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As I prepare for this week’s educational security event in Michigan, I am reminded that this is the perfect time to be reaching out to business owners with an educational message. Security issues are rampant, and businesses are being compromised every day.

I was talking with another one of my clients this morning reviewing  their blog posts and other educational social media programs online.  We were talking through some of the major challenges business owners face and what topics integrators and solution providers should be focusing on.  In his case, his entire company has moved to a security message simply because the need is there.  Everyone has a security need right now – areas may differ, but they all need it.  This is a time in history where security is urgent for businesses of all sizes.

In the case of the Michigan event, our initial response has been very strong – we’ll have a packed room for this event.  We have about 30 business leaders signed up – business owners and executives all facing the same issue; that of making sure their data is safe:

1. Wall Street Journal reports that 75% of employees admit to stealing data.  How should business owners view the hiring process and what steps should be taken to ensure new employees have the right access, with the right amount of accountability?

2. Gen Y hires are turning down jobs that won’t allow them to use their own smart phones and tablets.  How do companies address  this type of thing.  Smaller companies probably lack detailed employment policy handbooks and training on this sort of thing – what should they do?

3. Work-at-home programs are also growing.  The State of VA. has, in the past, offered a substantial grant to small businesses who move some of their office workers to home offices.  But how do these companies maintain control of  home based computers used to access sensitive information?

4. Recent advancements in malware have made many of the older anti-malware technologies useless.  With little or no info security skills on staff, how will these companies ensure computers are not infected with spyware and keystroke loggers?

5. Liabilities are growing as threats increase – what policies must be in place and how do these businesses deal with compliance?

On Thursday we will be going through some of the business level mindsets from my book Data@Risk to address the root problems most of these companies have.  It’s a difficult area for these businesses, but our goal is to give them some direction on how to get their company thinking about, and doing the right things to reduce the amount of exposure they have; things they can actually get started with right away.

© 2012, David Stelzl