Cyber Security for Small Business

Businesses and their employees are facing greater challenges as they respond to an unprecedented global increase in technological crime. Small to mid-sized companies in particular these days, are often more vulnerable to cybercrime because they have limited resources to employ in-house cyber security or deliver up-to-date security awareness training for their staff.

In this presentation, Kathy Macdonald will focus on practical cyber security strategies for small businesses to help safeguard their valuable information, and protect them against potential cyber attacks from phishing, spear phishing, business email compromise and social engineering. If you own a small to mid-sized business, whether it is rural, home-based or a shop or store, this virtual presentation will help you learn more about:

• online threats that target small to mid-sized businesses including, identity theft, scams and online fraud;

• common tactics, techniques and procedures used in social engineering attacks;

• solid tactics that will help safeguard you and your family while working remotely;

• how to respond to a cyber security incident and where to report a cybercrime.

This virtual presentation will cover a diverse range of topics and will include time for questions and answers.

Speaker details:

Kathy Macdonald is a retired police officer with 25 years of investigative and crime prevention experience. She possesses extensive experience in developing and delivering cyber awareness and crime prevention programs for both public and private sector organizations. Kathy’s areas of expertise include online fraud, social engineering, online abuse, social media, cyberbullying, targeted intrusions, and privacy protection.

Integrating her understanding of police work with her experience in public relations, Kathy instructs cybercrime prevention and personnel security at the University of Calgary. She conducts cybersecurity presentations all over the world and also works as an associate with Toddington International, where she conducts open-source investigations. Kathy is a published writer and over the years has been a guest speaker at many security and safety-related conferences internationally. In 2009, the Governor-General of Canada invested Kathy with the Member of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces (M.O.M.), in recognition of her longstanding commitment to cybercrime prevention and awareness. In 2019, Kathy was elected onto the Senate of the University of Calgary.

Through her previous experience, Macdonald’s work allowed her to overview what happened to victims and understand the circumstances that led them to become a target. She also investigated the perpetrators and the tactics they used to when taking advantage of others online. Macdonald understands online behavior risks, mistakes, and tactics that expose individuals and organizations from their online activity. Her presentations focus on prevention and awareness strategies to keep perpetrators away. Macdonald’s presentations provide practical insights on experts on both the legal and criminal aspects of cyber-security, cyber-crime, fraud prevention, seniors & fraud, cyber-attacks, malware, hacking, preventative software, social media, the dark web, human trafficking, cryptocurrencies, ransomware, cyberbullying and online investigations. Macdonald’s dynamic ability to address all aspects of cybersecurity enables her to speak to any audience, business, organization or individual about how they can improve their online behaviours.