As Middle Tennessee continues to embrace technology and cyberattacks on businesses are on the rise, there is more of a need for tech education for everyone from students to business owners.
One local company has made it part of its mission to educate as many people as possible about keeping small business owners protected from cyberattacks. In March, Business System Solutions, a local IT-managed service provider, partnered with The Fountains of Gateway and ConnectWise to host a Lunch and Learn on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity education for small business owners.
According to CompTIA, managed service providers (MSPs) provide information technology support to companies that lack the necessary in-house resources to maintain their systems. Businesses usually outsource IT services if they do not have the budget for a full-scale IT team or a consistent need for full-time IT help on their team.
For over 25 years, Business System Solutions has provided education and solutions to the communities they have served in.
“I have enjoyed working with technology and applying it to solve business problems. With my degree in agricultural economics and agribusiness, I saw a need to help many different small businesses, including construction, health care, nonprofit, legal, and other business-to-business organizations with their technology and providing the right solutions to increase their productivity,” said Bill Ooms, owner of Business System Solutions.
Turn on the news, and you may well hear about cyberattacks and ransomware. Cisco defines cyberattacks as a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or organization to breach the information system of another individual or organization. Ransomware is a type of malicious software (malware) that holds a victim’s data or device hostage, threatening to keep it locked or worse unless the victim pays a ransom to the attacker.
“Cyber security is important to protect businesses from threat actors [individuals or groups who intentionally cause harm to digital devices or systems]. More than 94 percent of incidents are from compromised passwords, users clicking on links, or opening infected attachments. In the past year, AI has given both the threat actors more tools to attack with and the IT/MSP community more tools to protect the small business,” said Ooms.
Nobody wants to receive the “your information was found in a data breach” email or letter. Although usually connected to large businesses, small and midsize businesses are not exempt. One of the misconceptions of small business owners is that they are not big enough for a data breach, nor do they have anything at risk. However, “all businesses have invoices, personally identifiable information, payroll, and data on their computers they need to run their business. Sending phishing emails and compromised users is almost a no-cost option for threat actors, and they use databases of email addresses and passwords,” said Ooms.
Every business needs to take steps to protect its company from cyberattacks. When asked what simple steps a business owner can take to improve their cybersecurity posture, even without a large IT budget, Ooms suggests using multi-factor authentication (MFA) on email as well as all applications (especially on all website logins), and when logging on to your computer.
He also recommends that sound businesses should utilize a good IT/MSP company to keep things updated with all the latest security patches, train their users properly, and monitor for suspicious activity on their internal computer’s environment.
Listening to community leaders, Business System Solutions has come alongside students, teachers and administrations to give real-world advice on what it is like working in the field for entry-level technical jobs at an MSP. Recently, two of their employees spoke to eighth graders at Rockvale Middle School about the opportunities in choosing the information technology choice for their Career & Technical Education pathway (CTE). Tennessee’s Career & Technical Education consists of 16 nationally recognized career clusters with the ultimate goal of preparing students for success at the postsecondary level and in their chosen careers. Students across Rutherford County choose a pathway where they can gain professional certifications before graduation.
In July, Business System Solutions will sponsor a Murfreesboro Technology Council event where they will provide items for a back-to-school drive.
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Bill Ooms is the owner of Business System Solutions, which has locations in West Lafayette, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The Murfreesboro office is located at 1026 W. College St. For more information, call 615-809-0021 or visit bssconsulting.com.
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