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[BIzVoice/Indiana Chamber Magazine] SOUNDING THE ALARM: Execs Urge Boosting Defenses as Criminals Cast Wider Net

Cybersecurity is a dark cloud hanging over the entire business landscape – one that can produce a real tempest. A cybersecurity breach can cost tens of millions of dollars to a sizable company and imperil the very existence of almost any firm. Now, the ominous sky is expanding as the hackers and cybercriminals responsible for producing such storms are taking equal aim at everyday people who may not have a clue why they would be targeted or how to protect themselves and the companies that employ them.

But there is a silver lining and cause for great hope. Cybersecurity experts – often working in lockstep with government officials – are developing ever-improving firewalls and other security measures. And awareness of cybercrime tactics and ploys – among everyone from the board room to the mail room and even at the home office – is proving to be one of the most successful defenses.

Jim Goldman, an officer with the FBI Cybercrime Task Force from 2009 to 2014, says this is no ordinary storm chasing exercise. 

“It’s an arms race where we are doing our best to figure out what cybercriminals are doing and plug the holes,” Goldman explains. “As we’ve seen time and again, our adversaries continue to come up with new ways to conduct their crime and break into systems.”

BizVoice® brought together a panel of cybersecurity industry leaders to discuss the war on cybercrime, cybercriminals’ latest tactics and motives and what’s being done to protect businesses and individuals from getting drenched by the ominous clouds looming overhead.

They are:

• Goldman, founder and CEO of Indianapolis-based Trava Security Inc., which provides cybersecurity risk management and underwriting insight for the insurance industry (www.travasecurity.com)

• Brian McGinnis, partner with Barnes & Thornburg, where he is a founding member and co-chair of the firm’s data security and privacy law practice and a member of its intellectual property department and internet and technology group (www.btlaw.com)

• Bill Ooms, owner and CEO of West Lafayette-based Business Systems Solutions, a managed IT services company, has over 30 years of computer related experience, consulted for major corporations and hundreds of small businesses, as well as developed software and designed various systems (www.bssconsulting.com)

• Tim Pritchett, enterprise engineer operations manager at Matrix Integration, a Jasper-based managed services and information technology solutions firm (www.matrixintegration.com)

• Chetrice Romero, Indiana’s first cybersecurity program director, who recently began her tenure as the first cybersecurity state coordinator for Indiana with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (www.CISA.gov)