SMYRNA, Georgia — City officials in Smyrna are urging local business owners to treat cybersecurity as a basic part of doing business, warning that many small operations remain especially vulnerable to attacks.
The message came during a recent “Safe Business” seminar hosted by the Smyrna Fire Department and city staff, as part of a broader effort to help businesses consider risks beyond traditional emergencies such as fires or severe weather.
Fire Chief Brian Marcos said many small businesses don’t survive a major disruption, pointing to resilience as a growing focus for the department following past incidents that forced companies to shut down or relocate.
That same logic, officials said, now applies to digital threats.
Dat Luu, the city’s IT director, told attendees that small businesses are frequent targets because they often lack dedicated technical staff or formal security practices. He cited industry data suggesting that a significant share of cyberattacks target smaller organizations, many of which struggle to recover after a breach.
Rather than focusing on technical jargon, the session emphasized basic habits. Luu compared cybersecurity to routine hygiene, noting that many attacks rely on simple tactics such as phishing emails, weak passwords, or fraudulent payment requests that appear to come from trusted contacts.
Examples discussed during the session included ransomware attacks triggered by suspicious links, wire transfer fraud, and email account compromises used to redirect payments. In many cases, losses were significant, and recovery was limited.
For small business owners, the challenge is often practical. Many are managing their own technology while balancing day-to-day operations.
The city’s approach is to keep the advice simple: use unique passwords, enable multi-factor authentication, back up data, and verify financial requests before acting.
The seminar is part of a broader series aimed at strengthening ties between city departments and the business community while encouraging a more proactive approach to risk.
In a city where small businesses play an important role in the local economy, even a single disruption can have wider effects. Officials said the goal is to make sure more businesses are prepared before something goes wrong.
