Chamber Members Get Advice on Cyber Security

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Bob Brown of Woodstone Home Investments (top, front right) poses a question about cyber security to Tim Tewksbury of PS Bank (above, left with Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce president Gina Suydam) during an educational luncheon sponsored by the Chamber and held at The Warren Hotel in Tunkhannock on Dec. 14. PS Bank also sponsored the event.

Photos and Story by Rick Hiduk

Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce (WyCCC) members were reminded of the inherent dangers to their computer systems of cyber attacks, viruses, fishing, and spamming on Wednesday as PS Bank Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Tim Tewksbury addressed the crowd as part of the Chamber’s ongoing Educational Luncheon Series.

I’m not here to scare you,” Tewksbury said at the beginning of his presentation. “I hope to bore you to tears.”

As he rolled out the basics of cyber security – data availability, integrity, authentication, and authorization – and their related safeguards, Tewksbury remarked, “These are not just ‘nice to have.’ You need to be doing all of these.”

Using banking as an example, Tewksbury explained that the concept of security has come a long way from building larger and stronger safes to prevent robberies to fending off internet-born criminals on a daily basis. Once data began to be stored in computers, new threats emerged, including natural disasters like floods, fires, and tornadoes that could physically damage systems or the infrastructure on which they relied. Backing up data and storing it at other locations was then a complicated but relatively simple solution.

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With the onset of the internet and the sharing and continuous transfer of data, the potential of cyber espionage, fraud, disruption, and destruction of entire systems grew exponentially.

Some of the safeguards against those threats include redundant data centers, restricted access to physical systems and electronic data, review of vendor protocols, dual controls for administrators, off-network or off-site backups, and firewalls.

Regardless of what is devised to keep hackers and cyber-thieves at bay, Tewksbury cautioned, they are working just as hard to thwart every new protection offered.

He advised everybody in attendance to keep their operating, antiviral and malware systems as up-to-date as possible. If you stop receiving updates (or patches) for your software, he stated, “They’re not making them anymore because your system is obsolete.”

He cautioned against “Trojan horses” and “social engineering.” Emails, phone calls, and even physical mail can be created to look exactly like a vendor or service provider whom you trust. Sometimes, the ruse can be exposed as easily as waving the mouse over a link to get the details of it. When in doubt, he suggested, get on the phone directly with the vendor.

Social engineering, a trick that often targets older, less savvy, computer users often involves a simple phone call. Criminals use social engineering, he noted, because exploiting a person’s natural inclination to be helpful is so much easier than hacking an account.

Damage to your system and potential loss of data ranges from performance degradation and stolen personal information to corruption of system files, “keyloggers” that can record everything you type, and “cryptolockers” who can lock up your data and demand ransom for its release.

Password deficiency is one of the easiest ways for a would-be hacker to get into your system. Tewksbury highly recommended devising complicated passwords with combinations of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. One should change passwords every 90 days he continued, and keep them secure.

Don’t use the same password for everything just because it’s easier,” he warned. Once a hacker finds a password that works, Tewksbury added, he or she will automatically try to use it to open every other account they can find on your system.

In other business, Suydam announced the names of recently elected WyCCC officers, which included Jami Hearn – chairman; Mike Narcavage – vice-chairman; Tyler Emmerich – treasurer; and Neil King – secretary.

The next WyCCC educational luncheon is planned for Wednesday, Jan. 11 at Keystone College. Donna LaBar will be the key speaker.

For more information about the Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce, visit www.WyCCC.org or call 570-836-7755.

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