Ep #328 Acting and Corporate Espionage Interview With Robert Kerbeck Former Corporate Spy and Author of RUSE

Roman Prokopchuk's Digital Savage Experience

I got to interview Robert Kerbeck.

Robert Kerbeck’s true crime memoir, RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street is the story of how a wannabe actor became the world’s greatest corporate spy. Frank Abagnale, author of Catch Me If You Can, said, “Kerbeck has mastered the art of social engineering, or what he calls 'rusing', and taken it to a whole new level,” while Shondaland (producer of the Netflix series Inventing Anna) described RUSE as "almost too good to be true with no shortage of wild stories.” Kerbeck’s previous book MALIBU BURNING: The Real Story Behind LA’s Most Devastating Wildfire, won a SoCal Journalism Award, the IPPY Award, and the Best of LA Award. His writing has appeared in numerous publications including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Magazine, and Lithub’s Crime Reads.

We spoke up:

1:51 Moving to New York to be an actor.

2:11 Becoming a corporate spy.

3:51 Using acting skills to get companies to divulge sensitive information.

5:51 Major corporations spend hundreds of millions of dollars to spy on each other.

8:51 Went from making 8 dollars an hour to 2 million a year.

10:51 Pivoting careers.

14:06 Getting more information over the phone vs in person.

16:06 The weakest link in cyber security is the human being.

18:01 A number of close calls.

22:31 About the book.

23:51 Take the journey you want to take.

*Disclaimer: The views and opinions on Roman Prokopchuk's Digital Savage Experience are those of the guest's alone as their own, and the host's alone as his own. Information provided by the guest is fact checked to the best of our abilities. By providing background information to the show, the guest acknowledges that it is as accurate as possible. The show does not endorse, promote, or is in association with the guest's business interests.*