Concord Hosts Cyber-Security Forum

As technology becomes a larger part of our lives, so too do cyber security concerns.
Image Courtesy of cybersecureasia.com

Last Tuesday, October 18,  Concord University hosted Detective-Sergeant Steven Sommers with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, who came to talk about cyber security and how to stay safe online. The lecture on Cyber Security Awareness was organized by Concord’s Students for Campus Safety Awareness within the month of Cyber Security Awareness. “We wanted to do something around that theme,” says Haley Fields, Vice President of Students for Campus Awareness Organization who helped to organize the event. 

    Fields believes that it is important to learn more about security on internet. “There are a lot of things you don’t realize can happen on the Internet. I am not very technology savvy, so I don’t understand how easy it is for people to access records, cookies, for example. People can track what you are doing online and see where you visit most often, and they can hack into accounts and stuff like that. And being somebody who is not good at technology, I can’t do that, but I think other people can.” 

    Detective Sergeant Steven Sommers had come to Concord University to talk to students last year and the positive experience inspired the Students for Campus Safety Awareness to invite him again this year. “He is fantastic. He is very engaging. He knows his stuff,” says Keri Svendsen, the President of Concord’s Students for Campus Safety Awareness. “He would stay later than planned, answer questions. He doesn’t turn down any question, he answers it to the best of his ability.” The most difficult part in the organization of the event was “finding a time when we think people could come to the seminar and actually find it helpful. And finding a time for him [Detective-Sergeant Sommers] to come,” says Allison Garrett, a member of Students for Campus Safety Awareness. 

    At the seminar, Detective Sergeant Sommers talked passionately about Cyber Security and told students how to protect themselves on the Internet. Some of the main recommendations were always remembering what they posted and keeping most of their information private because of online predators who steal identities or even stalk their victims. Another important safety precaution is knowing the balance of a credit or debit card. “Credit Monitoring is the first step to secure yourself,” says Sommers. If a person sees that his or her credit report changed it might mean somebody else got a hold of it. Detective Sergeant Sommers talked about his experience in dealing with Internet crimes and scams, such as identity theft or online solicitation. “I am a fifteen year old girl online,” says Detective Sergeant Sommers, a large and stocky man. Online presence helps the police to catch online solicitors and child predators. 

    “I feel like everyone walked away from this knowing something they didn’t know before,” says Keri Svendsen. 

    “I don’t want to see a child be taken advantage of by anybody. Whether it is family, online, it doesn’t matter. It still causes the same scars. It is a big motivation for me to get lectures like this one here, because I think it is important to teach their children and to know what can happen to their children if they are not careful,” added Svendsen.