House Small Business Committee holds hearing on small business and government cyber security

The House Small Business Committee held a hearing on Wednesday entitled “Small Business and the Federal Government: How Cyber-Attacks Threaten Both,” with representatives hearing testimony from small business owners on the dangers of cyber attacks.

“The owners, employees and customers of America’s 28 million small businesses need to have confidence that their data is secure,” House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot (R-OH) said. “I think it is fair to say that confidence has been shaken in recent years with the cyber-attacks on the IRS, the State Department, OPM, and even the White House. Between foreign hackers from countries like China and Russia and domestic identity thieves, the federal government has a target on its back that seems to get larger by the day.”

The hearing included testimony from cyber security experts on ways that the government and small business’s security ultimately effects the well-being of the other.

“The impact of small businesses on the government should be considered in at least two key ways,” Kevin Dunn, the technical vice president from NCC Group Security Services, Inc., said. “The first concerns the direct and indirect connectivity between a small business and a Government Network. The second concerns small businesses in the government supply chain.”

Approximately 269,422 cyber security related complaints were recorded by the Internet Crime Complaint Center within the United States Department of Justice in 2014, highlighting the need for greater cyber security measures within the U.S.

“With all of the uncertainty facing small businesses in today’s world of e-commerce, it will take vigilance by all federal agencies and the watchful eye of this Committee to ensure the data of small businesses and individual Americans remains secure,” Chabot said.