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The FBI tracks scams in a category called Business Email Compromise. In the 18 months immediately after January 2015 BEC scams cost more than 21,100 domestic and international victims approximately $3.1 billion.

Encryption is the process of converting data into computer coding that cannot be easily deciphered by unauthorized users. However, users with the password or online key can convert the mathematical algorithm back to readable data.

A whopping 92 percent of U.S. Internet users worry about online privacy, and 89 percent say they avoid companies that don’t protect their privacy.

The low-cost and successful nature of scamming operations virtually guarantees their continued existence. So, companies and consumers must be on guard. In fact, increases in cybercrime suggest that prospective victims should be on higher alert than ever before.

Like technologies, online threats change. Cyber thieves constantly refine their tactics and tools to create new threats. A business network that is safe and secure today might be at risk tomorrow. Businesses have to regularly update their security plans and procedures to keep up.

I’ve been on heightened awareness for identity theft for the past 18 months. I was among millions of past and present customers of the health insurance giant Anthem Inc. who were notified in the spring of 2015 that cyber attackers had successfully hacked the company’s electronic records.

Simplistic, numerical sequences are commonly used for passwords. Six of the 10 most common passwords in 2015 were nothing but numerical sequences. In addition, the top-row, keyboard sequence “qwerty” came in at No. 4.

The 25,000-square-foot, bunker-like Data Center just northwest of Sioux Falls provides secure space for servers and other equipment so that SDN and some of its clients can back up their valuable electronic information.

Companies that provide leadership training can benefit from increased employee loyalty and reduced turnover. Providing training can also help companies identify possible problem areas developing within the organization.

Supplemental benefits, though less obvious, offer a significant amount of value to a company’s managed services. Activity logs and performance reports, for example, can provide useful, in-depth information about network traffic, which can help companies improve their objectives, policies and procedures.

Deploying an effectively layered cyber defense means that every point of access in an organization’s network must be strongly protected. That includes workstations. All of them.

RC Technologies is a big economic force in small town. The telecommunications cooperative is the largest employer in New Effington, a community of fewer than 250 residents in northeastern South Dakota.

Seventy third-graders at Hawthorne Elementary School in Sioux Falls were at risk of missing out on a field trip to the Washington Pavilion last spring. Many couldn’t come up with the $2.50 they each needed for the outing.

Firewalls have big jobs, and their duties are getting bigger all the time because of the rising frequency and sophistication of attacks.

Sioux Falls-based SDN’s new mentorship program is designed to connect new staff members with established colleagues outside their department.

A person seeking medical attention occasionally wanders into the Avera eCARE center in the industrial area of northern Sioux Falls. It’s an understandable mistake. While Avera eCARE professionals provide world-class medical services, they only serve patients remotely.

To adequately protect themselves, businesses and other organizations need to take a layered approach to cybersecurity. They have to have good policies in place, maintain good security equipment at every juncture and take extra precautions with their most vulnerable asset: their employees.

Bipartisan effort aims to improve persistent phone call completion problem plaguing South Dakota, Minnesota

There are no especially large businesses or colleges in the service area. However, Valley Telecommunications Cooperative’s broadband network is now 100 percent fiber, so the cooperative’s customers enjoy access to high-quality services.

I don’t know whether my Emma will grow up to be a Protector of the Internet. It’s too soon to tell, and she has years of career exploration ahead. But I do know the GenCyber experience, offering an empowering environment to learn about coding, hacking, robots, and more, will give her the confidence to pursue a passion.