[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. sit ncicap.org] >> business news from the capitol region. this is "washingn buness report" with abc7 national correspondent rebecca cooper. >> thanks s for joining us for this week's look at busine and finance and how it impac you. thiseek,ood ns on the jobs front sent investors scraming to sell while one high-profile job opening in washingtois having trouble being filled. all the snow has an impact on the bottom line, with lost productivity andales for many companies. wewe will have alall of that ahe in the roundtable. in our small business spotltlight a local startup is making it big from thenow. they are going nationwide whenev and wherever you u need them. but first, in our spotlight

today, the word at hasas bece so ubiquous, "wall street jojournal" argued this week we shou stop using g it altogether. cyber, impacting everything from bingo games to building battleships. in wasashington, no it is about to stop talking about the huge industry growing aund cyber r securirity. its the e growing threat that can makeke or break your business. here to talk about whyhy so many businesses are still getng itt wrong a and where the indtry is headed, alan shay, ceo and president baltitimore-based tech company, and cyber r security expert adjunct professor atw iverty. welcome to you both. wewe could do a half hourur show evy we talng aut thehe business of cyber security. we only get s six minutes today.. alan, i'm going to start with you. you have been looking g at small businesses. you love work that raytheo -- you ve work that rayeon and sprint.

at is the biggest mistakes small businesses are getting it wrong? >> the biggestistake is they are counting on oror expecting the government or the larger industry to solve the problem and that's just not happening.. there are things they can do proactively to start to address cyber security at a small busineness or consumer level. >onal big businesses, you worked att helansecurity, r big cyber companieses. now you are a consultanlooking at bignd small. from the big company perspective, what is the biggest mistake they are still making? they are getting hacked right and left. >> one of the mistakes they're makingng is thinking ciber is an industry. thatat's not t our industry. we don''t need to worry abouout it are criticainfrastructures e covered, you needo be

protected. rebecca: forget caing anything cyber, it's all cyber now. onone of the points i have heard people make when it c comes to small business and cyber security is, you are using your smart phone for everything from payment optns to running your cocompany to rning y your home. ll us some of the steps you ll small binesses they nee to really be speaking about -- thinkingbout when it com to cyber security. >> one of e thingthat people arstill counting on, the personal computer as their primary engine for communicating, doing work, exchangingng documents, etc. onee of the things we are focusing o on in our work with small busisses and in the consumer side of the iustry is getting people to derstand that they need to be proacve antake steps. they don't have to be expxpensive but they y have to be steps proactively taken to protectct their data, protect their systems from compromise. rebecca: you have.

-- you h have been very succesul with startups.s. are you talking about the e fresh start of getting it right? >> the fresh start we are referringo is fairly simple. most abusers are built to last 8 to 10 yearsrs -- compuputers are built toto last 8 to 10 years. those machines are slowing d down and bebeing mpromised ter 2, 3, 4 years. esh start is a technology that we developed to be able to actually d do hard drive replacement, replace the software with clean new sosoftwarere, make sure all the files go back to wre they are and costs a fraction of what hard drive replacement ud to co. rerebecca: let's talk aut some of the trendyou talkedbout in cyber security. one ofhe things you taed about at is s so impmportant in waingtonon is, t private

sectornd government are going to have to wk together. >> is almosost just not a panership, but alalso getting out of each other's s way. there has been times where businesses have been hesitant to share information withth t government because there has been lack of clarity on liability issues, howow they will get shshared, will they still have coffee addition -- confidentiality. rebecca: who needs to fix that? >> it needs be collaborative. ththe goodod news we have seen so far is there has been a tremendousmounof movement. february in 2 2014, the national inststitute of standards and technology began leading a very robust, thousands of participants large, small and individuals coming together to define the core competencies for pepeople trying to tackle their problems.

i i can push back othe "wall street journal" fearmongering disagree strongly. we have e to technology how ubiquitous data is in r lives. rebecca: theirir point is, it's so ubiquitous, let's assume w d't t want to call it cyberbrbingo it's now just b bingo we are playing online. >> tre is more of a paralle with individuals protecting their own data on computers all the way up to large businesses. you need transparency into w where you are and where you oughto be with standards and protection , and then you can m map out the steps much more easily. rebecca: we've only got 30 condleft for each of y you. donald you talk about something called the swden effec what are the important takeaways people nd to be thinking abouout terms of cyber securi and what is the snowden effect? >> there are two great l lessons every business should d take away

and goinback t to wikiki leaks these are insider threats.s. we need to mitor o our data protectionon iividualize what protecection you he around data sets. rebecccca: alan, biggest takekeaways?s? >> small busines consumer,t doesn't matter. local,ard drive, backup stororage trade keep your dataa in an extra space. use local. rebea: we will have to have th oyou back. or we will have to hire your services. thank you both. when we return, a small lal business that is not only gone national, but caught the attention of the next generation of automobiles. the connected car. stay with us.

rebecca: welcome back. our sml business spotlight is on a local company with a smart phone app that is nonow being used nationwide. a disruptor changing the way drivershink about roadside assistance. with the next generaon of aumobiles ofoffering internet connecon, the company has managed to sign up witith a huge partner that will surely put them in the fast lane towards the future. >> you simply tap on the app hit start. it automatically locates you shows you the open and available tow trucks nearby, the eta of the closest truck near you. you choose your vehicle, then you select your service. i need a tow i'm locked out, my battery is dead, i'm out of fuel, i have a flat tire. u hit continue. your credit card is preregistered. you hit send help now, and they are connecting with the nearest

provider. we want to ensure thatf you have an all-wheel drive, that we send a flatbed, and our platform is smart enough to know to match your vehicle and its needs with the right tow truck to help you out. >> chris knows that consumers want to be in the driver seat when it comes to services. he is the ceo of urgently, and app like uber, but for roadside assistance. >> it's a great opportunity for us to change and disrupt transform and market. >>nd it's working. initial funding from local th invests allowed u urgently to launch i in the washington area in 2014. thanks to a partnership with mapquest and big demand, the company went nationwide in november. >> certainly triple-a is our biggest competitor. they have 50 million plus members. >> conditions are looking good for this small but growing startup looking to change drivers habits. it's a huge market. more than 200 million drivers in the u.s. and 100 million

roadside incidents every year. >> with urgently, it's only pay when you use the service. you are not prepaying every year for something you may not need. >> this week's news of a deal with at&t also revved up the company's 10 employees. urgently signed with at&t to be the roadside assssistance app on their coconnected car platform. 2015 is the year of the connted car, and latent demand means the market is about to explode. >> it's a massive deal for us as a company. it's great that a mpany like at&t has looked at our technology, our experience, and said we want to bring that to our customers, right, which are the auto manufacturers on n a global basis. >> this disruptor sees a profitable road ahead, paved by today's on demand economy and an evolng automobile industry. >> our revenue last year was in the hundreds of thousand this year we are on pace to be

in thehe seven figures, which is fantastic. rebecca: stawith us. our roundtable has a lot to say abounew job numbers. just how much do these snow days cost us?

rebecca: let's face it, thihis week was unproductive r many thanks to the snow. our rounundtable guests were keepeping an i on everything. fromtronger ports -- strong job reports to the weather. joining us, president and ceo ofof the grear washington boa of trade and the he in tandem nfi, jonathan aberman.

great job report. the stock market falling. >> the job report showed that employment, job creatio continues to excel or eight, which is great news for the econy and bad nenews for interest rates. interestates go up if there is greaeater economic activity. the bond market goes up in value and the stock market goes down.. recca: that is mararket 101. anything that might se the fed to tighten that disnabling they havave been doi? >> t the economicc fundamentals are ace strong now. the united states economy in the world right now. rebecca: you and marie c -- mamaurici gave e a green light for the e market this year. iive itit a ylow light. we still have that stubbor government speing that will keep reining in federal job

forget thearket, jonathan says, ignore it. let's focus on the washinon area and jobs. wherere are we seeing slowdown and where are we seeg growth? >> 2015 5 is the yeathe 2014 was supposed to be. th region is m more stable. rebecca: my dad used to use expressions like this. the pages through the python -- pig is t through the python? >> ihas worked its w through. rebecca: the market dropped on friday, but dinot derstand that. keep going. >> in this region were getng on theebound. maryland is growing in leaps and bounds. this newew replican governor cut tataxes, roll back regulations. ere's anan interestingng light back on in maryland for busyness . -- businesess friendlininess. the mayoassembled topeam. virginia is doin well.

we a are hearing about relocation. rebecca: [indiscernible] >> i never do, but th's not my job to. rebecca: jonathan, we talked earlier in the show about cyber security, what you do i bringingogetr your venture capital firms and cyber and the govevernme. a storory this week caused a lot of teethnashing in the popoliticacal wod. hillary clinton h having g her own secret e e-mail address to do all of her e-mailing with the state department. i work at the state depapartmentnt. in my day we were not allowed t even e-mail the white house becaus they were s so woied about early day cyber security. ifif i lt a top-secret document on my desk inside a locked state depapartment office, i got written up. shshe was keeping all this on her home computer and a separate e-mail inbox.

what takeaway do we need to learn from all of is? >> frankly, the political issues are going to be rt othe conversation because you have to ask the question o how does this happen, where there are early procedures in ng information. but the people around her should have told herow to handle that. from the stapoint of technology and whate would call hygiene, managing information, why somebodydy would think it is appropriate to run a departmentf state e-mail through private e-mail account through a server outside of all the sophisticated protections the gornment retains is nonsensical to me. rebecca: i can't imagine that the tech guys were saying this is good idea >> it is inexcusable that you are doing this outside t the standard operating procedure o the state department. in federal government, the clampdown will be sesevere and immediate d it will be pervasive. in the prite sector, most of

the damage that t gets done is the maliciciousness internally, sometimes inadvevertent. the most p popular psword in the world is passworord, folollowed by 123. this will take on a newife. rebecccca: we all need new passwords,etter passrds. what we all need now are drones too. i need you telme about this drone event. >> we are usinthe connect national security agency with enentrepreneurs. a lot of the agencies really care about things like robotics and drones. we have a large and growing ecosystem in d.c. around that. we showed off with the help of our community memberers some innovati technology. rebecca: it did not get lost on the white house front lawn? >> we have companies that can make sure the drugs do not getet into the white house. -- drones do not get intohe whiteouse. >> i tnk eventually robotics

and drones are goingng to change ththe way we d business in the united states. one of the b bigge challenges s we will have is how to employ people who get replacedd with dres. rebea: including news anchors. >> we wiwill be the last tooo. rebecca: there is a job opening coulbe applying for righ now. there seems to be fighting about what they're looking f in termof skills. why can't we find in new head for met? >> the big mess is based othe timing. when rich solid announced his resignation and retirement -- rebecca: he said he was -- >> a fured out for the changes that we work with counsel of government red -- government. they should've had a succession plan. they did not. now the changeover with the new governor in maryland, a new mayor in washington, even change

in the federal government, there are so many new boarard membmbers. they being the past board did the interviews and shortlisted. the new board comes in and say maybe not yet. we thinkhere a are operational problems, and there arare, but we need to get tohe botottom ofof this so we can start to restore confidence. i think rich and his s team brought metrtro 10 steps forward. in the st two months it has taken two or tee stepsacack. we h have to get the momentum going in the forward direction. rebea: rhard left jujust when wewe had the big fire and smoke incint. what is your take away for jobs that we can't seem to fill becacause there is so much bickering over what it means? >> thankless jo anybody want to take a thankless job? rebecca: thankless but imimportt. stay with h us.

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becca: we are going to keep it going. it's myop quiz. i come up wi a question n and pop it on the roround ble d lelet themem come e up with the answers. pop quiz for today, because i alreready know m answer, jonathan

says ignorthe stock market. i thinink there arinteresting things to watc what do you think is the most interesting to -- thihing to watch inhe stock mararket in the d days and months ahead? >> merrs, quisitions and ipo's. this year will go down in historory as probably the most activeear merrs and acquisitions. when you look at comcast and time warr, tre are bignes out there, but there are a lot of medium-sized oneses that are gearining up. w we live in a world of cheap money. at drives mma. the focal point in the marts will be -- last month we were talking about oil. it's now rising again. i think the stability market will be in the positive economy. we havave to watch the dollar. as the united states interest rates up,p, particularly in the ort end, the dollar will continue to rengthen. that could harm exporting parts of the economy. if expertseally suffer it

could be a proem frustrateted wiwill be an interestiting year. rebecca: what i'going to b watching, , because i'm kicking myseself that i never bobought apple stock is, it's an intestingg showdown. i think apapple ll keep going up and the watch willll be big. want one. i need one. i was fascinated howow samsung took a bite out of the apple this week with their n new samsung 6. as one person said on twitter this week, apple who? anybody goining to b be lining up to geget a watch? >> i wear aatch. rebecca: will you get an apple watch? >> probably not. the handset market is commmmoditing. > common sense>> this week on "government

matters" -- >> sometimes patches were left uninstalled for up to three years. >> the federal aviation administration needs to fix critical vulnerabilities on its computer networks or risk cyberattacks. >> across the gornment the are getting better at reporting those incidents. >> feral agencies are still dropping the ball on the use of smart cards. omb is cracking down. >> it's a means for the indy -- executive branch to enact changes that d't require an act of congre but ultimately can lp save the taxpayer money. >> housing i.t. and the common acquisition platform the pros and cons of strategic sourcing for tech. "government matts" starts right now. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicicap.org] >>