Online threats can come from all sources. That was the theme of the fourth annual NODAKON at Minot State University: cybersafety. The two-day event taught students and the public about online predators, financial threats, and risk management.
The first day of NODAKON kicked off with SRT Tech Day, where students from 15 area high schools took part in business- and technology-related competitions. SRT is a proud long-time sponsor.
Day two hosted a cybersecurity summit, where industry experts taught attendees about real-life examples of when cybersecurity tactics failed or succeeded. Jersey Kelly, Network Operations Engineer at SRT, spoke on a panel that discussed asset protection.
He and others on the panel (Jennifer Sackett, Connexus Energy; Jesse Clark, Tech Entrepreneur; Chris Geren, NDIT; Jacob Rued, First Western Bank & Trust) talked about the importance of identifying the full scope of each unique cybersecurity incident, the impact of technology changes, and continuous training for everyone within an institution. Insider threats don’t always come from bad actors. An employee could unknowingly open a link that would make a company susceptible to a phishing attack, which is just one example of an unintentional, insider threat.
A common theme among the panel was establishing a cybersafe culture, in which employees know it’s okay to question emails or links sent from coworkers or even the CEO, and understand a “think before you click” mindset. A cybersafe culture also includes physical security. “It plays a big role,” Jersey said. “We [SRT] have a lot of equipment that could be bad for any bad actor to get access to.”
Cybersecurity is something every Internet user should keep top of mind. SRT holds monthly training for all employees and encourages continuous education like the opportunities provided by NODAKON at Minot State.
