That is one of the most important observations by Gary Kovacs, CEO of AVG Technologies, a major business-to-business online-security company, in his summation of lessons about cyber breaches for leaders of mid-market companies. He share them recently at a roundtable for mid-market companies, and now he’s sharing three major insights with the Mid-Market CEO Briefing.
1. Your company already is a victim. Rather than a vague threat or something only aimed at marquee companies, Kovacs said, hacking is most prevalent among mid-market companies. On average, mid-marketers this year will be breached anywhere from 3-7 times.
“Hackers and activists actually are after mid-market victims in tremendous volume,” he said. “But when they get hit, it doesn’t reach the press.”
One reason they’re targeted, Kovacs explained, is that mid-market enterprises typically “never had the big data architects that a company like Target had, so they’re not as sophisticated. It’s easier for hackers to get in and get the stuff they want.”
2. You don’t have to stand for it. “There are very easy fixes from us and others at the app level” in cloud-level anti-hacking security, Kovacs said,. “These are measures you can take to protect yourselves.”
3. You can help reduce the overall problem. AVG asks its millions of users, both end consumers and small and medium-sized businesses, if they will allow the company to send what’s known as “anonymous threat data” to the company’s central servers so it can analyze the threats, develop predictive profiles and solutions, and make the system better for everyone.” About half of AVG’s users, or about 100 million people, do allow it.
“So we have all those endpoints sending us data, and it has helped us tremendously to be able to act much more quickly and thoroughly on threats,” he said. Whereas it used to take AVG “about 45 minutes from the time we understood a threat to the moment of developing a [software] patch to fix it, now that time is down to 40 seconds—because people participated for the greater good.”
We all have to be safe together,” Kovacs points out. “That’s something our competitive instincts sometimes don’t allow us to understand.”
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
