(TNS) — The estimated financial loss for businesses worldwide from cyber attacks is in the trillions of dollars.
The figure this year is set to be $10.2 trillion, with 2,200 daily cyber attacks, according to the Oklahoma Cyber Innovation Institute at the University of Tulsa.
“The No. 1 loss for businesses is now cybersecurity. It’s not flood or fire or theft — any of that other stuff,” said David Keely, executive director of the institute.
“We have a lot of cybersecurity issues … (making an impact) on the U.S. economy. It’s no longer a fringe issue.”
Every business, he said, is now facing a headwind of cyber piracy.
“They are essentially coming ashore, looting, burning your village, and then running off to international waters,” Keely said, “because most of these people are from outside of the United States.”
“If you’re a small business in Oklahoma, and you’re a victim of a malware attack, there’s a 60 percent chance that you will be bankrupt inside of 12 months. We have businesses that are being wiped out.”
He made the comments recently in a panel discussion during the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s State of Workforce & Talent event. About 400 people attended.
“Small businesses don’t have the capital necessary to bring in experts and pay them the $20,000 to $35,000 necessary to get the expert help,” Keely said.
“And until there is some sort of program or initiative to provide that, the losses are going to get worse and worse because we are easy pickings. That’s the environment we are working in.”
Keely added that the institute at TU can provide guidance for business owners.
Businesses with concerns they have been infiltrated can contact the FBI, he said, and they can investigate and prosecute, “but they are not going to come into your office and start typing on your keyboard.”
STATE OF WORKFORCE AND AI
The cybersecurity industry has 4.8 million job vacancies, according to TU’s institute.
Keely’s remarks came amid an “emerging industries workforce” panel discussion at the chamber event. Another panel discussion was titled “emerging industries employers.”
Speakers from educational institutions and local businesses participated in both panel discussions, along with a keynote speaker: Ryne Sherman, chief science officer at Hogan Assessments, which uses psychometric tests designed for the workplace to predict job performance, evaluate leadership potential and reduce turnover.
Its slogan is to “get data-based personality insights to maximize organizational success.”
Sherman spoke for about 10 minutes before the panel discussions.
“AI will change tasks faster than it changes human nature,” he said. “I think in the … AI world we live in now, you can’t put too high a price on originality. Technology changes all the time.”
He pointed out changes going back hundreds of years in human history.
“Of course technology does have an impact on the workforce,” Sherman said. “But what’s been a constant is the ability to adapt to that new technology.
“AI is not going to replace humans,” he said. What’s important, he said, is that access to intelligence is no longer difficult.
“Ultimately … it’s going to be humans and character whether or not we do the right thing.”
Jim Vasher — general manager of the Space Test Center, an Agile Space Industries facility set to open next year in Tulsa — said, regardless of AI, it is essential that students coming out of high school, college or even technical schools have basic skills in math, language and critical thinking.
“In this growing science and space technology,” he said, “we’re going to need technicians to actually do the job.”
Jarrod Cavner is director of sales for JMARK, a cybersecurity consultant company.
“AI is not going to do everything for us,” he said. “When computers came out, did we still need a piece of paper in the office?
“For me, it’s just a big assumption that the people who are in charge don’t really know what they’re doing,” Cavner said, resulting in laughs from the chamber crowd.
Formerly the “State of Education,” the chamber’s “State of Workforce & Talent” is one of its “signature” events.
Its next will be the “State of the State” on Aug. 13 at the Arvest Convention Center downtown.
It will feature a gubernatorial candidate forum moderated by new University of Tulsa President Stacy Leeds, with candidates who advanced from June’s primary to the Aug. 25 runoff and November general election: Republicans Gentner Drummond and Mike Mazzei, and Democrat Cyndi Munson.
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