Conference to discuss business and cyber crime

SPRINGFIELD — A professional hacker and other experts will highlight the damage cyber crimes and data breaches can cause to businesses in the Miami Valley during a conference Tuesday at the Avetec facility in Springfield.

The cost to business of cyber crimes in the U.S. is difficult to measure accurately, but a 2013 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated those crimes could cost U.S. businesses between $20 billion to as much as $140 billion annually.

The conference, titled, “Inside the Mind of a Hacker: What Government and Corporate America Should Know,” will discuss techniques by computer hackers, the types of information hackers are looking for and the risks associated with social media and other technologies. The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday at Avetec, 4170 Allium Ct.

The conference is geared toward the business community to help raise awareness of the risks they face and what measures can be taken to protect their information.

“What we’re going to be talking about is the vulnerabilities everybody faces in the cyber world,” said Tim Shaw, a former agent for the FBI and director of education for the Advanced Technical Intelligence Center in Beavercreek.

Dave Chronister, a professional hacker, will serve as the presenter and will discuss issues that include the techniques used by hackers and which security measures work best in preventing cyber crimes.

Shaw said typical crimes can range from identity theft to stealing intellectual property. He pointed to a 2013 study by the Ponemon Institute that showed the U.S. and Germany suffered the highest cost and the most data breaches among the nine countries studied.

The event will also help introduce a new 10-week training program at Avetec that will help train a potential workforce that has the ability to look for suspicious activity online, Shaw said.
“It’s going to be able to take these folks and train them up so they can go out and they’re ready to go into an environment where they’re not scared to look at the Net and see what’s going on,” Shaw said. “They’re comfortable with it and they understand it.”

Last year, officials from ATIC announced a merger with Avetec, a Springfield firm located at the NextEdge Technology Park. Under the agreement, both companies will remain in their current locations, but management of the two defense firms will merge.

Sourse: daytondailynews.com