While this digital infrastructure is essential for our businesses and workforce to remain competitive and efficient, it also presents new opportunities for bad actors to exploit vulnerabilities and hold critical information hostage.
These risks are not hypothetical. They are real, they are present and they are industry-agnostic. Any organization - whether it interacts with the public or directly with businesses - is a potential target, and the Dayton community is no exception.
In fact, every business we engage with—or do business with—is susceptible to cyberattacks. Just recently, we witnessed a significant attack on one of the region’s largest health care networks: Kettering Health.
Kettering Health, with more than 15,000 employees, 1,800 physicians, 120 outpatient facilities and 14 medical centers, faced a serious disruption. In response, they prioritized patient care and data security with the highest importance, working swiftly to restore operations.
They are not alone.
Across the region, every organization that has experienced a cyberattack has responded with urgency, placing employees and consumers at the center of their recovery efforts. These recoveries often require extensive changes to operations and infrastructure, and every stakeholder—from IT teams to front-line staff—is part of that effort.
As a result, new protocols have become part of our everyday experience: multi-factor authentication, password resets, identity verification and other protective measures.
While these steps may occasionally cause delays or frustration, they serve a critical purpose—they are designed to protect YOUR information.
No business wants to create barriers between you and your data. But in today’s cyber landscape, such safeguards are necessary. Every added layer of protection makes it harder for malicious actors to gain access and cause harm.
As users, consumers and community members, we must remain patient and vigilant. Tolerance for these security measures is not just a technical necessity—it’s a shared responsibility by all of us.
If you haven’t been directly impacted by a cyberattack yet, it’s likely only a matter of time. Cybersecurity is the new “theater of war,” and we are all participants in this ongoing battle.
It’s up to all of us—businesses, employees and consumers alike—to play our part in defending the systems that support our way of life.
Chris Kershner is the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO.