Editor’s Note: NIST is to be commended for recognizing the essential role of small businesses in cyber security and ensuring they are brought into the national discussion on managing cyber risk.
From: Nashua Telegraph
By DAVID BROOKS
When you’re letting small businesses know about cybersecurity, it’s not hard to find horror stories to grab their attention.
How about the Trojan horse, a piece of malicious software that sneaks into systems pretending to be something else, that “devastated a small consulting firm”? Or the bookkeeper who used payroll software to steal $73,000 and almost destroy a 40-person firm.
And then there’s the “grandmother who embezzled $500,000 from … a small electrical equipment supplier.”
Those examples are cited by the Small Business Administration for why people should attend a free “cyber security workshop” on Wednesday in Nashua.
It’s the first time the presentation has been put on in New Hampshire, although it has been held in other parts of the country.
“So many small businesses really aren’t thinking about the security aspect of things, other than certain virus protection,” said Amy Bassett, deputy district director of the SBA in its Concord office. “We want to provide them tools and resources to do better.”
The session is co-sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Computer Security Division; the New Hampshire High-Tech Council, an industry group; and the UNH Small Business Development Center.
A representative from the FBI will be present to discuss InfraGard, an information sharing and analysis effort.
The presentation, from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., is not targeted at Information Technology professionals.
Anybody involved in businesses, all the way down to one-person home businesses, that use computer systems and the Internet are encouraged to attend.
The session will also discussion common types of threats, common pbest practices and procedures for security, and a discussion of security technologies.
To register, go to www.nhsbdc.org/events.
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