On January 8, 2021, the Buena Vista and Pocahontas County WLL Team conducted an informative virtual Learning Session entitled Cybersecurity: Tips to Reduce Your Gigabyte-sized Security Risk to a Kilobyte. The Zoom event was attended by 13 people. The event was also sponsored by the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, ISU Extension and Outreach, USDA-NRCS and USDA-FSA in both counties.

Matt Morton described why we are all more vulnerable to cybersecurity risks and provided a history of communication (from the telegraph to present) that showed how communication security has been a risk for 150 years. Today, data breaches are very costly and can take up to a full year before they are discovered. Matt discussed viruses and how ransomware can hold businesses and agencies hostage. Interestingly, phishing incidences are higher in the Midwest because we tend to trust others and get pulled into the scam.

Healthcare cyber attacks have become more frequent during the pandemic. Stealing of intellectual property has become a more significant risk in recent years, including property from Pioneer (Dupont) and Monsanto. Automated farm machinery can increase cyber threats!

Matt shared how to protect ourselves against phishing, romance predators and overall cyber risks. Cyber security is now affecting everyone! Even our at-home devices (Alexa, Google Home) are a security risk as they are always listening and some information is recorded for marketing purposes, although privacy settings are available.

The event was recorded and will be available on the Buena Vista County Extension Service website at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/buenavista on January 13, 2021.