Carroll County Fraud Coalition to host business cybersecurity lunch | News

Brandon Blankenship, Chief Information Security Officer for ProCircular, a cybersecurity firm based out of Coralville, Ia. will be the featured speaker at the Carroll County Fraud Coalition meeting from 11:30 to 1:30, June 27 in the Western Iowa Networks Meeting Room, 1780 Kittyhawk Ave. in Carroll.

The meeting is free. RSVP is required due to space limitations. To RSVP call Availa Bank 792-3567 or go to https://cdth.secondstreetapp.com/Carroll-County-Fraud-Coalition-State-of-Cybersecurity.

Blankenship is a cybersecurity and compliance specialists, who works with several businesses throughout the Midwest including finance, education, healthcare, manufacturing, government, defense contractors, among others.

Blankenship will provide real stories about cyber-attacks and discuss realistic, actionable, and expert guidance about how organizations can improve their security readiness, meet regulatory commitments, and address the ever-changing landscape of cyber threats.

Blankenship received his bachelor’s at the University of Iowa and finished his MBA at Mount Mercy University. He led a squad of infantry Marines in Iraq in 2004/2005 and focused on information technology in the civilian world.

According to Federal Bureau of Investigation reports 21,489 complaints had been received about business email compromise in 2023, with a total of $2.9 billion lost via this attack method. Business email compromise (BEC) occurs when a criminal accesses a work email account to trick someone into transferring money, or to steal valuable (or sensitive) data. BEC attacks are often directed at senior staff, or those that can authorize financial transactions.

At this free event, Blankenship will discuss current business fraud schemes, how to combat fraud, and work through how to respond in the event of fraudulent activity. Each attendee will leave with a Business Incident Response Plan.