A global study conducted among 1,000 U.S. adults by Norton in 2022 found a staggering 36% of Americans have fallen victim to online shopping scams during the holidays, losing on average $387 as a result. Of those victimized, most frequently cybercriminals connected with them via email (40%), through social media (38%), third-party websites (32%), texts (28%) or phone calls (23%). Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults (17%) admit they would willingly risk giving away personal information to obtain a high demand gift or toy over the holiday season– more than one in ten (12%) would go so far as to share their name, email or birthdate which could compromise their identity.
Join Women & Hi Tech Treasurer Ben Phillips and ClickSide Chat Facilitator Tori Harper Mercado for a discussion on how to identify the most notorious holiday scams, how to verify that your purchase is legitimate, what you should do if you’ve fallen victim to a scam, and much more.
The event is FREE and exclusive to Women & Hi Tech members! Space is extremely limited, and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Once registration is filled, no wait list will be initiated. Registration for ClickSide Chat is required in order to provide you with the final login instructions.
Ben Phillips
Ben Phillips is a director in Katz, Sapper & Miller’s Audit & Assurance Services Group and a member of the firm’s SOC Services Group. Ben works with clients to identify, assess, improve, test, and report on their internal controls. He is well versed in a variety of standards and frameworks, including those issued by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Ben is primarily responsible for the planning, execution, and delivery of SOC reporting engagements, cybersecurity assessments, and internal controls consulting projects to meet clients’ various compliance needs and service commitments. He is a frequent presenter and author on topics related to cybersecurity risk management and SOC.
Ben started his career with KSM in 2011 and rejoined the firm in 2020. Prior to returning to KSM, Ben most recently served as an IT assurance senior manager for a large public accounting, consulting, and technology firm.
Ben received Bachelor of Science degrees in accounting and management from Purdue University. He has earned the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) designation issued by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) as well as the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) designation issued by the AICPA.
Ben is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Indiana CPA Society, where he is a graduate of the Leadership Council. Ben serves on the board and as the treasurer of the Beta Phi Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, the Central Indiana Chapter of ISACA, and Women & Hi Tech.
Women & Hi Tech’s ClickSide Chats are monthly, virtual discussions amongst our members to share ideas, resources, and perspectives about the professional and personal challenges we are facing and serve to build new connections with fellow members. ClickSide Chats are held on the third Wednesday of each month, except July, from 4-5pm. One or more members serve as co-hosts and share their experiences, advice, talents, and resources for our greater good. ClickSide Chats are presented by the Membership Engagement Committee, led by Women & Hi Tech Board Member Sahara Williams and facilitated by committee member Tori Harper Mercado.
Sahara Williams is an attorney focused on data privacy and cybersecurity law as well as general commercial transactions. Previously, she operated her own engineering and construction management firm for nine years and served as the executive director of a nonprofit equestrian learning center for youth for five years.
Sahara earned her J.D. from the IU McKinney School of Law. She graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University and earned a MS in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. She is an alumnus of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series (Class XXXVII), the Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series and the IBJ 2013 Forty Under 40 Class as well as a Soror of Alpha Kappa Alpha.
Tori Harper-Mercado joined the Women & Hi-Tech organization in October 2022 and has worked in the data and analytics consulting space for the past two years. She has previous experience in civil engineering and sports & entertainment working in a variety of marketing and sales type roles. Currently, she works as an Account Executive for CSpring, a local data and analytics consultancy, that specializes in helping business leaders make better, faster business decisions through data analytics/business intelligence solutions designed to be easily adopted by business' teams.
Tori participates and involves herself in areas where she feels she can give back to her community such as coaching and mentoring athletes of her high school track and field and middle school volleyball teams and being an active committee member for Rebuilding Together Indianapolis.
In her spare time, she is a new experience fanatic that thrives off of fun adventures, connectivity, and the love of animals (especially dogs).
**By registering for this event, you acknowledge that you may be photographed, videotaped, and/or audio-taped during the course of this event and hereby give permission for your image, and/or voice to be used in education, training, promotion, advertisement, and/or trade and communications media by Women & Hi Tech in any and all media outlets throughout the world, without restriction as to frequency or duration of usage.**
***PLEASE NOTE: W & HT event registration is non-transferable. ***
