The Sutherland Shire Business Chamber recently held a panel on the topic of cybercrime.
Speakers included Sasy ‘n Savy owner Samea Maakrun, who fell victim to a cyber-attack last year.
Samea told the attendees of her experience with cybercrime, pointing out that she had left men posing as potential clients alone in her office, which enabled them to bug her office and steal all of the personal data she had stored on her computer. Then, as she was honeymooning in the Maldives, the criminals proceeded to steal $130,000 from her.
Describing the harrows of losing out on millions of dollars of potential profit over the course of four or five months as her business was put on hold, Samea drew horrified gasps from the audience. She recounted that it took daily phone calls over the course of months for any action to be taken by the banks.
Samea warned the audience of the dangers of allowing clients into an office with an unguarded computer, allowing Internet browsers to save frequently-used passwords, and using an unsecured server. All of these things, she said, could easily be hacked by professionals.
Samea’s story appeared in The Daily Telegraph over the weekend, and we’re happy that her story is being shared and used as a warning to small businesses to better protect themselves online.
Watch Samea’s story below:
SSBC Cyber Crime Forum – Samea Maakrun from Pauls Productions on Vimeo.