Phishing, ransomware and data breaches are just some of the digital threats facing small businesses.
To help, Barrie-based startup, White Tuque, is hosting a cyber-security workshop and free lunch for small- and medium-sized businesses in the upstairs boardroom at the BWG Leisure Centre on Thursday, Sept. 7, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Provided in partnership with Bradford Board of Trade, BWG Economic Development and Nottawasaga Futures, the workshop is intended to give businesses the tools to prevent cyber-attacks, and help them create policies and procedures to respond should the worst occur.
While big businesses are usually the ones who make headlines when they fall victim to cyber-attacks, they usually also have the resources to bounce back, whereas smaller businesses might not, explained Meredith Brydon, executive administrator at White Tuque.
“Paying a ransomware for a smaller organization can do some real damage. Our whole goal is to keep businesses operational,” she said.
The workshop is aimed at helping those business leaders navigate the threats of increasingly digital work and business landscapes, where more sensitive data — such as intellectual property and customer data — is being handled through Google suites, cloud services and remote work, Brydon explained.
“(We’re) just giving you ways to be cyber-aware, so you can protect your people, your processes and your technology,” she said.
About six months ago, Barrie cheese and chocolate shop, J’Adore, faced trouble when their Facebook and Instagram accounts were temporarily taken over by malicious actors.
“Yes, it’s true, we have lost our social media accounts for the time being. They are actively working on getting all accounts back up and running,” the business owners told followers on social media in a Feb. 12 post.
The workshop is being run by Laura Payne, White Tuque’s chief enablement officer and vice-president of security consulting, who has more than 20 years experience working at one of Canada’s largest financial institutions, including more than a decade working in information security.
Her experience covers a variety of domains, including virtual chief information security officer (CISO), information security governance and risk, security operations and security engineering.
White Tuque claims to be “a battle-tested and crisis-proven team of Canada’s leading cyber-security experts,” who offer affordable, condensed versions of the same cyber-security tactics used by “the financial industry, the gaming industry, and even The Department of Defence.”
The startup's name is a Canadian take on the term “White Hat” which refers to ethical hackers employed to test and verify the efficacy of digital security systems.
Their is no cost to attend the workshop, and anyone interested can register online at whitetuque.com/bwg-smb.
For more information, visit www.whitetuque.com or email [email protected].
