MARCH 22, 2016 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Michele McVenes
Past president John Guthmann, Ramsey County Court, opened the meeting about 12:15 at the InterContinental Hotel in St. Paul. Michael-Jon Pease, Park Square Theater, lead members through "Wild Irish Rose" in order to amend last week's poor showing on "When Irish Eyes are Smiling." Unfortunately the pesky Irish leprechaun played afoul with Doug Hartford's piano accompaniment prompting Doug to later share a Happy Dollar.
Nancy Brady, asked the Club to send prayers for the victims of the terror attack in Belgium this morning. She shared a reading on the growing economic disparities, prompting members to think about what can we as Rotarians do to build justice in our country and our world.
John Andrews, Boys Scouts, Introduced guests including a TC Rotaract member who shared Rotaract's recent successful fundraiser and thanked the Club for our support.
Several guests joined the program speaker from Protocol 46 who shared background on the new St. Paul company that is located In the West Side Flats . They specialize in intelligence and cyber security for small and mid-sized businesses. As fellow military, they recognized member Claude Hone and his incredible service to our country.
Past president John was happy to to welcome sponsors to Introduce three new members! Great to have such a large group. Sponsors and new members included:
David Dominic introducing Erika Schwichtenberg, Ally People Solutions; John McNulty introducing Aaron Gjerde, Verden Group; and Sherry Howe introducing Michelle McManus, InterContinental Hotel.
David Dominic announced the three sites for Rotation Day. Please visit the website and register for your choice of site..
Doug Hartford encouraged members to get their registration and groups in for the Feed My Starving Children pack in April. Packets went out or you can sign up through the website.
John Andrews welcomed happy dollars.
Cathy Quinlivan Sunrise Club President shared the April 14 Community Forum and invited all members to attend. The topic for the 7:15 a.m forum at Town and Country Club is The State of Race in Minnesota. Please visit the website and register on line at stpaulsunriserotary.org.
Chuck Standfuss, The Human Resources Leadership Collaboration, introduced the program from Protocol 46 who reflected on the Belguim attacks close connections to today's topic of cyber security.
Michele McVenes, Director of Sales & Marketing and Eric Ebner, president introduced their new hardware product and security innovations. Michele shared alarming statistic s on the increase number and frequency of cyber attacks and data hacking. Today small and mid size business are the least protected.
Even in the 2014 Target data breach was through a vendor so their own system was vulnerable regardless that they had a strong first line of defense.Compliance with baseline standards is not enough. Ransom threats are one common threat. If you don't pay they will not release your information.
Actions such as updating passwords and constantly installing patches and updates are critical by only one step. Today, what's connected to your wifi can be a risk to your entire system and data.
Digital mesh for example incorporates the cloud, telephone, smart tv, etc. but one weak vulnerability will similarly impact all devices. With everything moving to wifi we must protect the whole system.
50 percent of business who experience a cyber breach close to never reopen and 60% will close within two years. These attacks affect the entire community.
Members asked what is the difference from software to their hardware. There are four different devices designed to go after the bottom line, the network. Own the network own the data. There is also a software backbone behind the hardware.
Past president John thanked our speakers and recognized them with an appreciation gift and closed the meeting by leading members through the 4 Way Rotary Test. Meeting adjourned about 1:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Trixie Golberg