Cybertraps Podcast

Welcome to this special edition
of the Cybertraps podcast.

We are here live at the Inch360
event in Spokane, Washington on

the beautiful Gonzaga campus.

In fact, I'm looking over the
soccer field, which is pretty cool.

It's nice here.

Today, I have Sean Hafen with me
from Spokane Teachers Credit Union.

Sean, welcome to the podcast.

Tell us a little bit about
who you are and what you do.

Thank you.

Uh, so yeah, I've been at STCU for
about nine years now and I manage the

wonderful C Cybersecurity team there.

And we have a team of five
individuals that, uh, keep

everybody's information safe.

I also teach for the bachelor's
program for C Cybersecurity at SFCC.

um, lot of connect points and touch
points with some of the individuals here.

Okay, very cool.

So, uh, what brought you to
this conference, yourself, but

then also as, uh, STCU as an

organization?

I think we, as an organization, find
that it's extremely important to be

engaged with the community, uh, when
it comes to all facets and all events,

but, uh, for my team specifically and
everyone, uh, that I work with, the

cybersecurity component of it we see as
a Very necessary and needed component.

In the Spokane area, we need to make
sure that we have, you know, an awareness

and involvement, you know, just make
sure that everybody knows that there

is something like this event going on.

Uh, it's very important to see who's
interested in this stuff, who's out

there, what are they doing, who are
they doing it for, and just build those

connections, uh, those are, uh, important.

handy.

It'll be valuable.

Yeah.

and can you talk a little bit about why
it's important for these really hyper

local type of events, especially because
it's one thing to go to a national or

state level cybersecurity conference, but
this is really focused here in Spokane.

And what are your thoughts on

that?

Yeah, it is very important in
Spokane, specifically, because

we are so far from Seattle.

Seattle does seem to get
a lot of the attention.

Um, With the conferences.

Uh, but because we are close to the Idaho
border, we have, you know, Idaho area

and the Spokane area kind of combined
into one for some of these events.

So it's just, it's important that
the vendors that show up to these

or sponsor these, uh, know that it
is a four hour drive to Seattle.

Mm-Hmm.

. And we do have an audience here
in the Spokane vicinity, so it's

nice to see that that's starting
to be recognized a little bit more.

Uh, with events like this coming
up, I think this is the second one.

Um, and we've got some more events
coming up in the future, first

quarter next year, similar to this.

Uh, so it's just nice to see that,
grow and expand and a lot of the

people who live in the area or
the students that attend the cyber

security type classes in this area.

Uh, you need to have more resources to
pull from, such as these conferences.

Yeah, I, I agree.

I think that's so powerful for, the
students, but then also, uh, small

businesses who wouldn't necessarily go to
a cyber security conference in Seattle.

It's honestly kind of hard to justify
that, but it's here in your backyard.

It makes it a lot easier.

what are some of the things
that you're hoping to get out of

this, for yourself personally?

I think aside from just touching base
with my peers and cohorts and the

different, you know, businesses that
are here, answering questions, you get

a lot of questions from people who,
you know, they may have just showed up

to this first time they've been to a
conference, pertaining to cybersecurity,

and they're going to ask you the
typical questions you would expect.

How do I protect myself?

If I have a small business, how
do I protect that small business?

How do I keep my employees safe?

Um, what tools are out there
that aren't expensive and they're

not going to break the bank.

And I love talking about the kind of
things that you can get for low or no

cost that will give you that solution.

And so at events like
this are perfect for that.

You also do learn a lot of new things.

I've been in this field for a long
time, but I'm still learning and You

talk to the other people who are doing
this, and you bounce ideas off of each

other, you ask each other questions, and
there's a lot of information sharing.

Very valuable.

Yeah, so, let's talk about some of those
strategies, tools, resources, whatever

you wanna, whatever you wanna share.

Uh, Najee, who we just talked to a
little bit ago, he mentioned having,

uh, good cyber security hygiene.

And so, what is one thing that you
regularly recommend to small buisness

owners about what they can do

I would say no matter how small
your buisness is, or if its

just you Jethro, Jethro, Jethro,
podcast or blog post or article

Jethro, Jethro, Jethro, Jethro,
Jethro, Uh, scams around taxes or

Amazon shipments and things like that.

So if you have that awareness, that's
your first step into knowing, you know,

what should I look out for in my inbox?

Uh, sent email we all know is one of
the most common forms that somebody

can kind of get into your business.

Uh, it's very important for people
to be aware that they can look

out for those type of scams,
especially this time of year.

Yeah.

Um, and are there any blogs,
podcasts that you recommend that

people should pay attention to?

Uh, there are some quick hit podcasts.

There's one called the, um,
Daily Internet Storm podcast.

It's just a quick ten minute, this is
what's going on out in the industry

and in the cyber security realm.

Uh, he just kind of breaks
things down on a daily basis.

Uh, and it's a quick one, so you
don't really have to set aside

a half hour or an hour to just
sit and listen to it, you know.

There's a lot of things out there, if you
just search for cyber security podcasts,

uh, you can come up with quite a few.

If you want one that's funny and
entertaining, uh, I recommend

one called Smashing Security.

Very, um, Light hearted and not
always cyber security related so

you can have fun listening to it.

Okay,

good.

And, uh, we try to have a fun time
here on Cybertraps also when Fred is

here, he's my co host, uh, typically.

so that was Smashing Security
and what was the other one again?

Uh,

it's Icecast or Internet
Security Stormcast.

Okay.

Uh, it's just, like I said, it's just
a nine or ten minute quick one that.

He puts out every morning.

Okay, alright.

Uh, Sean, any resources that you
want to share on behalf of STCU?

Uh, yeah, we do have a lot of information
that we can provide if any of our

members or non members are out there
and they have questions about security.

We're always happy to help, whether
it's, you know, fraud or identity

theft or cybersecurity itself.

Um, we see a lot of the bad guys making
their attempts to get into your banking

information or to get you to give up
your passwords and your usernames.

So we have some resources
on our external website.

Um, but we're also at events
like this, we're open to discuss

or answer any questions too.

Okay, well thank you Sean,
appreciate you being here and taking

the time to chat with us today.

Absolutely, thank you so much.

And thanks for your support of
Ench360, it's really awesome

that you're doing that.

Thank you.