SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10)—For its third year, the Tech Valley Cybersecurity Symposium was held at Rivers Casino and Resort. The conference focused on keeping small and medium-sized businesses safe from cyber crimes following AI and scam technology advancements.
60% of small businesses consider cybersecurity a top concern according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Experts say these businesses along with employees who work from home are the easiest targets of cyber crimes.
"The presenters today talked about National Geographic and the lion in the jungle doesn't go to the elephant. He goes for easier targets and that's what you see in a lot of the cybersecurity threat landscapes," said Owen Burns with Pursuit Lending.
Pursuit is a lending company that works with LogicalNet to keep their systems secure with IT management. One cybersecurity recommendation is to not log into company accounts on personal computers. Instead, company devices installed with safety tools can help keep the user and the business safe.
"The scariest aspect of remote work is that they're outside the boundaries of the four walls of Pursuit in a physical sense," described Burns. "But we have the protections in place to operate throughout the country or throughout the world for that matter."
LogicalNet's CIO, Michael O'Mara, says these safety tools can include threat detection, breach alerts, and data backups. "Where are you most secure? You're in the office. You've got secure network tools, you got firewalls, you've got a lot of things wrapped around that. So it's really important to make sure that when somebody leaves the office, they are armed with the right tools."
And when sensitive data is compromised, the next step is to alert everyone involved. "To employees, to vendors, to borrowers or ours, as well as the federal agencies who are here today talking. It's important to let them know," added Burns.
