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Keeping Your Small Business Safe in the Digital Age
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Chicago, Illinois

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Event Description

The FTC’s Midwest Region, together with the Small Business Administration’s Illinois District Office and the Chicago Better Business Bureau, is hosting a half-day event to help small businesses protect against cyber threats and keep their data safe. Last year, the FTC held several roundtable discussions with small business owners to discuss the challenges they face when dealing with cyber threats and data security.

The event will take place at Metcalfe Federal Building (77 W. Jackson, GSA conference Center, 3rd floor) in Chicago, Illinois.

This workshop will address some of the issues business owners and employees told us they wanted to hear more about. Participants will get advice from cybersecurity experts on how to protect business data and personal information, how to respond to a data breach, and other cybersecurity topics. We’ll publish the agenda and speakers information on this event page as it becomes available.

The event is free and open to the public. You can register online (optional).

  • 8:30 a.m.

    Registration

    9:00 a.m.

    Welcome and Opening Remarks

    • Todd Kossow, Director, Federal Trade Commission, Midwest Region
    • John Veal, Jr., District Director (A), Small Business Administration, Illinois District Office
    • Steve Bernas, President and Chief Executive Officer, Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois, Inc.
    9:20 a.m.

    Panel: Data Threats—What to Know

    Moderated by Jason Adler, Assistant Director, Federal Trade Commission, Midwest Region

    • Edward Chang, 2VP Cyber Risk Management, Bond & Specialty Insurance, The Travelers Indemnity Company
    • Samantha Gordon, Staff Attorney, Federal Trade Commission, Midwest Region
    • Slawomir Janik, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
    • Richard Sypniewski, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SĀGIN, LLC
    10:20 a.m.

    Break

    10:35 a.m.

    Data Security Primer

    • William Hodor, Staff Attorney, Federal Trade Commission, Midwest Region
    10:55 a.m.

    Panel: Data Security—What to Do

    Moderated by Mark Ferguson, Deputy District Director, Small Business Administration, Illinois District Office

    • Julio De La Cruz, Information Technology Volunteer, SBA/SCORE Chicago
    • Jay Shelton, Senior Vice President of Executive Risk, Assurance Agency
    • Scott Swanson, Advisory Risk, Financial Crimes Unit, PwC; Board Member, Chicago FBI InfraGard
    • Matthew Van Hise, Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Fraud Bureau, Illinois Attorney General’s Office
    • Matthew Wernz, Staff Attorney, Federal Trade Commission, Midwest Region
    12:15 p.m.

    Closing Remarks

    • Michael Bruening, Senior Advisor, Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois, Inc.
    • Thomas Johnson, Director of Public and Board Relations, Better Business Bureau of Chicago and Northern Illinois, Inc.

FTC Privacy Policy

Under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) or other laws, we may be required to disclose to outside organizations the information you provide when you pre-register for events that require registration. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments, whether filed in paper or electronic form, and as a matter of discretion, we make every effort to remove home contact information for individuals from the public comments before posting them on the FTC website.

The FTC Act and other laws we administer permit the collection of your pre-registration contact information and the comments you file to consider and use in this proceeding as appropriate. For additional information, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see the Commission’s Privacy Act system for public records and comprehensive privacy policy.

This event will be open to the public and may be photographed, videotaped, webcast, or otherwise recorded.  By participating in this event, you are agreeing that your image — and anything you say or submit — may be posted indefinitely at ftc.gov or on one of the Commission's publicly available social media sites.

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