Key Takeaways

  • Dave Moore and the Internet Safety Group Ltd. are broadening community cybersecurity education in Oklahoma.
  • The expansion aligns with rising ransomware risks and increasing recovery demands on small organizations.
  • Industry research shows resilience is improving, creating opportunities for local training programs to fill skills gaps.

Dave Moore, CISSP, has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. His long tenure in the field tends to surface at unexpected moments, sometimes in casual stories about repairing early home systems or helping a small clinic recover from a malware outbreak. His non-profit, the Internet Safety Group Ltd., has become a focal point for digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness across the state. The organization is now expanding its training programs, a shift that reflects broader changes in the threat landscape.

Ransomware pressures have climbed for several years, although organizations are showing signs of improved preparedness. According to the Mandiant M-Trends 2025 report summarized by BrightDefense, ransomware accounted for 23% of all investigated intrusions in 2024, and average demands exceeded $3.5 million. That figure can overwhelm any small or midsize business, underscoring why locally oriented technical education serves a vital function.

The Internet Safety Group Ltd. has traditionally focused on basic safety practices, from password hygiene to safe browsing. Recently, Moore has increasingly woven in topics such as incident response planning, backup strategy, and practical steps for recognizing early signs of compromise. These themes overlap with points raised in the Verizon DBIR, referenced through StationX, which noted that ransomware now appears in 44% of all data breaches. Despite this prevalence, 64% of affected organizations refuse to pay the ransom, relying instead on preparation, including robust backups and response processes.

Moore's community classes, once targeted mostly at home users, now regularly draw business owners seeking advice on cloud storage protection and network segmentation. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 3,156 ransomware complaints in 2024, an 11.7% increase year-over-year, a statistic highlighted in Fortinet's cybersecurity reference materials. For small or rural organizations with limited IT staff, this data shapes critical decisions about insurance coverage, offsite backups, and incident response contacts. Moore's work blends these national realities with practical, achievable steps for non-technical audiences.

Sophos research cited by Varonis reported that the global average cost of ransomware recovery, excluding the ransom itself, fell 44% to $1.53 million in 2025. That decline indicates that organizations are gradually becoming more capable of responding effectively. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO/IEC 27001 frequently guide these improvements in information security management. Local educators translate those frameworks into actionable protocols, clarifying how a simple backup rotation or password policy adjustment fits into broader governance and controls.

The stakes for businesses of all sizes remain elevated, as global ransomware actors received roughly $1.1 billion in payments during 2023, based on data from Statista. While analysts point out that payment volumes fluctuate due to group activity and economic factors, the magnitude of the extortion economy drives local urgency. Moore notes in public talks that the most common question he receives is not about high-end security tools, but rather what to do in the first ten minutes after discovering encrypted files.

Not every organization maintains contracts with enterprise incident-response and backup vendors like CrowdStrike, Rubrik, or SentinelOne. Many rely on a local consultant or an internal IT generalist. Educational programs that emphasize early detection and structured recovery planning help close this capability gap. The Internet Safety Group Ltd. offers introductory sessions on phishing recognition and layered security, along with deeper workshops detailing data protection and operational continuity.

Community-based training reaches demographics that typically do not attend industry conferences or subscribe to analyst bulletins. A small school district or non-profit may gain more immediate value from a two-hour local workshop than from a downloadable guide published by a national firm. Utilizing real examples from decades of troubleshooting, these sessions illustrate how simple misconfigurations can create immediate vulnerabilities like exposed remote desktop ports or unsecured administrative accounts.

Demand for practical cybersecurity education consistently rises as cyber incidents become more visible. With attackers continuing to probe smaller targets, regional readiness becomes increasingly critical. Business leaders in Moore's classes frequently discuss shared challenges, including legacy equipment, limited budgets, and difficulty attracting specialized staff. Discussing these obstacles in a local context often leads to collaborative problem-solving.

This regional focus reflects a broader cultural shift around cybersecurity, transitioning from a niche technical topic to standard agenda items at chambers of commerce, school board meetings, and rural hospitals. The Internet Safety Group Ltd. has started partnering with local institutions to create workshops tailored to specific sectors, such as small healthcare providers or municipal offices. These sessions reference recognized standards like NIST or ISO to demonstrate how structured frameworks can directly guide operational decision-making.

The expansion of these local training programs builds on decades of experience, aligning directly with current trends in the cybersecurity landscape. While national statistics quantify the scale of the threat, localized education translates those figures into direct action, providing regional organizations with the foundational strategies required to defend their operations effectively.