
presidential library. Who do you think paid for all that?
Now they've got it as well. Trump's building building out
in the White House to make it more glorious for
the next person to occupy it, and he's not letting
the taxpayers pay for it, and that makes him awful.
(05:12):
And now Timmy Wats has taken to the issue on
his podcast because he doesn't like Trump, but he does
love balls.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Somebody dropped me some bass one tenth of America.
Speaker 9 (05:31):
HiT's your boys, Simmy Walls connecting with the white man's car.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Who's got the slack of who's got the plan?
Speaker 10 (05:39):
Yes, Walls, he's the manly man.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
With a mike in his hand and a lesson.
Speaker 9 (05:47):
He's having missedom Bunky games, Timmy Walls.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Okay, what do we can in America.
Speaker 9 (06:01):
First, I don't want to be remiss, and i'd mentioned
are great friends down in the Montrose Houston, Texas. Uh,
I mean those mean monsters that covered up that rainbow walkway.
I say, screw those guys, maybe twice. Well, the Montrose Mafia.
They showed them. They painted right back over where it was.
(06:23):
And that's a big fat rainbow to the rear for
all those against us. Let's give those rainbow wranglers a
big walls aplause, and now we better get to the
matter in hand, the big mean Donald J. Trump renovating
the East Wing. I know, I know, just the thought
of renovating one of the oldest buildings in America gives.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Me the GBS and I'm mad.
Speaker 9 (06:48):
But I gotta tell you, guys, I'm also torn like
a flower on this one. Did you know the East
Wing is home to a fabulous ballroom. Oh, I've been
to so many wonderful big balls in the White House.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Over the years. But now Trump is tearing.
Speaker 9 (07:00):
It down and he wants to make it a bigger,
better ball. We're in for bigger, better balls for years
to come.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Guys.
Speaker 9 (07:08):
I mean, I'm excited, but I mean I'm also mad
because Trump is a mean man.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
But better balls are best for all such a dilemma.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
I'll tell you all well, john Us next week, because
we welcome a blast from the past.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
A man with two names Barney Frank, and.
Speaker 9 (07:27):
He talks about all the balls he's seen in the
White House over the game.
Speaker 11 (07:30):
The man with the groove iss dead.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Lifeless eyes, black eyes to get dollars.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
New York Governor hath the Hopel was there at the
rally when the texts the rich.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Chant broke out.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
This is left wing, radical revolutionary stuff, so she has
to well, here it is.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I that's a rich Yeah, I can hear you. But
here's my friends, misses orat or not listen. I got
(08:35):
one plea for you. I love I love to see
this energy and this passion.
Speaker 12 (08:43):
And for those of you who have not been involved
in the voting or even campaigns for I am so
excited about what is going on here, but I need
to do something.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
All right, one more things, my friend.
Speaker 12 (08:56):
This is about this November's election.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
But take that energy, that passion and take it into
twenty six so.
Speaker 12 (09:06):
Then we can take back to the House or resentatives, take.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
The set and.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Drag they want wait, take back America. Thank you, queens,
thank you.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
So she has to pretend she didn't know what they
were saying. She says she thought they were chanting, let's
go bills.
Speaker 10 (09:39):
Oh really, given the reception you received last night, I
did so Ron's rally where people were chanting, tax the rich,
tax the rich. Are you going to hold the line
on raising taxes even if it means losing an endorsement
or getting a primary challenge.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I clan hear what they were chanting. I thought they
were saying, let's go bills.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I was when you're up there, I heard some noise,
I heard a lot of cheers.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
But later on it became clear to me that there
is a I know this passion for that, and I
went in there as the leader of the Democratic Party
whose job it is to unify and unify behind the
Democratic nominee.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I love the energy out there.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I told them that.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
And I want to do is bottle all that up,
you know, use it in a few days, but take
that to Long Island in the Hudson Valley and make
sure that we.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Can stop the insanity that's.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Happening now while we're in the minority. While we don't
have the power, the levers of power in Washington. I
want to win back the House through New York. And
what I saw in that stadium was refreshing and energizing
to know we can harn us all that, to be
on the same team and to make sure we can
do a lot of great things for the people of
this state and indeed the country.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So no, it's a great event.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
I enjoyed being there.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
So would you change your mind about taxes because of
that event?
Speaker 10 (10:58):
Because of that and apoations about you him endorsing you, well, well,
I didn't ask.
Speaker 13 (11:04):
Him for his endorsement. That's the only reason he hasn't.
They want to know my timely, So let's get through
this election. Let's let the focus be on your race.
I have a lot of time to roll out my
endorsements and which to be many that.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I'll be proud of. So that's unrelated to the event.
I want to be there as leader of the.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Party and say, do a lot of voices in this party,
let's pull it together, let's win this election.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
And on the twenty six Kathy Holkel has has declared
that she is the leader of the Democrat Party. Yeah,
she's she says, she is the leader. You know what,
it's not all these crazy as it's me. That's like
Michael Scott on the office declaring bankruptcy.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I declare bankruptcy. Hey, I just wanted you to know
that you can't just say the word bankruptcy. I don't
expect anything to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I didn't say it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I declared it still tax the rich. Sounds just like
let's go bills.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Remember remember when they were booing Joe Biden and the
reporter was trying to help him, and she said, I
thought they were saying, let's go Brandon, and so Let's
go Brandon became the taunt of the media for their sad, pitiful,
(12:40):
prova esque coverage of Joe Biden.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
In fact, we had so much fun with that.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
That we created Chingo Bling, who's a comedian and a
former rapper, and I made our own version of Let's
Go Brandon, the Spanish language version, and we called it
almost Brandon, Almost Brandon.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
We had a lot of fun with that. Give it
a listen, Let's go.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
The battle for America today is no longer right versus left, folks.
It is those who deny freedom and those who defend it.
Americans of all races, religions, backgrounds, financial status are uniting behind.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That most American of ideas of freedom.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Freedom, leave your hands.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Off a gun.
Speaker 11 (14:03):
Takes a real man, a raisor sun. We the parents
of the cousin Voe. That was time we raised up
our vote. We've been pushing rever to long. When we
do that, we could be thrown over. You know they
want us, they want us divided. It's almost yeah, we
(14:23):
are united. I'm a guard.
Speaker 14 (14:25):
I'm saying because I'm going what i want our good.
I'm gonna say it.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I'm ana let go. I'm a guard.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I'm saying because I'm going what i want some good.
I'm gonna say, I love.
Speaker 15 (14:36):
My freedombo plando say my freedombosando dos.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
That's that freedom.
Speaker 15 (14:51):
MBOs blando, no manal ally my frio ambos.
Speaker 11 (14:58):
Blando in the land of the free, where the stars
bang would be.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Some people will complain, but.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
They only.
Speaker 16 (15:13):
They tried to fat jacking me.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
They tried to cancel lege.
Speaker 14 (15:20):
But I tell you, with that chacking, I'm sick.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
We're gonna be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 16 (15:36):
To the Gulf of Michael Berry, which is a beautiful.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
When President Trump started dropping bombs attacking should I say,
Maduro's drug mules as they skimmed across the water to
deliver to the United States, a lot of folks said,
you know, durand Paul in me says, we need some
(16:02):
authority to do this. There has to be a due process.
But most Americans said, I'm tired of these bastards bringing
drugs into this country and if this stops them, this
stops them. And Maduro puffed up and said, oh, he
won't stop us. And yeah, now Maduro is ready to negotiate.
(16:23):
When Trumps talks about declaring war on the cartels, I said, good,
those bastards. They're doing horrible things trafficking people and drugs
into this country, and we've shut down their distribution supplied
largely by shutting down illegal immigration. But there is an
attack on Americans going on every single day that does
(16:45):
not get talked about, and that is hacking, identity theft hacking.
So we do these trips to either Aspen or Palm Beach,
and we did one this last weekend and one of
my favorite couples, Wesley Salmon and his wife Jen, who've
been on several Everyone loves them. Wesley played football for Tulane.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Great guy.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Gin's from New Orleans. They're just fun people to be around.
And Wesley was not himself. And so we get to
talking and he has said for a few months, I
don't know if I can make it on the trip
this year because I got a lot going on on work.
I'm stressed out.
Speaker 15 (17:26):
Of my mind.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
And I said, dude, what is wrong. I've never known
you to be like this, and he said, well, we
got hacked.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
So several of us sat him down on this trip
and had him tell us the whole story. And the
thing about it is, this isn't something he didn't get
struck by lightning. I've come back to town from Palm
Beach and been reading this is very common. He's a
ransom attack. This is holding you and your business hostage,
(17:57):
and it's not going away. It's too profitable. And these
are people who never have to step on American soil.
And the devastation too, I mean, this was so dramatic
to him and his employees. He almost lost his company.
So I asked him to be willing, and most people wouldn't,
but I said, look, if you'll tell your story, maybe
(18:20):
that can help somebody else, whether that's by cyber insurance,
or focus more on cybersecurity, or have systems in place
should this happen, and he was kind enough.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
To agree to do it. My good friend, Wesley Salmon.
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Good afternoon, Michael.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
So let's start with and I know you've told me
this all already, but this is a new audience. Let's
start with how you knew you had a problem.
Speaker 16 (18:50):
I was mowing the lawn for fun Sunday morning and
got a call from the IT guy and he just
straight up right, we got hacked.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I got a note and you know, you don't really
know what it means, and so I was, you know,
what does that mean?
Speaker 16 (19:07):
And then you know, CFO gets on with us, and
you know, we were just locked out of our system,
and so they leave a note and you're supposed to
you're supposed to, you know, email this person on this note,
and you know, we learned to begin a negotiation. Luckily
(19:29):
for us, we got cyber insurance seven months before. So
my next call was the insurance company and within a
couple of hours we were on a team's call with
probably fifty people all over the world, Hong Kong, Singapore, Scotland,
(19:50):
every accident. You could know, you know, a cyber team,
a legal team, negotiating team, and they're setting out a strategy,
and there's and it's it's it's you know, they're setting
out expectations. This could take two to three weeks. You
know they do this every day, but you still don't
really realize what that means when you know we we
(20:15):
we couldn't. People couldn't work on their drawings. Our email worked,
but our accounting system and back off system was all
locked out. It was pretty surreal.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
My my shortcoming as a conversationalist. Why don't you take
a moment and talk about what your business is and
the far flow enterprises and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 16 (20:41):
We're engineering and project management company in the energy business.
We can work in forty five different states. You know,
we had under one thousand employees and it h you know,
we've we're management owned, you know, kind of all American company.
(21:02):
Uh you know where everybody in our company has a
job working for the company. Uh So it's it's like
a you know, it's a big company, but it still
has a bit of a family feel to it. We
have local offices up and down. You know, I ten
uh to Midland.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Uh.
Speaker 16 (21:21):
We we go all over the place to do engineering,
pipeline business, pipeline refineries. Our claim to fame is on
the on the We we did the first offshore wind turbine,
uh in America.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
We did the structure for that. But that was that
was kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
And are y'all based in Baton Rouge or are you
just based what what's.
Speaker 16 (21:41):
Our corporate offices are in are in Mandeville, but we
have offices and in Mandeville, Batonaries, uh, Metterie, Lafayette, Port, Arthur,
League City, Northwest Houston.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Do you have any sense of how you came to
the attention of hackers because you're not ex on mobile?
Speaker 16 (22:05):
Yeah, I mean after after the fact, you know, and
people start talking and we realized a lot of our
competitors had had issues in the last few years and
I didn't even know about it. We have a lot
of data, a lot of data online and I think
that's a big shiny light in the dark forum, you know,
to to to go toward, just because you know, our
(22:29):
stuff takes up.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
A lot of room. You know.
Speaker 16 (22:34):
The forensic team, Uh, you know they you know, they
kind of determined that nothing was stolen. They were just
locked out. But they've been there for a year, and
you know, I mean that's their job. You know, we're
high school going against the NFL.
Speaker 8 (22:54):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I was just we were lucky to have the insurance,
and we got the insurance.
Speaker 16 (22:58):
We had to do a vigorous audit, you know, it
was it was painful to make sure all of our
systems are up to snuff. But they found the way
and for the most part, it went as the team
as the as our you know, as our cyber team
said it would.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Just for us.
Speaker 16 (23:21):
We didn't get our accounting system back. It just it
was an older accounting system and it didn't you know,
it's say, you know, but to sleep and it didn't
come back a wake. So that's one of the reasons
why it went from hey, this is a two week bump,
you know, yeah, this is terrible. Luckily we had insurance too,
(23:45):
you know, survival mode just trying to you know, do
all the back off of stuff, pay people, make a payroll,
make another payroll.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And so it's been lingering.
Speaker 8 (23:57):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
If we wouldn't have.
Speaker 16 (23:57):
Had the cyber insurance, I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Hold on, hold on just a moment. Leslie Salmon is
my friend and our guest and has been.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Through a pretty awful situation with his company being hacked
and they almost lost the company.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
And unfortunately I'm hearing more and more of these stories
being from the King of Ding and this other guy,
Michael Barry.
Speaker 10 (24:22):
These are the kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
You're like a smack and air ass. My friend wasn't.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Salmon owns an engineering front, the family run business. They've
been extraordinarily successful. He works hard, he's a smart guy,
he's diligent. He is that odd combination of a guy
who can do sales because he has great personality. But
he's got even though he's not an engineer, he's got
a businessman's mind in a sort of structured way of thinking.
(24:52):
So the company has enjoyed a great deal of success,
wonderful kind of flying below the radar, and all of.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
A sudden they it hacked.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Let's talk about who we believe those hackers are and
how the FEDS got involved, and how your team got
involved in conference calls with multiple nations of your offices
and all this I mean, this is it's not your
kid getting killed in a car wreck, but it's pretty
awful stuff.
Speaker 16 (25:20):
Yeah, we've come to find out. I mean, it's an industry.
I mean there's probably we think they were. We were
told we they probably came from Eastern Europe. You know,
they probably come from a country where they got really
smart people and you've got no opportunity and uh, you know,
and so that industry breeds the end of the end
of insurance industry. So I mean, you know, we you know,
(25:42):
we hired the cops to go get the robbers. We
did you do file a complaint with the FBI. I'm
not sure you know what they can or can or
did anything. Uh, you know, we just wanted our business back. Uh,
you know, take the blow and keep going. Uh uh
And we you know, and within two weeks, our you know,
(26:04):
our operation side was one hundred percent fully going. But
you know, you don't the side effects were pretty terrible.
But it, like I said before, I mean, they had
a negotiation team, a cyber team, a friend of forensics team,
uh you know, of course, the law team.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It was intense.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And do we know where they're from, Uh, just.
Speaker 16 (26:33):
Eastern eastern Europe. You know, they get they get paid
in crypto. So makes me not like crypto very much.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
And that was your first encounter with crypto.
Speaker 16 (26:45):
Yes, so with understanding is they have like a broker
and that his job is to be a broker, and
you send him money and then the broker sends you know,
the key to unlock your house, and you know, and
the key works, than the broker passes it. All that
must be interesting job.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Well, look, this is as we discussed, this is organized crime.
I mean people that understand, like the Mexican cartels, for instance,
it would be shocking to understand the organizational structure, the logistics,
the discipline, the training, the personnel, the armaments.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
This isn't some.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Couple of guys with a couple of pistols and what
you're dealing with. Some of this is state sponsored. Some
of this is has the sophistication of a military operation.
And the more of these cases, you're the first person
I've known of someone that I knew this well, that
got hacked to this extent. But I'm reading about this
every day, and when we came back from Palm Beach,
(27:49):
I had been reading about this since then. This is
extraordinarily common, And more and more of these stories are
getting out and more and more people are saying, my
life was turned upside down because it's not just you
and your finances and your business that your family has
worked all these years to build. It's all of your employees.
And one thing that people don't understand is when you
(28:11):
own a business, these employees are like your own children.
You are responsible for them. So how close did you
get to losing it all they took over you? How
did this affect your operations?
Speaker 16 (28:28):
The biggest effect we had was our literally our accounting
system did not come back, so we kind of we
had been looking at a new accounting system, so we
made a leap into it. It was I would I
describe it as in, you're in a burning car and
you're leaping into another burning car. You know that's not
quite ready for you, and and you jumping it. But
we made the first payroll two weeks after the incident.
(28:50):
You know, we didn't pay everybody correctly, but we paid them.
You know, if you don't make payroll, you know, that
was that was the first job ortunity, you know, and
to keep and then when you still make mistakes and payroll,
to keep everybody kind of just pushing forward and.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Trying their best.
Speaker 16 (29:10):
And then trying to spin up are invoicing in a
new system that we've never done. And the frustrations, I mean,
you know people want to just walk away. I mean
we're not you know, if you're an invoicer, we're not
paying you to be completely frustrated twelve days, I mean
(29:30):
seven days a week, twelve hours a day, you know,
for weeks on end.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Because everything you used.
Speaker 16 (29:35):
To know, it's kind of I mean, you know, my
partners and I I mean I came on an O seven.
You know, we've grown, and we've grown, and we've grown,
and you don't realize how complicated your systems get. You know,
it's like a bureaucratic creep. And then all the little
things you fixed over the years evaporate and you get
hit with fixing.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Them all in a short period of time. You know,
you had was very good with us.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
You said that there were problems for you. I guess
y'all figured out through the forensics that they had actually
penetrated your system over a year before, and they were
patient about that.
Speaker 17 (30:15):
Talk about that if you would, Yeah, I mean our
understanding is our understanding is is you know they'd gotten in.
Speaker 16 (30:27):
You know a few months later we had some incidents
and we cleaned it up, and you know, we thought
we cleaned it up, but you know, and then they
then we had nothing for seven eight months, and then
all of a sudden, you know, they're they they were
able to lock us out. And I think, you know,
they're professionals. I mean, that's what they do. I mean,
(30:49):
and we did our best to defend. That's not what
we think about every day, you know. You know, we
sent that a softwares and more security and this and that,
which I'm guessing everybody's gonna do.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Uh.
Speaker 16 (31:06):
But again I've been I've been telling all my friends,
like you know, call your call your insurance agent. H
look for you know, look into cyber insurance, go through
the painful audit, you know, improve your system.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Uh it's and you had cyber insurance, is that right?
Speaker 16 (31:25):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
And so did did they make a payment? What did
they cover you for? What was the loss they covered?
Speaker 16 (31:35):
You know, it had a deductible uh and and and
and so it paid it paid for They negotiated and
and made a deal. I mean we we didn't even
really have a choice, you know. Uh, they made a deal.
Uh that that the insurance paid for and if everything
(31:56):
were to come back two three weeks later, you.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Know, I might have have a different story.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Might But I mean, and I think I was.
Speaker 16 (32:05):
I was at a local gas station fishing tackle store
like the next week and my wife had gone and
they were closed. So we went the next day and
they're like, yeah, we got a you know, they got
a fishing store at gas station. And you know, I
(32:25):
don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
It is it is.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's epidemic.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
It's frustrating because it is. It really feels like.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Americans are absolutely under attacked.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
We'll discuss that coming up.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
My friend Wesley Salmon from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Stay tuned
It's that time time, time, luck and load. The Michael
Verie Show is on the air that I can hear you.
(00:33):
Let me tell you something.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm not in resistance of protecting anybody, and I think
that my work over the years that I've been involved
have been absolutely on point in dealing what has to
be dealt with in order to help the people. First
thing you've got to understand is services costs some money,
(00:55):
and we should be willing to get the richest people
in this.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Country, the riches one percent that is.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Protected, make sure they pay their fair taxes so that
we can have the money to provide the service.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
We have a.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Broken tax system, but let's elon musk freeload.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Off everyone else, and it needs to stop.
Speaker 6 (01:16):
Usually, if you're a billionaire, that means that you control
a massive system. It means that you own oil supplies,
it means that you control textiles, it means that you
have a massive labor force under your control. And to
(01:36):
be ethical, if you're a billionaire today, the thing that
you need to do is give up control and power.
So I don't want your money as much as we
want your power.
Speaker 7 (01:47):
For rich you're not paying their fair share in any nation,
that is facing the kind of employment issues, whether it's individual, corporate,
whatever the taxation forms are. And I go back to
the question about Brazil. Brazil has the highest tax to
GDP rate in the Western hemisphere, and guess what, it's
growing like crazy and the rich are getting richer, but
(02:08):
they're pulling people out of poverty.
Speaker 8 (02:10):
Do we want to keep tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans who don't need them and didn't ask for them,
or do we want to make sure that they're paying
their fair share?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Do we want to.
Speaker 8 (02:20):
Do we want to keep subsidizing big oil or do
we want to make sure we're investing in clean energy.
Do we want to jack up interest rates on millions
of students, or do we want to keep investing in
things that will help us and help them in the
long term, things like education and science and a strong
military and care for our veterans. We can't do both.
(02:44):
We can't have it both ways. We've got to make
a choice about what our priorities up.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well, let me tell you Donald Trump and his billion
and a half friends on.
Speaker 5 (02:52):
The my policies are going to pay a hell of
a lot.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
More in taxes today Texas in the future that they're
paying today. Ninety nine, p jo O Rourki humorists wrote,
eat the Rich. I thought it was hilarious. Little did
we know that would practically be the approach of the
left today. The left was much more moderate in nineteen
(03:16):
ninety nine you had the second Clinton term. The left
wasn't really the left. The only real fringe element of
the left was the most extreme unions. Because the heart
of the country was sort of a bell curve. So
everybody you had the really rich and the really left wing,
(03:41):
and most of the country was in the middle. It
was working class people and middle class people. The beauty
of America is rich people want to be called middle class,
and working class people think they are middle class. It's
a wonderful thing. It's what leads to our stability. No
other country had that. But what's happening is a hollowing
(04:04):
out of the middle class and every young person going
to college as the college is skewed far left has
meant you no longer have a middle class. So the
hatred of the rich, there is no balance left in
the system. You have an increasing number of people and
(04:26):
you're seeing this in New York. You have people who
are basically saying, let's storm the gates and kill those
people and take.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
All their money. And if they have their weight, that
is what they will do.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
There is no question in my mind. And they're trying
to find something they can throw at Trump because Trump's
too popular. So they've tried the king, They've tried the authoritative.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Oh, now we've got it.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
After all that money was spent on Barack Obama's presidential headquarters,
presidential library. Who do you think paid for all that?
Now they've got it as well. Trump's building building out
in the White House to make it more glorious for
the next person to occupy it, and he's not letting
the taxpayers pay for it, and that makes him awful.
(05:12):
And now Timmy Wats has taken to the issue on
his podcast because he doesn't like Trump, but he does
love balls.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Somebody dropped me some bass one tenth of America.
Speaker 9 (05:31):
HiT's your boys, Simmy Walls connecting with the white man's car.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Who's got the slack of who's got the plan?
Speaker 10 (05:39):
Yes, Walls, he's the manly man.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
With a mike in his hand and a lesson.
Speaker 9 (05:47):
He's having missedom Bunky games, Timmy Walls.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Okay, what do we can in America.
Speaker 9 (06:01):
First, I don't want to be remiss, and i'd mentioned
are great friends down in the Montrose Houston, Texas. Uh,
I mean those mean monsters that covered up that rainbow walkway.
I say, screw those guys, maybe twice. Well, the Montrose Mafia.
They showed them. They painted right back over where it was.
(06:23):
And that's a big fat rainbow to the rear for
all those against us. Let's give those rainbow wranglers a
big walls aplause, and now we better get to the
matter in hand, the big mean Donald J. Trump renovating
the East Wing. I know, I know, just the thought
of renovating one of the oldest buildings in America gives.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Me the GBS and I'm mad.
Speaker 9 (06:48):
But I gotta tell you, guys, I'm also torn like
a flower on this one. Did you know the East
Wing is home to a fabulous ballroom. Oh, I've been
to so many wonderful big balls in the White House.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Over the years. But now Trump is tearing.
Speaker 9 (07:00):
It down and he wants to make it a bigger,
better ball. We're in for bigger, better balls for years
to come.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Guys.
Speaker 9 (07:08):
I mean, I'm excited, but I mean I'm also mad
because Trump is a mean man.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
But better balls are best for all such a dilemma.
Speaker 9 (07:18):
I'll tell you all well, john Us next week, because
we welcome a blast from the past.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
A man with two names Barney Frank, and.
Speaker 9 (07:27):
He talks about all the balls he's seen in the
White House over the game.
Speaker 11 (07:30):
The man with the groove iss dead.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Lifeless eyes, black eyes to get dollars.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
New York Governor hath the Hopel was there at the
rally when the texts the rich.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Chant broke out.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
This is left wing, radical revolutionary stuff, so she has
to well, here it is.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
I that's a rich Yeah, I can hear you. But
here's my friends, misses orat or not listen. I got
(08:35):
one plea for you. I love I love to see
this energy and this passion.
Speaker 12 (08:43):
And for those of you who have not been involved
in the voting or even campaigns for I am so
excited about what is going on here, but I need
to do something.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
All right, one more things, my friend.
Speaker 12 (08:56):
This is about this November's election.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
But take that energy, that passion and take it into
twenty six so.
Speaker 12 (09:06):
Then we can take back to the House or resentatives, take.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
The set and.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Drag they want wait, take back America. Thank you, queens,
thank you.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
So she has to pretend she didn't know what they
were saying. She says she thought they were chanting, let's
go bills.
Speaker 10 (09:39):
Oh really, given the reception you received last night, I
did so Ron's rally where people were chanting, tax the rich,
tax the rich. Are you going to hold the line
on raising taxes even if it means losing an endorsement
or getting a primary challenge.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I clan hear what they were chanting. I thought they
were saying, let's go bills.
Speaker 5 (09:58):
I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I was when you're up there, I heard some noise,
I heard a lot of cheers.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
But later on it became clear to me that there
is a I know this passion for that, and I
went in there as the leader of the Democratic Party
whose job it is to unify and unify behind the
Democratic nominee.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I love the energy out there.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
I told them that.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
And I want to do is bottle all that up,
you know, use it in a few days, but take
that to Long Island in the Hudson Valley and make
sure that we.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Can stop the insanity that's.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Happening now while we're in the minority. While we don't
have the power, the levers of power in Washington. I
want to win back the House through New York. And
what I saw in that stadium was refreshing and energizing
to know we can harn us all that, to be
on the same team and to make sure we can
do a lot of great things for the people of
this state and indeed the country.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
So no, it's a great event.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
I enjoyed being there.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
So would you change your mind about taxes because of
that event?
Speaker 10 (10:58):
Because of that and apoations about you him endorsing you, well, well,
I didn't ask.
Speaker 13 (11:04):
Him for his endorsement. That's the only reason he hasn't.
They want to know my timely, So let's get through
this election. Let's let the focus be on your race.
I have a lot of time to roll out my
endorsements and which to be many that.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I'll be proud of. So that's unrelated to the event.
I want to be there as leader of the.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Party and say, do a lot of voices in this party,
let's pull it together, let's win this election.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
And on the twenty six Kathy Holkel has has declared
that she is the leader of the Democrat Party. Yeah,
she's she says, she is the leader. You know what,
it's not all these crazy as it's me. That's like
Michael Scott on the office declaring bankruptcy.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I declare bankruptcy. Hey, I just wanted you to know
that you can't just say the word bankruptcy. I don't
expect anything to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
I didn't say it.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I declared it still tax the rich. Sounds just like
let's go bills.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
Remember remember when they were booing Joe Biden and the
reporter was trying to help him, and she said, I
thought they were saying, let's go Brandon, and so Let's
go Brandon became the taunt of the media for their sad, pitiful,
(12:40):
prova esque coverage of Joe Biden.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
In fact, we had so much fun with that.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
That we created Chingo Bling, who's a comedian and a
former rapper, and I made our own version of Let's
Go Brandon, the Spanish language version, and we called it
almost Brandon, Almost Brandon.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
We had a lot of fun with that. Give it
a listen, Let's go.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
The battle for America today is no longer right versus left, folks.
It is those who deny freedom and those who defend it.
Americans of all races, religions, backgrounds, financial status are uniting behind.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That most American of ideas of freedom.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Freedom, leave your hands.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Off a gun.
Speaker 11 (14:03):
Takes a real man, a raisor sun. We the parents
of the cousin Voe. That was time we raised up
our vote. We've been pushing rever to long. When we
do that, we could be thrown over. You know they
want us, they want us divided. It's almost yeah, we
(14:23):
are united. I'm a guard.
Speaker 14 (14:25):
I'm saying because I'm going what i want our good.
I'm gonna say it.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I'm ana let go. I'm a guard.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
I'm saying because I'm going what i want some good.
I'm gonna say, I love.
Speaker 15 (14:36):
My freedombo plando say my freedombosando dos.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
That's that freedom.
Speaker 15 (14:51):
MBOs blando, no manal ally my frio ambos.
Speaker 11 (14:58):
Blando in the land of the free, where the stars
bang would be.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Some people will complain, but.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
They only.
Speaker 16 (15:13):
They tried to fat jacking me.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
They tried to cancel lege.
Speaker 14 (15:20):
But I tell you, with that chacking, I'm sick.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
We're gonna be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
Speaker 16 (15:36):
To the Gulf of Michael Berry, which is a beautiful.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
When President Trump started dropping bombs attacking should I say,
Maduro's drug mules as they skimmed across the water to
deliver to the United States, a lot of folks said,
you know, durand Paul in me says, we need some
(16:02):
authority to do this. There has to be a due process.
But most Americans said, I'm tired of these bastards bringing
drugs into this country and if this stops them, this
stops them. And Maduro puffed up and said, oh, he
won't stop us. And yeah, now Maduro is ready to negotiate.
(16:23):
When Trumps talks about declaring war on the cartels, I said, good,
those bastards. They're doing horrible things trafficking people and drugs
into this country, and we've shut down their distribution supplied
largely by shutting down illegal immigration. But there is an
attack on Americans going on every single day that does
(16:45):
not get talked about, and that is hacking, identity theft hacking.
So we do these trips to either Aspen or Palm Beach,
and we did one this last weekend and one of
my favorite couples, Wesley Salmon and his wife Jen, who've
been on several Everyone loves them. Wesley played football for Tulane.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Great guy.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
Gin's from New Orleans. They're just fun people to be around.
And Wesley was not himself. And so we get to
talking and he has said for a few months, I
don't know if I can make it on the trip
this year because I got a lot going on on work.
I'm stressed out.
Speaker 15 (17:26):
Of my mind.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
And I said, dude, what is wrong. I've never known
you to be like this, and he said, well, we
got hacked.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
So several of us sat him down on this trip
and had him tell us the whole story. And the
thing about it is, this isn't something he didn't get
struck by lightning. I've come back to town from Palm
Beach and been reading this is very common. He's a
ransom attack. This is holding you and your business hostage,
(17:57):
and it's not going away. It's too profitable. And these
are people who never have to step on American soil.
And the devastation too, I mean, this was so dramatic
to him and his employees. He almost lost his company.
So I asked him to be willing, and most people wouldn't,
but I said, look, if you'll tell your story, maybe
(18:20):
that can help somebody else, whether that's by cyber insurance,
or focus more on cybersecurity, or have systems in place
should this happen, and he was kind enough.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
To agree to do it. My good friend, Wesley Salmon.
Welcome to the program.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Good afternoon, Michael.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
So let's start with and I know you've told me
this all already, but this is a new audience. Let's
start with how you knew you had a problem.
Speaker 16 (18:50):
I was mowing the lawn for fun Sunday morning and
got a call from the IT guy and he just
straight up right, we got hacked.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I got a note and you know, you don't really
know what it means, and so I was, you know,
what does that mean?
Speaker 16 (19:07):
And then you know, CFO gets on with us, and
you know, we were just locked out of our system,
and so they leave a note and you're supposed to
you're supposed to, you know, email this person on this note,
and you know, we learned to begin a negotiation. Luckily
(19:29):
for us, we got cyber insurance seven months before. So
my next call was the insurance company and within a
couple of hours we were on a team's call with
probably fifty people all over the world, Hong Kong, Singapore, Scotland,
(19:50):
every accident. You could know, you know, a cyber team,
a legal team, negotiating team, and they're setting out a strategy,
and there's and it's it's it's you know, they're setting
out expectations. This could take two to three weeks. You
know they do this every day, but you still don't
really realize what that means when you know we we
(20:15):
we couldn't. People couldn't work on their drawings. Our email worked,
but our accounting system and back off system was all
locked out. It was pretty surreal.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
My my shortcoming as a conversationalist. Why don't you take
a moment and talk about what your business is and
the far flow enterprises and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 16 (20:41):
We're engineering and project management company in the energy business.
We can work in forty five different states. You know,
we had under one thousand employees and it h you know,
we've we're management owned, you know, kind of all American company.
(21:02):
Uh you know where everybody in our company has a
job working for the company. Uh So it's it's like
a you know, it's a big company, but it still
has a bit of a family feel to it. We
have local offices up and down. You know, I ten
uh to Midland.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Uh.
Speaker 16 (21:21):
We we go all over the place to do engineering,
pipeline business, pipeline refineries. Our claim to fame is on
the on the We we did the first offshore wind turbine,
uh in America.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
We did the structure for that. But that was that
was kind of cool.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
And are y'all based in Baton Rouge or are you
just based what what's.
Speaker 16 (21:41):
Our corporate offices are in are in Mandeville, but we
have offices and in Mandeville, Batonaries, uh, Metterie, Lafayette, Port, Arthur,
League City, Northwest Houston.
Speaker 4 (21:57):
Do you have any sense of how you came to
the attention of hackers because you're not ex on mobile?
Speaker 16 (22:05):
Yeah, I mean after after the fact, you know, and
people start talking and we realized a lot of our
competitors had had issues in the last few years and
I didn't even know about it. We have a lot
of data, a lot of data online and I think
that's a big shiny light in the dark forum, you know,
to to to go toward, just because you know, our
(22:29):
stuff takes up.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
A lot of room. You know.
Speaker 16 (22:34):
The forensic team, Uh, you know they you know, they
kind of determined that nothing was stolen. They were just
locked out. But they've been there for a year, and
you know, I mean that's their job. You know, we're
high school going against the NFL.
Speaker 8 (22:54):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I was just we were lucky to have the insurance,
and we got the insurance.
Speaker 16 (22:58):
We had to do a vigorous audit, you know, it
was it was painful to make sure all of our
systems are up to snuff. But they found the way
and for the most part, it went as the team
as the as our you know, as our cyber team
said it would.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
Just for us.
Speaker 16 (23:21):
We didn't get our accounting system back. It just it
was an older accounting system and it didn't you know,
it's say, you know, but to sleep and it didn't
come back a wake. So that's one of the reasons
why it went from hey, this is a two week bump,
you know, yeah, this is terrible. Luckily we had insurance too,
(23:45):
you know, survival mode just trying to you know, do
all the back off of stuff, pay people, make a payroll,
make another payroll.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
And so it's been lingering.
Speaker 8 (23:57):
Now.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
If we wouldn't have.
Speaker 16 (23:57):
Had the cyber insurance, I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Hold on, hold on just a moment. Leslie Salmon is
my friend and our guest and has been.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Through a pretty awful situation with his company being hacked
and they almost lost the company.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
And unfortunately I'm hearing more and more of these stories
being from the King of Ding and this other guy,
Michael Barry.
Speaker 10 (24:22):
These are the kind of guy.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
You're like a smack and air ass. My friend wasn't.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Salmon owns an engineering front, the family run business. They've
been extraordinarily successful. He works hard, he's a smart guy,
he's diligent. He is that odd combination of a guy
who can do sales because he has great personality. But
he's got even though he's not an engineer, he's got
a businessman's mind in a sort of structured way of thinking.
(24:52):
So the company has enjoyed a great deal of success,
wonderful kind of flying below the radar, and all of.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
A sudden they it hacked.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Let's talk about who we believe those hackers are and
how the FEDS got involved, and how your team got
involved in conference calls with multiple nations of your offices
and all this I mean, this is it's not your
kid getting killed in a car wreck, but it's pretty
awful stuff.
Speaker 16 (25:20):
Yeah, we've come to find out. I mean, it's an industry.
I mean there's probably we think they were. We were
told we they probably came from Eastern Europe. You know,
they probably come from a country where they got really
smart people and you've got no opportunity and uh, you know,
and so that industry breeds the end of the end
of insurance industry. So I mean, you know, we you know,
(25:42):
we hired the cops to go get the robbers. We
did you do file a complaint with the FBI. I'm
not sure you know what they can or can or
did anything. Uh, you know, we just wanted our business back. Uh,
you know, take the blow and keep going. Uh uh
And we you know, and within two weeks, our you know,
(26:04):
our operation side was one hundred percent fully going. But
you know, you don't the side effects were pretty terrible.
But it, like I said before, I mean, they had
a negotiation team, a cyber team, a friend of forensics team,
uh you know, of course, the law team.
Speaker 3 (26:23):
It was intense.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And do we know where they're from, Uh, just.
Speaker 16 (26:33):
Eastern eastern Europe. You know, they get they get paid
in crypto. So makes me not like crypto very much.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
And that was your first encounter with crypto.
Speaker 16 (26:45):
Yes, so with understanding is they have like a broker
and that his job is to be a broker, and
you send him money and then the broker sends you know,
the key to unlock your house, and you know, and
the key works, than the broker passes it. All that
must be interesting job.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
Well, look, this is as we discussed, this is organized crime.
I mean people that understand, like the Mexican cartels, for instance,
it would be shocking to understand the organizational structure, the logistics,
the discipline, the training, the personnel, the armaments.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
This isn't some.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Couple of guys with a couple of pistols and what
you're dealing with. Some of this is state sponsored. Some
of this is has the sophistication of a military operation.
And the more of these cases, you're the first person
I've known of someone that I knew this well, that
got hacked to this extent. But I'm reading about this
every day, and when we came back from Palm Beach,
(27:49):
I had been reading about this since then. This is
extraordinarily common, And more and more of these stories are
getting out and more and more people are saying, my
life was turned upside down because it's not just you
and your finances and your business that your family has
worked all these years to build. It's all of your employees.
And one thing that people don't understand is when you
(28:11):
own a business, these employees are like your own children.
You are responsible for them. So how close did you
get to losing it all they took over you? How
did this affect your operations?
Speaker 16 (28:28):
The biggest effect we had was our literally our accounting
system did not come back, so we kind of we
had been looking at a new accounting system, so we
made a leap into it. It was I would I
describe it as in, you're in a burning car and
you're leaping into another burning car. You know that's not
quite ready for you, and and you jumping it. But
we made the first payroll two weeks after the incident.
(28:50):
You know, we didn't pay everybody correctly, but we paid them.
You know, if you don't make payroll, you know, that
was that was the first job ortunity, you know, and
to keep and then when you still make mistakes and payroll,
to keep everybody kind of just pushing forward and.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Trying their best.
Speaker 16 (29:10):
And then trying to spin up are invoicing in a
new system that we've never done. And the frustrations, I mean,
you know people want to just walk away. I mean
we're not you know, if you're an invoicer, we're not
paying you to be completely frustrated twelve days, I mean
(29:30):
seven days a week, twelve hours a day, you know,
for weeks on end.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Because everything you used.
Speaker 16 (29:35):
To know, it's kind of I mean, you know, my
partners and I I mean I came on an O seven.
You know, we've grown, and we've grown, and we've grown,
and you don't realize how complicated your systems get. You know,
it's like a bureaucratic creep. And then all the little
things you fixed over the years evaporate and you get
hit with fixing.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Them all in a short period of time. You know,
you had was very good with us.
Speaker 4 (30:02):
You said that there were problems for you. I guess
y'all figured out through the forensics that they had actually
penetrated your system over a year before, and they were
patient about that.
Speaker 17 (30:15):
Talk about that if you would, Yeah, I mean our
understanding is our understanding is is you know they'd gotten in.
Speaker 16 (30:27):
You know a few months later we had some incidents
and we cleaned it up, and you know, we thought
we cleaned it up, but you know, and then they
then we had nothing for seven eight months, and then
all of a sudden, you know, they're they they were
able to lock us out. And I think, you know,
they're professionals. I mean, that's what they do. I mean,
(30:49):
and we did our best to defend. That's not what
we think about every day, you know. You know, we
sent that a softwares and more security and this and that,
which I'm guessing everybody's gonna do.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Uh.
Speaker 16 (31:06):
But again I've been I've been telling all my friends,
like you know, call your call your insurance agent. H
look for you know, look into cyber insurance, go through
the painful audit, you know, improve your system.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Uh it's and you had cyber insurance, is that right?
Speaker 16 (31:25):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (31:26):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (31:26):
And so did did they make a payment? What did
they cover you for? What was the loss they covered?
Speaker 16 (31:35):
You know, it had a deductible uh and and and
and so it paid it paid for They negotiated and
and made a deal. I mean we we didn't even
really have a choice, you know. Uh, they made a deal.
Uh that that the insurance paid for and if everything
(31:56):
were to come back two three weeks later, you.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Know, I might have have a different story.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Might But I mean, and I think I was.
Speaker 16 (32:05):
I was at a local gas station fishing tackle store
like the next week and my wife had gone and
they were closed. So we went the next day and
they're like, yeah, we got a you know, they got
a fishing store at gas station. And you know, I
(32:25):
don't know.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
It is it is.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
It's epidemic.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
It's frustrating because it is. It really feels like.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Americans are absolutely under attacked.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
We'll discuss that coming up.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
My friend Wesley Salmon from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Stay tuned
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