By Shawn Kinard, recruiting and branding specialist, Godshall Professional Recruiting and Staffing
What: Godshall Seminar — Cybersecurity is Serious Business: Protecting Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset
When/Where: May 4 at 310 University Ridge, downtown Greenville
Who Was There: Julie Godshall Brown (moderator); Frank Mobley, CEO of Immedion LLC, and Ashley Cuttino, shareholder of Ogletree Deakins (speakers); and clients and friends of Godshall Professional Recruiting and Staffing
It’s tax season, and your boss emails you asking you to send the W-2 file ASAP for review. It looks like every other email you’ve received from your boss. So being a good employee, you send it right over. Later in the day in polite conversation, you acknowledge that you’ve sent it and ask whether anything else is needed. Cut to your boss’s blank face that clearly illustrates she did not send you said email. Your precious company files have just been hand-delivered on a silver platter to a hacker by a well-meaning and conscientious employee. Sound familiar?
After hearing in the news and reading numerous articles about cybersecurity, including “Getting Your Staff to Take Cybersecurity Seriously,” in which author Ian Pearson referenced “the biggest security flaw there is: the human factor,” Julie Godshall Brown was inspired to host a seminar on this critical topic.
There’s a cold fact we all need to accept: “Convenience is an enemy of security,” Immedion CEO Frank Mobley explained. Many breaches are unintentional: Emails from unknown senders are opened, Outlook auto-fills the wrong email address, security protocols are not enforced when working from home; the list goes on.
These are the three most common IT breaches affecting businesses today:
- Ransomware: Someone takes over and locks down your system and demands money. This can happen to companies of all sizes.
- Viruses: Typically happens because protection software is not up to date.
- Fake emails: Usually from a familiar email address asking to send money, move cash around, send confidential information, etc.
About 80 percent of security breaches can be easily prevented with a few simple procedures:
- Create a security-conscious environment and educate your employees on scams.
- Set up firewalls.
- Limit who has access to vital information.
- Encrypt files on the front end.
- Keep virus software current.
- Add extra layers of security such as dual-factor identification.
- Don’t be a data hoarder.
- Make sure your vendors also protect client info.
- Have unique passwords for all sites.
Mobley and Ogletree Deakins shareholder Ashley Cuttino went on to say that if a company knows it’s been breached, the first step is to bring in IT to shut everything down and get in recovery mode. Because there are legal responsibilities associated with a breach of private information, including notice requirements, companies should contact their lawyers, as well.
Godshall, a locally owned recruiting company for more than 50 years, hosts seminars relating to business every quarter to further educate themselves, the community, and companies across the Upstate. Godshall Professional Recruiting and Staffing specializes in executive recruiting, career placement, and consulting for companies and independent job seekers in South Carolina. For more information, visit www.godshall.com.
