A Conference You Can’t Afford to Miss!

The Equifax data breach has been a wakeup call to businesses about how lax security can end in disaster for the consumer and the company. How widespread are these cybercrimes? What can businesses do? What are solutions for the future? Fortunately, answers to these questions and others will be discussed on October 6 when the Business Council of Westchester and Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems hold a half-day conference entitled CyberStorm-Cybersecurity in Business: Emerging Threats & Innovative Solutions. National experts such as Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Cyber Warfare and Information System expert Brigadier General Timothy T. Lunderman, as well as IT experts from major corporations like IBM, Johnson & Johnson and Mastercard will breakdown this complex topic.

“No one is immune from cybercrime whether you are a business or a consumer,’’ said John Ravitz, Executive Vice President and COO of the Business Council of Westchester. “The hacking of Equifax has brought this serious issue back into the spotlight, but breaches big and small are occurring daily and the consequences for companies who ignore these threats are serious.’’

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have reported on the massive data breach at Equifax that was announced two weeks ago  and exposed the personal information of as many as 143 million consumers. Further disclosures that hackers had roamed freely through the company’s database since March but went undetected until July and that Equifax kept this a secret until September, unleashed a major backlash and an FBI investigation. Just this week the Security and Exchange Commission announced that it too had been hacked and that a database of filings made by thousands of public companies and other financial firms regulated by the SEC.

“The time for viewing these incidents as isolated is over,’’ said Marsha Gordon, President and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester. “The goal of this conference is to make sure that our members and the general business community is as educated as possible on this very important issue.’’