Representatives from several area businesses attended a seminar co-hosted by Greenbrier Communications and SonicWall titled "Raising your Information Security Knowledge" on April 22nd.

The seminar, also referred to as RISK 3.0, presented a comprehensive look at the ever increasing severity and volume of threats to business information networks, data and IT assets.

Some of the more sobering "hard facts" provided included:

• 93% of all companies that experience "significant data loss" are out of business within 5 years.
• 25% of employees do peer-to-peer file sharing at work.
• About 16% of men and 8% of women ADMIT to viewing pornography at work.
• 43% of all businesses suffer disruptions due to malware (include spyware, Trojan horse attacks, system monitor attacks and pharming and keylogger attacks).
• In 2006, over 100 million identity records were stolen; only 5 criminals related to the thefts were sentenced. There are 28 new victims of identity theft every minute.
• Cyber crime proceeds are greater than those of illegal drug sales.

Solutions for protection against these threats must include addressing the processes, people and technology. Every business must define, and communicate to all employees, "acceptable usage" policies for mobile devices, websites and peer-to-peer applications. Employees need to be educated regarding the importance of password complexity and confidentiality and helped to understand the how and why of potential threats and what they can do to minimize risk.

Technology solutions should include content filtering to control and block questionable content, up-to-date authentication tools, anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-span and anti-phishing filters, deep inspection of all data, automated updates, and protection management to flag dangerous usage.

In addition to the presentation, this "lunch and learn" event provided a great opportunity for attendees to discuss their specific questions and situations with both Greenbrier Communications and SonicWall representatives, as well as each other.

For more information about how Greenbrier Communications can help you and your organization protect your network and business information against these threats, contact us today.