Howard Schmidt provided "The State of Small Business Security in a Cyber Economy" testimony to the House Small Business Committee on March 16.  He provided some great links to resources that not only can benefit small businesses, but really any size of business.  An excerpt of some of the testimony containing many of these links include:

"B.                 Awareness and Training
1.                  There is a real need for SMBs to understand that threats against IT systems are not just directed against large companies and large enterprises.  There is a real need to provide the SMBs with a clear understanding that criminal activity is often directed at them as well. Knowing that you are a potential target is important to understand how to keep from becoming a victim.
2.                  The Treasury Department has released a DVD on called “Identity Theft; Outsmarting the Crooks” that is available to a wide audience including SMBs. The FTC, USPS, USSS, Army CID as well as other private sectors groups worked to create this DVD. 

3.                  The FTC has long been a leader in providing awareness and continues to lead in this role.  In addition to the multiple efforts that they partner with other public and private entities, they have created a web site in concert with the Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, USPS and the SEC.  This web site provides a wealth of information that is vital to understanding cyber security and helps SMBs understand the threats that they and their customers face. 
4.                  The National Cyber Security Alliance, formed in 2003 is a private-public partnership has a dedicated section to help SMBs learn about Cyber Security, Data recovery and reporting of cyber crimes. 
5.                  The Multi State ISAC, under the leadership of Will Pelgrin, from Governor Pataki’s office, has worked with the states to provide the awareness and training so states can pass this information on to their businesses and consumers in their jurisdictions.
6.                  The US-CERT, with the Department of Homeland Security  provide free resources that allow businesses of all sizes receive alerts and best practices free of charge. 
7.                  The National Cyber Security Partnership, led by the US Chamber of Commerce, Technet, Business Software alliance and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) formed this partnership, in a true private-public partnership, created task forces to provide awareness to SMBs. 
8.                  The Industry Security Alliance created a SMB “Common Sense Guide” to Cyber Security.  This has been distributed through many organizations including the US Cert, Ready.gov, the US Chamber of Commerce as well as a number of other web sites."

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