By GREGORY ZELLER //
With large-scale cyberattacks landing major blows around the world, small-scale Long Island businesses soaked up some no-nonsense lessons this week on how to cover their digital assets.
The Long Island Association hosted a cybersecurity-resilience discussion Tuesday focused on the big steps small companies must take against these ever-increasing dangers, featuring experts from Great Neck-based global IT services provider SVAM International.
Officially a function of the LIA’s Small and Mid-Sized Business Committee, the event featured a presentation by SVAM International Cybersecurity Leader Kiran Bhujle and Cybersecurity Director Matthew Lang, who discussed the vulnerability of small-enterprise “digital access points” and what small-biz executives – who might not enjoy the mighty resources of bigger companies with massive IT departments – can do to minimize human error and prevent threats like unauthorized access, data leakage and malware attacks.
Matthew Cohen: Best defense.
The discussion came at a time of heightened hacker activity around the world. In the last several weeks, anonymous bad actors have rocked fuel prices in Cuba, fritzed Albania’s Insititute of Statistics, shut down vital Canada Foreign Ministry systems, disabled government operations in Fulton County, Ga., and infected a Chicago hospital with a sinister ransomware virus, all from behind a remote keyboard.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, is concerned that Chinese hackers are preparing to launch major cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, with the Pentagon warning that a successful Chinese breach could cripple U.S. military capabilities throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
With attacks proliferating – and fear of “the big one” rising – it’s more important than ever for every organization, including small businesses, to beef up their digital defenses and have a strong cyber-incidence response plan in place, according to LIA President and CEO Matthew Cohen.
“Cyberattacks could have devastating financial and operational impacts for small businesses,” Cohen said at Tuesday’s event. “In this digital world, the information we heard today is critically important.”
In addition to discussing available resources across the cybersecurity landscape, regulatory compliance issues and the best practices to help small businesses improve their security posture, Bhujle and Lang also offered attendees complimentary consultations tailored to their individual businesses.
Those consultations are an invaluable resource, according to Small and Mid-Sized Business Committee Co-chairwoman Katherine Heaviside, a member of the LIA Board of Directors and president of Huntington-based Epoch 5 Public Relations.
With their attention stretched in a dozen directions, it’s not easy for small-business owners to “devote time and resources to cybersecurity,” Heaviside noted – but the big takeaway from Tuesday’s crash course was that a little prevention can go a long way.
“Small businesses are so busy in [their] daily operations,” Heaviside added. “But we heard from SVAM International that if businesses identify what digital assets are critical and protect those assets, they would be prepared for the worst-case scenario.”
