Cybersecurity for Small Businesses & Startups: Building a Trust Framework

In both our personal and professional lives, we're surrounded by technology we all trust by default. Devices that we rely on to communicate our most sensitive and personal messages.

But, if headlines about government hacking and mega-breaches have taught us nothing, sometimes that trust can be betrayed.

Whether you're just starting a local business, a tech start-up, or you’ve owned a small business for years the cyber security landscape is always changing. You need the most up to date information to keep you and your business safe.

Join Townsquared and the Christian Science Monitor's cybersecurity vertical Passcode for an evening exploring what “cybersecurity risks” really exist for small businesses and start-ups. Learn how to begin building a framework for deciding which services to rely-on, and how to start evaluating the threats you face.  

Leave with the knowledge of practical actions you can take today to keep you and your enterprise safer from our expert speakers:

Debra J. Farber

Debra J. Farber, @privacyguru, is a data privacy and information security executive and entrepreneur with 15 years of strategy, operations, public policy, training, and compliance experience across industries and regulatory frameworks. Currently, she oversees U.S. Business Development for NotSoSecure, Inc., a boutique security firm that specializes in pentesting and ethical hacking training classes (“Web Hacking," “AppSec for Developers,” “IoT Hacking,” etc.). Farber is also building a yet-to-be-named privacy startup that brings privacy expertise to small and medium-sized businesses. 

Jessy Irwin

Jessy Irwin, @jessysaurusrex, is a Vice President of Privacy + Security at Mercury Public Affairs, where she is an expert in translating complex cyber security issues into simple, relatable terms for non-experts and non-technical audiences. Before joining Mercury, Jessy focused on password security and hygiene as Security Evangelist at 1Password, and raised public awareness of student privacy and security issues in education. Irwin has a wealth of experience in startup, agency and freelance environments where she gained over eight years of experience leading strategy for technology companies in communications, content, community, and media relations. 

Allison Miller

Allison Miller, @selenakyle, works in product management at Google, mitigating security risks to the Google platform and end-users - aka Google's "Underground Cartographer". Prior to her current role, Miller held technical and leadership roles in security, risk analytics and payments/commerce at Electronic Arts, Tagged.com, PayPal/eBay and Visa International. She is an expert in designing and implementing real-time risk prevention and detection systems running at Internet-scale. 

Sean Sposito | Moderator

Sean Sposito, @seansposito, is the Assistant Director of Content Strategy at the Christian Science Monitor. Previously, he worked as a reporter and data specialist at various publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and American Banker.

Join us at the wonderful Capitol One Cafe where drinks and hearty snacks will be provided.

The Evening's Flow:

6:30 p.m. — 7:00 p.m.: Networking

7:00 p.m. — 8:15 p.m.: Panel Discussion + Q&A

8:15 p.m. — 9 p.m.: Networking