Cyber World - Tim Taylor, SBDC

 

            As the new Rotary Year began July 1, our club congratulations a wonderful year of now-Past President Nancy Hanson and our new President Chad Haverkamp.

 

            Thanks for both for stepping up to lead our club, which was organized in January 1954.  That’s 63 years of important, valuable service to Rotary International and the Spokane community.

 

            As Chad and Nancy know-- as do more than the half of the club’s current former presidents also know well-- it takes the effort of the entire club to succeed.  And, while much has changed since 1954, the constant themes of the Object of Rotary and Rotary’s Four Way Test have not change.

  

             Thanks for all club members for stepping up to the challenges of making productive service.  

 

 

 

              At the Installation Banquet Paul Harris Fellowships will awarded to: one to Robbie Jackson and one to a business recipient, Aspen Personnel..

 

              At the first new Rotary year, President Haverkamp honored club members Dave Petersen, Sandy Fink, and Brad Stark for Paul Harris Fellowship awards.

 

              Petersen was honored for a second Harris Fellowship and Fink for her fourth award.  Stark was honored for his “above and beyond” efforts for excellent work with weekly programs and his additional new role in club membership.

 

              Congratulations to club President Nancy Hanson for an outstanding year and best of luck to Chad Haverkamp as he begins his 2017-18 Rotary year.

 

             Thanks to generous club donations, all six Rotary exchange students will enjoy an outing at the Silverwood Theme Park on Thursday, July 20.  Member Chris Lynch, who coordinated the event, invites other members to join the activities.   

 

             RYLA notes: Lynch also coordinates the club Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp activities.  Though no student was selected from our club this year, frequent students from area high school have participated.

 

RYLA is a one-week leadership camp, this year from July 1-8, at Selkirk College in Castlegar, British Columbia.  Leadership components include goal-setting, motivation, leadership styles, effective leadership, group dynamics, ethics, critical thinking and Rotary’s service to the communities.

 

              On a typical day, internet cyber “attacks” occur 4-5 million times, said Tim Taylor of the Small Business Development Center.  He added that “an attack is not a cyber breach.”

 

              Taylor described the daunting computerized mine-field for club members July 10.

 

              Taylor, whose office is at 901 E. Second, said the SBDC was organized by Congress in 1980 in each state.  Washington has one central office, with 24 branch offices.  He said some of the rules change for Idaho and other states.

 

              Joining Taylor was Abby Belanger, a Whitworth University senior.  They offer three-hour sessions -- Aug. 8 at Whitworth and Aug. 15 at Kendall Yards – for detailed discussion about cyber attacks.

 

              Taylor said 61 percent of small businesses data breaches were recorded last year.  He said the threshold for “small” is 500 employees or less.

 

              Larger corporations, including the noted breaches for Target Stores, often have more elaborate cyber defenses.  But for Target, he said, a contractor company with an HVAC firm in one store launched the breach that quickly went world-wide.

 

              Taylor said “cyber crime is the ninth largest category in Washington.”  He said on average, small business breaches cost $9,300 for each breach.  He added that while the loss of actual dollars can be large, “there also is a loss of confidence for business clients who have been breached.”

 

              Belanger itemizes a five-part cyber-breach response program:

 

                         Identify – needs, threats, methods and sensitive materials.

 

                         Protect – what is in place and what needs to be added.

 

                         Detect – in typical firms, breaches can occur in 60 seconds, but it can take six to 18 months to realize some of the subtle breaches – individually and in networks.

 

                         Responses – talk to all of the key people involved.

 

                         Recover – how to stop money losses and how to get back to normal.

 

            Taylor said one of his first defense mechanism was “taking my own post-its (with passwords) off of my desk.”

 

            He said “long weekends,” such as the recent 4^th of July, is a prime target of attack, “because they have all weekend to play” with others’ computers.

 

           He said the growing of “bit coins” are targets because one electronic bit coin can be worth $2,500.

 

           One financial firm lost $2.5 million in revenue when an attacker found computerized “trash” records, Taylor said.

 

           “Apple was imperious” to most cyber breaches, he said, “but no more.”

 

           He also encourages businesses “to read cyber insurance very closely,” because some firms may not have as much protection as they think.