Business Owner’s Guide to Cyber Security

Photo: Paul Marchese, founder and president of Marchese Computers, has written his first book, “Business Owner’s Guide to Cyber Security." 

A Batavia businessman with a passion for computers since he was in high school has written his first book.

Paul Marchese, founder and president of Marchese Computers on Ellicott Street, is author of the recently released “Business Owners Guide to Cyber Security.” His goal is to keep clients safe from the increasing and sophisticated hackers of today.

Marchese was at a peer-training seminar about a year ago where they talked about what things they could do in their industry to help clients.

“Someone said they had written a book, and that got me thinking,” Marchese said. “I decided to share my years of knowledge and expertise to help people understand what cybersecurity is and how to protect themselves from the cyber bad guys in this world.”

He said today’s hackers are not the 14-year-olds in the basement any more.

“I consider them worse than the Chicago mob,” Marchese said. “Hackers are getting more intelligent every day.”

Marchese was born and raised in Batavia. His favorite subjects were always math and science. While a senior at Batavia High School, he and several friends spent a good part of the year developing a program to compile information and rank students. The school was paying a full-time individual $30,000 a year to do that, he said. The program he and his friends developed took half a day to enter the data and minutes to print out the rankings.

“At that time, the technology in our high school was a teletype machine connected to Wayne/Fingerlakes BOCES,” Marchese said.

In his senior year, he was pulled out of class to accompany school personnel to the Apple store in Rochester to help them choose what computer program to purchase. He also taught computers to students in the Excel Program during study hall. 

Marchese graduated from Batavia High School in 1982 and entered the University of Rochester to study Chemical Engineering. Half way through, he switched majors, getting a degree in the college’s first Computer Science program. 

Marchese had started his company in 1981 at age 17 and ran it part time while he finished school and college.

“I soon realized it was in my best interest to do this full time,” he said. “I’m blessed I got into it at the beginning stage. I’ve been in the business longer than anyone else in the area.”

Marchese Computers is now one of the oldest full-service computer stores in Western New York, having grown to seven employees. In the late 1990s, early 2000s, Marchese Computers offered E-Z Net dial-up to almost 30,000 subscribers, making it the largest such provider in Western New York.

He helped pioneer the current voice-over IP (Internet Protocol) system, and did beta testing with Multi Tech. Today, Marchese Computers offers a suite of products, such as telecommunication, internet, phone systems and installation of New York State authorized alarm systems, video protection systems and fire protection alarms.

“My goal as a company is to remove the burden of IT (Information Technology) from a business person’s plate so they can concentrate on growing their business and better serving their customers. That is what has driven me for 39 years. I’m always looking for better technology that better serves our clients.”

Writing his book is another step toward that goal.

His book addresses why business owners can’t ignore cybercrime and why a particular business may be the target of a cybercriminal. He explains how a cybercriminal can attack one’s network without the business owner or employee even clicking on a site. Then he explains what to do to protect a business’s network and how to prevent identity theft. 

Another chapter discusses staying secure while working from home, which many people have been forced to do during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I tried to make the book as well-rounded as possible,” Marchese said. 

Copies are available at his store at 200 Ellicott St. or on his website at www.mcpinc.com. 

“What makes me happy with my choice of career is I’m in an industry which changes every day,” Marchese said. “There’s not a day goes by that I don’t learn something.”

Photo by Virginia Kropf.