By David N. Young
With more than 82,000 new cyber threats released by hackers every day, small businesses would be wise to learn how to protect their data, local businessman Darin Schoumaker told members of the Los Alamitos Chamber of Commerce at their networking breakfast Friday.
“Small businesses are the low hanging fruit” for hackers, Schoumaker said before a well-attended meeting being held at Maderas Steak and Ribs. As cybersecurity becomes more of an issue for small businesses, Schoumaker gave members a brief explanation of the many dangers lurking on the internet, including ransomware, cyber bank fraud and other risks.
“Why would they (hackers) be interested in small businesses, asked Schoumaker? Not only are small businesses “easy targets,” they can also provide a “downstream link” to larger enterprises, he said.
Schoumaker also gave attendees a brief, yet frightening look inside the dark web, where hackers will sell, for a price, easily captured personal data. According to Shoumaker, interested parties can purchase credit card data for a price ranging from $2 to $90, and where you can purchase stolen data from an iTunes account for as little as $8.
There is little or no difference in malware and viruses, he explained, and he gave the crowd of small business owners helpful tips and various options to protect their computer operations.
When possible, Shoumaker said it makes sense to host a separate small computer to handle banking and sensitive online transactions. Surprisingly, Schoumaker said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the federal agency that protects bank deposits up to $100,000, protects only personal accounts. “They do not protect business accounts,” he told the group.
Schoumaker also urged the business owners to “change your passwords often,” saying accounts are safer with unique passwords.
Finally, he urged business owners to install virus and malware protection on phones and computers, noting that the loss of customer data can be very expensive, both from a financial perspective and “reputational damage.
He said the average cost is $201 per account to recover lost records. Not only that, he said, there is a “cost of downtime” to worry about as well should the cybersecurity barriers of small businesses be breached and its data stolen. “Protect your devices,” he warned.
Schoumaker is the President and CEO of ManagedNET Technology Solutions of Garden Grove.
Also on Friday, incoming Superintendent of the Los Alamitos Unified School District, Dr. Andrew Pulver, presented a bouquet of flowers to outgoing Supt. Dr. Sherry Kropp for her years of service to the community’s outstanding education system.
Kropp, in turn, thanked the Chamber members for their dedicated support of education and said she recognized “many wonderful parents” of children in the system attending the breakfast. Retirement, she said, “was just the right thing for me.”
Nonetheless not to worry, said Kropp, “you’re in good hands. Andrew is going to rock it.”
Photo by David N. Young