Experts Address Cyber Security at Chamber Annual Meeting

Written by Jean Streeter

Northbrook Chamber

A pair of senior managers from Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, advisory and transaction services, addressed the hot topic of cyber security at the Northbrook Chamber’s recent annual meeting and dinner. Jason Lipschultz and David Shade, are advisory specialists who help companies effectively manage information techology risk and related business risk. Their presentation was titled “Cyber Security: It’s not Just an IT Issue.”
“Cybercrime is big business,” they told the group. “Today’s attackers are more organized, have significant funding and are patient and sophisticated.” The interconnectivity of people, devices and organizations opens up new vulnerabilities. New technologies, regulatory pressure and changing business requirements call for more security measures, they warned.
According to a recent government report, 70% of intrusions require no special skills and 84% take less than a day. Only 13% are discovered by the intended target and over 60% of those lie undiscovered for months. Another report found that 64% of small businesses have had a security breach in the last year.
Often, third party vendors are the source of many breaches. “The place where the attack starts is not always where it finishes,” they said, citing a high profile national case where a small HVAC company did not utilize broadly accepted anti-virus tools, leaving financial and personal information of 110 million customers open to the cyber attack.
Small businesses were urged to take tangible steps to help manage risk, including keeping IT software and systems up to date, using complex passwords and multi-factor authentication on accounts and devices; and educating staff on potential risks.
A copy of the slides from the presentation are available from the Chamber; call (847)498-5555.

Photo: Northbrook Village President Sandy Frum (l) and Northbrook Chamber President Tensley Garris (r) with the keynote speakers from Ernst & Young, David Shade and Jason Lipschultz, both Senior Managers specializing in risk management and cyber security.