The National Cyber Security Alliance, a nonprofit public-private partnership focused on helping citizens stay safer and more secure online, is partnering with the New Orleans Business Alliance to present the CyberSecure My Business™ workshop on February 7.

New Orleans is the first of six stops on NCSA’s national tour focused on teaching cybersecurity best practices to small business owners, employees, and advisors. The event features national, state, and local resources available to help the small business community.

“Small businesses are the foundation of the local economy. Nationally, we’ve read the reports about multibillion-dollar companies experiencing data breaches, however, small businesses face less publicized, yet very real vulnerabilities. The majority of data breach victims are in fact small businesses and the consequences to a small business could be catastrophic,” said Quentin L. Messer, Jr., president and CEO of the New Orleans Business Alliance. “Because on a daily basis, the vast majority of small businesses are rightly focused on making payroll and growing their businesses, we want to join partners, throughout the city, to provide exposure to this important topic. The New Orleans Business Alliance is proud to be a part of this effort to arm local business owners and advisors with the information they need to protect themselves and their clients in an increasingly complex digital world.”

Small Businesses: The New Hacker Target

Small and medium-sized businesses represent 54 percent of the nation’s economy, according to the Small Business Administration, thus it is not a surprise that according to the 2018 Verizon Data Breach Report, 58 percent of over 53,000 targets identified as small businesses.

The financial impact of a cyber attack is most often devastating to a small business. the BBB found that more than half of small businesses would be unprofitable within a month if they lost permanent access to their essential data.

With this top of mind, NCSA created a national program designed to help small businesses learn to be safer and more secure online in language they can understand.

Utilizing the most recent threat data and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, content from federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, NCSA educates smaller organizations on how to think about cybersecurity while offering real-life scenarios with simple steps to better secure their data.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework offers an impactful way to engage businesses on how cybersecurity applies to their individual needs and provides a pathway to better practices both immediately and as the businesses grow.

A Free Event

The free event will take place at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center and divided into two separate workshops:

8:00AM-12PM: Cyber Training & Resources for Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Support Staff. The morning session equips the region’s small business/entrepreneurial ecosystem support staff and advisors with information and resources they can use with the small businesses. The workshop covers: Common cyber misconceptions & how advisors can help, cyber basics advisors need to know, strategies for talking to small businesses about cybersecurity, and what free resources are available for small businesses.
To Register (free): cybersecuremybizadvisorsnola.eventbrite.com

1:00PM-5:00PM: CyberSecure My Business for the NOLA Small Business Community. Small business owners and employees will walk away with practical tips and advice they can put into action—not only at the office, but at home as well.

To Register (free): cybersecuremybizneworleans.eventbrite.com    

Both workshops will feature:

• introductory “fireside chat” with local and regional experts,
• interactive CyberSecure My Business workshop facilitated by the National Cyber Security Alliance’s Director of Small Business Education,
• small business cybersecurity presentation by Dama Brown, regional director-Southwest Region for the Federal Trade Commission, and
• exhibitor tables to showcase the abundant cybersecurity resources available to the small business community.

“The CyberSecure My Business workshop content is designed to be easily understood by people who do not have technical backgrounds. Attendees will leave the workshop with an understanding that they are a target, but this isn’t for scare tactics—it is, more importantly, to empower small business owners, employees, and advisors to implement some key actionable steps to better secure their personal and business assets. Cybersecurity awareness is great, but cybersecurity action is the goal,” said Daniel Eliot, director of Small Business Education, National Cyber Security Alliance.

The national program is supported by its Founding Sponsor: FedEx, Signature Sponsor: Trend Micro, and Contributing Sponsor: MediaPRO. Local sponsorship to enable NCSA to host this event for free has been provided by: Ernest M. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans Business Alliance, and ResTech—a local full suite IT & cybersecurity firm.

To learn more about staying safe online and to find links to websites that offer additional account security information, visit www.staysafeonline.org.  

About NCSA                                                                                                                     

NCSA is the nation’s leading nonprofit, public-private partnership promoting cybersecurity and privacy education and awareness. NCSA works with a broad array of stakeholders in government, industry and civil society. NCSA’s primary partners are DHS and NCSA’s Board of Directors, which includes representatives from: ADP; AT&T Services Inc.; Bank of America; CDK Global, LLC; CertNexus; Cisco; Cofense; Comcast Corporation; ESET North America; Facebook; Google; InfoSec Institute; Intel Corporation; Marriott International; Mastercard; Microsoft Corporation; Mimecast; NXP Semiconductors; Raytheon; Salesforce; Symantec Corporation; Visa, Inc.; and Wells Fargo.

NCSA’s core efforts include National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October); Data Privacy Day (Jan. 28); STOP. THINK. CONNECT.™, the global online safety awareness and education campaign co-founded by NCSA and the Anti-Phishing Working Group with federal government leadership from DHS; and CyberSecure My Business™, which offers webinars, web resources and workshops to help businesses be resistant to and resilient from cyber attacks. For more information on NCSA, please visit staysafeonline.org/about-us/overview/.  

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