Teachable moment: Cybersecurity pioneer victimized by identity theft scheme

Here’s one to file in the irony department, or perhaps use as a dictionary definition of the word: Stu Sjouwerman, founder and CEO of KnowBe4, a Clearwater-based cybersecurity company that has nearly 1,000 employees and has been valued at $800 million, has become a victim of identity theft. 

Sjouwerman, who in 2019 was named one of the Business Observer’s Top Entrepreneurs, acknowledged the incident in a blog post on the firm’s website. He says someone used his social security number to apply for a Small Business Administration loan and file an unemployment claim. The perpetrator also created a fake Facebook profile using Sjouwerman’s name.