The first ever Hack the Hacker event in southwest Bakersfield is helping 50 local companies keep themselves safe from online thieves.

Thursday’s seminar taught attendees how to spot phishing, email and other schemes, which has affected 62% of small businesses. An estimated 60% of those targeted businesses had to close after the attack.

Organizers say hackers go after back accounts most often but also look for personal information to blackmail employees.

Kelli Forsch