The Meetings Industry Is Not Worried Enough About Cybersecurity
Photo Credit: Attendees on their devices during a TED talk in Canada. Meetings and events need to start paying more attention to digital security. Flickr / Marla Aufmuth/TED
Skift Take
Cyber security is not a priority for most meeting planners, but experts warn that it’s just a matter of time before the industry is hit with a major breach. Both attendees and event professionals can take steps to protect themselves.
When news broke in September that the credit-reporting firm Equifax was hacked, compromising the personal data of 143 million people, it was a wake-up call for everyone. Individuals and companies started to implement long-overdue steps to protect their data and identities.
But many meeting planners still haven’t gotten the message, according to cyber security experts.
“The meetings industry is not taking this seriously at all,” said Sean Donahoo, CEO of Disruptive Solutions, a provider of cyber security solutions for the meetings and events industry. “It kills me; I see how things are done, and all of the planning that goes into events. Everything is planned for down to a T, except this part; and it's maybe the most important part, if you look at it from a reputation standpoint.”
He added that hackers could be looking for data to use or sell in another hack, or in a spear phishing campaign. They might be getting data for credentials to use to move money around or ac
