Delegates gathered at the Springfields Events & Conference Centre on Wednesday 19^th April for the event, organised by Datcom, chartered accountants Duncan & Toplis and Barclays Bank. The crowd heard from Datcom’s Business Development Manager Hannah Sang, Datcom Account Manager Andy Maddison and Barclays Regional Digital Eagle Anthony McGhie.

Hannah Sang suggested that owing to the advent of big data, more individuals and businesses are now more at risk. Hannah also added that the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) enters legislation in 2018, which could be significant for business. 

The GDPR is an EU regulation which means businesses involved with information transfer to EU companies must have adequate protection in place. Not being protected means you could be heavily fined if a breach takes place, even if you are a third party.

Andy Maddison offered delegates advice on password use, data protection and ways to stop potential attacks.

He said: “One of the best ways to protect yourself from breaches is to have adequate measures in place. We always recommend two-stage authentication, having firewalls updated and using the latest in anti-virus software.

“Using applications and software that have security measures included is extremely useful. For example, Office 365 by Microsoft has a feature that means threats via your inbox are stopped before they get to you.”

Andy added that there are more than 65,000 open ports on the average computer. This means that having a business-spec firewall is integral to businesses being protected against threats. He also stressed the importance of backing up servers and keeping them up to date.

Anthony McGhie from Barclays talked about the bank’s schemes for preparing customers for the future. These include introductions to online banking for customers in branch and providing coding sessions for children.

Anthony also spoke about security, looking out for fraudulent emails, identifying threats and remaining cautious. He suggested that criminals are now employing advanced methods of research, using social engineering to find out personal details or security protocols to commit fraud.