Cybersecurity Workshop

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF TODAY WAS THE DAY?

A LIVE, high-stakes cybersecurity exercise for small business owners.
No tech background needed. No jargon. Just real talk.

Presented by the MSBDC and the Center for Cybersecurity Education at STCC

It starts with something that looks completely ordinary.

Meet Hilltown Trading Co. — a small shop with a laptop at the counter, a Facebook page, and an app that takes payments. Sound familiar? It's an average Tuesday morning — until it isn't. By lunchtime, the owner is facing a set of decisions no one saw coming, with a customer standing at the counter waiting for an answer.

What happens next is up to you.

This could be your Tuesday

If your business runs on a phone, has email, a Facebook page, a website or an app that takes payments — you already have everything a cybercriminal needs. You don't have to be a tech company to be a target. You just have to be open for business.

JOIN US FOR A FREE, LIVE TABLETOP EXERCISE

"The Tuesday Everything Went Sideways"

A Fast-Moving Incident Response Exercise for Small Business Owners

DATE: October 8th, 2026

TIME: 10:00 AM – Noon

LOCATION: Berkshire Innovation Center

Free to attend

Space is limited — register today.

This is for you if…

You use email, Facebook, Instagram, Square, Venmo, QuickBooks, or any app to run your business. You've ever thought, “I'm too small to be a target”

You don't have an IT person — you ARE the IT person

You couldn't answer right now: “Who would I call if my business got hacked?”

Pizza shops. Contractors. Home-based businesses. Hair salons. Junk haulers. Consultants. Flower shops. If you run a business, this workshop was built for you.

What to expect

This is NOT a lecture. There are no slides full of technical terms, and no one will make you feel behind.

What it IS: you and a table of fellow business owners live through a small business's worst day in real time — reading the story round-robin, hitting the same split-second decisions the owner faces, and working it out at the table as the stakes get higher.

You will leave with:

The ability to spot the warning signs most owners miss until it's already costly

A clear picture of the 2–3 actions that matter most in the first ten minutes

One practical change you can make this week that significantly reduces your risk

A simple written action plan to take back to your business

Hosted by The Richard E Neal Cybersecurity Center of Excellence
in partnership with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC)