In a forum hosted by Sen. Harry Reid, more than 100 northern Nevada businesses heard from national, state and local experts on how to protect their businesses from cyberattacks and fraud. The forum, held at the University of Nevada, Reno's Lawlor Events Center, presented tips and techniques to prevent fraud and how to create a fraud action plan.

Moderator Frankie Sue Del Papa, former Nevada Attorney General, noted the top crime that people are worried about is credit card hacking. Stolen credit card information was reported by 27 percent of Americans last year and cybercrime costs an estimated $100 million a year in the United States.

Del Papa introduced Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Kristin Judge of the National Cyber Security Alliance who each gave opening remarks about the importance of arming yourself, whether for personal, small business or at work, against the threat of cybercrime. Tips on cyberattack prevention can found through the Nevada Attorney General's website.

"Getting information such as this out to the community is important," George Bebis, co-director of the University's Center for Cybersecurity Excellence, said. The cybersecurity center helped sponsor the event, which featured a number of agencies and organizations who presented information.

"This event helps us better connect with the business community, one of our main goals, so we can help them with their cybersecurity needs," he said. "We're building some educational programs and are also connecting with the cybersecurity community to find out their needs and how we can help prepare our students to enter their industry."

Other agencies and people who participated in the panel presentations include the Federal Trade Commission, the Nevada Small Business Development Center, the Northern Nevada Regional Intelligence Center, the Small Business Administration and the State of Nevada Chief Information Security Officer.  

The University has cybersecurity expertise in a number of areas, with active teaching and research in: development of law enforcement tools to track cyber criminals; visual surveillance using cameras and robots; intelligent control of drones and robots; autonomous exploration of cyber-physical systems; design of mechanisms to protect online social networks and provide privacy to cloud users; smart environmental monitoring of complex public scenes; smart-grid data communication security; protection of household privacy with enhanced smart monitoring; and cyber conflict detection, monitoring and prevention.