SUNBURY – With Cyber attacks making headline news recently, it has a lot of people, especially business owners looking for the best ways to protect their assets and information. Steven Stumbris and Reed Byrum of the Bucknell University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) were heard on WKOK recently discussing these issues and how to combat them.
Byrum, who is a business consultant at the SBDC, says a cyber attack can completely ruin a small business, “A lot of times we hear about the attacks, but we don’t often hear about the results, and the results are small businesses who don’t think they are going to be attacked, in fact, they have more than a 50% chance of an attack. Those who are attacked 2 out of 3, of them are out of business within 6 months.”
Steven Stumbris, Director of SBDC, “Some of the most common risks are phishing attacks. It’s external threats that are trying to penetrate the weaknesses of their online presence, and get a business’s systems to divulge sensitive data.”
Identity theft, malware, and ransomware are all buzz words that are often heard when discussing cyber security. Stumbris says, it’s all about knowing what those words mean and what they can do, “It’s starts with awareness and it starts with education about in most part, relatively simple steps that a business owner, and their employees can take to secure things; to secure information.”
You can begin your education at the SBDC’s event Friday, October 27 where they will be holding a workshop introducing their new Cyber security Risk Assessment Guide. The event is from 830am – 11:30am at the Elaine Langone Center. To find out more information, please go to Bucknell.edu/sdbc
