Sep. 10—EFFINGHAM — Attendees of the Effingham County Chamber First Friday Luncheon at the Thelma Keller Convention Center learned about internet security and cyber insurance.

Featured speaker Mike Miller is president of TEAM ITS LLC of Effingham and Mattoon, which currently provides small- and medium-size businesses in central Illinois with IT and networking services.

Miller said two-factor authentication, password manager and back-ups are important factors to consider when it comes to the cybersecurity of a business.

"Those are the three main things you have to accomplish in your organization to try to be as secure as possible," he said.

He said 80% of cyberattacks and hacks come from social engineering by people.

"We have a lot of work to do to educate our employees and put the practices in place," said Miller.

Miller said even cellphones are vulnerable to cyberattacks. He said SharkBot malware can now create problems for cellphone users.

"Insurance coverage providers are getting careful on what coverage they extend and people are having to spend a lot more money on cybersecurity measures in order to get coverage," he said.

Miller said attention to detail is important when filling out the paperwork for insurance. Improperly filling out the insurance questionnaire could result in a business being denied insurance coverage all together or, if the information given to the insurance company is wrong, the insurance company might not cover specific cyber-related incidents.

"Sixty percent of businesses who get hacked will be out of business in six months," said Miller. "The problem you're going to run into is not if it's when. We know that if large companies can't protect themselves from data breaches, it's going to happen to everybody at some point to some degree or another."

During the luncheon, the featured business of the month was recognized. Patton Printing and Graphics of Effingham will celebrate its 40th year in business in October. Dan and Madonna Patton, representing the company, accepted the recognition.

"We started in 1982 and a lot of things have changed in the printing business," owner Dan Patton said.

"Printing and technology has been unbelievable. One of the things that we have done to keep us in business for 40 years is to keep up with that technology."

Effingham County Chamber President and CEO Lucinda Hart announced an Apprenticeship Symposium the chamber is hosting on Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 7 a.m. until noon at the Effingham Holiday Inn.

She said the symposium was the result of the Effingham County Chamber Workforce Development Committee. Lake Land College received a grant this year to create an apprenticeship navigator.

"We are inviting educators, high school counselors and principals. The community is invited and, of course, companies are invited because we want to tell everyone what the resources are out there for starting apprenticeships," Hart said.

She said a panel of employers are sharing their experiences. Panel members include Bonnie Moore of Lake Land College, Jeff Fritchtnitch of EC-JOBS, Kim Kuchenbrod of Illinois State University, Leslie Tarbel of 3Sisters Logistics, Nathan Buff of Quad Graphics, Norma Lansing of Effingham Regional Career Academy, Robert Woolum of North American Lighting and Robin Brown of The Equity.

The cost of the Apprenticeship Symposium is $15, which includes a continental breakfast.

Charles Mills can be reached at charles.mills@effinghamdailynews.com or

by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300126.