“Is Your Business Everybody’s Business?” – Why securing your networks is critical to your business, your customers and our homeland.

The National Cyber Security Alliance and its partners, the Maryland Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council, Small Business Administration and the Department of Homeland Security,  hosted a web cast that provideed information on:

• Seven steps you can follow as a way to start securing your computer networks and critical data; 
• Where you can find other tools to help develop a more robust security plan and policy;
• How securing your networks not only makes good business sense, but also helps protect our nations’ communication infrastructure from cyber attacks and prevents cyber crime.

Panelists: 

• Ron Teixeira, Executive Director, National Cyber Security Alliance (Moderator)
• Richard Kissel, Senior Analyst for the National Institute for Standards and Technology
• Ken Watson, Senior Manager of the Cisco Critical Infrastructure Assurance Group

When:  Archived

Who Should Attend: Employees of small and mid-sized businesses, owners & decision makers in companies who want to learn more about protecting their employees and firm’s proprietary information.

Overview:
“Is your business everybody’s business?”  Depending on whether or not your small business or organization makes cyber security a priority, the answer to this question may be yes.

Large and small businesses are under constant attack from hackers and thieves.  According to a 2006 University of Maryland study, computers connected to the Internet are attacked by hackers every 39 seconds. 

While small businesses and organizations may be daunted by the perceived resources it takes to secure their systems, not making cyber security a priority could be a costly decision.  In 2006, there were an unprecedented amount of incidents where hackers broke into large businesses and stole financial and customer data.  According to a 2005 FBI Cyber Crime Study, nearly nine out of ten companies and public institutions surveyed, suffered a cyber security incident in 2005.  Moreover, the average loss per incident was $203,606.

While large companies have the resources to recover losses, repair their tarnished image, stave off lawsuits and weather decreased customer confidence and trust, small to medium size companies don’t.  If small business ‘customers’ financial information becomes “everybody’s business,” it could spell the end of a small business completely.  Don’t let this happen to you. Take action and start finding ways to secure your systems.