Cybersecurity Awareness Month and Seminars – Podcast
Dave and Steve talk about three upcoming cybersecurity events happening in New Hampshire that would be helpful for any business owner or professional to attend, including the New Hampshire Tech Alliance, the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Group, and the Manchester Area Human Resources Association.
Dave: Welcome to PCG Tech Tuesday. This is your host Dave Hodgdon, and I’m here today with my guest, one of our senior engineers and security experts, Steve Ripper. Steve, how are you doing today?
Steve: I’m good Dave, how are you?
Dave: Fantastic. Hey, October is what’s known as Cybersecurity Awareness Month. And I think it was announced by George Bush in 2004. And so we’re coming up on our 20th anniversary.
Steve: Didn’t Al Gore invent the Internet?
Dave: He did invent the internet.
Steve: So George invented security awareness? Good for him.
Dave: I’m glad he did.
Steve: Somebody had to.
Resiliency Academy for Small Business and Communities – Cybersecurity Day
Dave: So there’s a lot of upcoming events. We want to go over some events that are upcoming here in the state that are relevant, and some great speakers. So the first one is happening on October 24th. This is being put on by the New Hampshire SBDC in alliance with New Hampshire Tech Alliance. It’s going to be held at the 3S Artspace, which is behind the old Portsmouth Herald over off of Maplewood. What’s that great taco place over there?
Steve: Barrio.
Dave: Barrio.
Steve: Go eat tacos there, man. That place is amazing. And the 3S is amazing. It’s an awesome facility.
Dave: An awesome facility. So this is an event that has several major speakers and the New Hampshire Tech Alliance has done a good job of bringing certain security experts to talk about insurance, HR, artificial intelligence, risk assessment, wise security training, and compliancy. So, as a small business, this is a great space for you to learn. And in today’s digital landscape you need to prioritize your cybersecurity initiatives and what you’re going to do to protect your data, your cash. So that’s a great session, October 24th.
Steve: What’s really going to be great about that is there’s going to be a moment where you can talk to many of the presenters. There’s going to be a meet and greet where you can just ask, get some one-on-one time. There’s also going to be a panel. So it’s not just going to be listening to us just drone on about whatever our presentation is. Sure there’s going to be some PowerPoint and there’s going to be some of that, but there’s going to be a panel so that you can have off-the-cuff questions and get the panel to answer. It’s going to be really exciting. I’m excited for it.
Dave: And of course breakfast and lunch being served and it’s a great location. So please register for that. You do have to register to attend that. And as Steve said, you’ll have a lot of time, one-on-one to meet with many of the people. I think there’s about six, seven presenters in the security panel.
New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Group
The next big event is being put on by the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Group. This is being held in Concord, New Hampshire on October 27. It’ll be held at the Grappone Conference Center. So this is focusing predominantly for manufacturing industries. So if you’re in the manufacturing or if you’re a member of that group, please make the efforts to show up there October 27th. There’ll be some great sessions on cybersecurity and what’s happening in the manufacturing area and what’s happening with compliance. Anything on compliance, Steve, for manufacturing?
Steve: Yeah, no, I mean it’s important. So, one of the most targeted industries in our nation right now, manufacturing, the internet of things, because there’s a lot of devices out there on the floors of manufacturing that are easily exploitable. So there’s going to be a lot of great tips in there about what you should be doing to pay attention to that and it’s really going to be good.
Manchester Area Human Resources Association (MAHRA)
Dave: The last engagement is MAHRA. That is the Manchester Area Human Resources Association. So for any business that’s dealing with HR, MAHRA is a phenomenal group. They have hundreds and hundreds of members. You don’t have to be a member to attend, but from a standpoint of what’s happening in HR, there’s going to be a session on November 8th – [SAFE CYBER: HELPING BUSINESS LEADERS NAVIGATE THE DIGITAL FRONTIER]. I know it’s slightly out of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but on November 8th at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester, there’ll be a couple of speakers there, Mr. Steven Stuart Ripper and myself, Dave Hodgdon, speaking predominantly about what a risk assessment is, compliance and the necessary things. You need to be thinking about some of the highlights on that session right there.
Steve: Yeah, we’re going to talk about cybersecurity. Of course, if you think you’re going to get away from me talking about MFA, that’s not going to happen. You’re going to hear some MFA, but we’re going to talk about risk assessments. We’re going to focus on what a company can do to try to understand what they need to do, because it can just be really overwhelming. There’s so much, and do you need to do all of it? Maybe not. So that’s where the risk assessment comes in. But I’m going to talk about a couple other topics as well, leading into it, because you can’t just talk just about risk assessments. You’re missing so much more. So I’m going to try to talk about a few other things as well. Should be good.
Dave: So we’ll have all those topics and sessions on our website as well as you can go directly to the New Hampshire Tech Alliance and New Hampshire SBDC for the one October 24th, the New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Group on October 27th and then MAHRA, which is the Manchester Area Human Resources on November 8th. So, a great time over the next month to learn more about cyber security and we look forward to seeing you at one of those events. Have a great day. This is Dave and Steve at PCG Tech Tuesday.
