MONROE, La. (KNOE) – The Monroe Chamber of Commerce hosted its 2023 Louisiana Cyber Security and Technology Summit on Thursday.
The chamber is making small businesses and people aware of why cyber security is essential while exploring the internet. With several sessions featuring information technology industry leaders and a keynote speaker being 100% virtual, the summit held discussions about why it’s important to remain protected.
“We want to educate people about not being scared of technology, but also to be super cautious about the technology that they use,” said Liz Pyle, chief operating officer of Kinetix Solutions.
Cody Davis, who’s the chief experience officer with NetTech based in Monroe, said without having a focus on cyber security, small businesses are vulnerable to potential attacks.
“The risks are financial and business impacting – it can take your business down,” said Davis. “Take healthcare – that’s a big industry that have HIPAA compliances and there are fines that come with that. There are financial firms that have to deal with vendor policies and there are a ton of financial risks that can come with that; loss of data. There can be ransom – literally, they will ask you to pay them money if your data gets compromised.”
Pyle said the average person should understand basic cyber security practices when operating on their daily devices.
“And so we hope what we can do is teach people that when you get that suspicious looking email, look at who it’s from – truly look at it. Don’t take it for face value that it truly is from cousins, grandmothers – whoever. There’s text spamming that takes place as well,” said Pyle.
The summit offered resources for people to know there are local experts to contact for technology protection:
– NetTech
– MOEbiz
– hiTech
– GreenQube (greenqube)
– Kinetix
– At&T Cybersecurity
– Etheridge Pipeline & Conduit (EPC – utility construction contractor)
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