By Eric Stock

NORMAL – FBI agents will be in Bloomington-Normal later this month to help local businesses be cyber secure.

Tim Norman, owner of STL Technology Partners, an information technology firm in Bloomington, told WJBC the workshop is intended to explain what to do and what not to do if you fear your online security has been compromised.

“If you call a typical technology company they are going put on their Superman tights, swoop in and reboot that server, which kills any types of forensics information that’s out there,” Normal said. “If you want to prosecute, you need to secure that data.”

Kyle Ham CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council said the rising threat of cybersecurity has created a new market – ethical hackers.

“People like the FBI are trying to recruit these guys out of this bad behavior to say you can make money in a good way to help protect systems,” Ham said. “That’s another big area that’s growing here locally as well.”

Ham referenced State Farm as one example of a local company whose IT security specialists will try to ‘hack’ into their data systems to better understand where they could be vulnerable.

Norman added many hacking victims are reluctant to come forward.

“A lot of people are embarrassed, if they do get hit,” Norman said. “It’s not really readily open and talked about because it may put their business in a bad light.

The workshop is June 27 from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Brown Ballroom of Illinois State University’s Bone Student Center.

For more information, contact Becky Kirkpatrick at the Bloomington-Normal EDC at (309) 452-8437 or email [email protected].

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].