EdSymposium 2019

We had a great time at EdSymposium 2019. It was fun to see a new town and meet members from all across the country. We had a lot of great speakers during the 3 days of seminars but one in particular applies to all of us no what job title you hold. Saturday morning Heather Stratford spoke on Phishing Trends and Cyber Attacks.

There are 73 records stolen every second so keep your information safe by creating good passwords; the longer the password the better. If you have a hard time remembering all those passwords consider getting a password manager like "Lastpass". If not, consider three different passwords, one for banking and don't write it anywhere! A second for work and a third for home/personal stuff. If you ever wonder how secure your password is, try https://howsecureismypassword.net/ and see how quickly your password is able to be hacked by a computer. You might be surprised.

Heather told us most business go out of business 6 months after an attack. Ransomware is a type of malware that restricts access to the infected computer system in some way, and demands that the user pay a ransom to the malware operators to remove the restriction. If this happens you should immediately disconnect your computer from the internet as well as everyone in your office. Phishing is the attempt to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money), often for malicious reasons, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

Keep you and your company safe by creating strong passwords, don't open unexpected attachments and avoid the emails that are "urgent" in matter about your credit card, the IRS or a package delay.

Thank you to our Chapter and the Carol Powers Ernst Scholarship for allowing me to attend EdSymposium 2019 in Spokane. Not only was there a wealth of information, but also great networking.

Pam LaValle