Who's in charge of making the decisions in your business concerning technology? Ideally, you want an internal IT manager or a CIO with IT experience calling the tech shots. However, many businesses don't have this luxury. According to a CompTIA survey from last November, 48 percent of businesses have managers making decisions about technology implementation that don't have IT experience.
Remember when you upgraded to a flat screen TV or monitor just a few years ago? You may have marveled at the increased picture quality and celebrated getting rid of your old and bulky equipment, but do you know what happened to the old CRT monitor after you threw it out? Unfortunately, the answer doesn't bode well for the environment.
On May 7, 2014, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a news alert declaring Bitcoin, and all other virtual currencies insecure and unsafe. Due to a rise in Bitcoin popularity, many investors and business owners like to use it for worldwide transactions. But, how safe is it, and how likely are you to run into a Bitcoin fraud scheme?
GameOver Zeus, a member of the Zeus family of malware, has been discovered and disrupted by the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Justice. But, this is only a temporary respite from the danger the malware poses - in two weeks, the threat will be back, and very much alive.
Take a moment to consider your answer to this question, "What would you do if all of your business's data was somehow lost overnight?" How would you react, and what would you do about it? Your data is valuable, so much in fact that your business would be lost without it, and likely wouldn't be able to run properly.
Many websites around the world are still suffering from the nasty little bug called Heartbleed that we covered last month. This prompted over 30,000 TLS/SSL certificates to be revoked and reissued, but many of them were reissued with the same keys. If this was going to happen, why revoke and reissue them in the first place? They're still just as vulnerable as before, since Heartbleed could have leaked those same keys weeks ago.
In December 2013, retail superpower Target was the target (hehe) of a massive data breach that could have affected as many as 110 million customers. On Monday, May 5, 2014, the CEO of Target, Gregg Steinhafel, announced that he would be stepping down, no doubt a result of the chaos that engulfed his company in the aftermath of this data breach. Target's CFO, John Mulligan, has stepped in as interim CEO until the position is filled once again.
Mobile devices are designed for different purposes than the big, bulky desktops are. The Chrome operating system of the Google Chromebook is a perfect example of this - it looks like nothing but a browser with a keyboard. Sure, it can't do everything a real computer can do, but it sure can do a lot more than some people give it credit for.
How much paper and ink does your company use every week? Every month? Every year? More importantly, how much does this wind up costing your company in the long run? According to a study by 14 year-old science fair wiz Suvir Mirchandani, it was discovered that his Pittsburgh-area school district could reduce ink consumption by 24 percent and save an average of $21,000 a year by simply switching fonts. That's half of what the average American's annual salary is!
With the world still on edge about the recent vulnerability found in most versions of Internet Explorer, another one has been discovered, this time in Internet Explorer 8. This bug allows a hacker to execute malicious code when a user opens an infected email or webpage.
It's no surprise that technology is taking over our lives. It's everywhere; from the workplace to every inch of our homes, new technology exists where it wouldn't have twenty years ago. Bluetooth-connected kitchen appliances allow their owners to turn them on and off from a distance. Cars can connect to the Internet. Google has produced glasses that allow you to browse the Internet. There are tons of innovative, new inventions that have had a huge impact on the way small business owners manage their workplaces, but nothing can compare to the significance of being able to receive text files from anywhere in the world via email and fax.
It's the nature of trends for people to want to capitalize on them, which means that many sellers of what's trendy may have little experience working with the trends that they're selling. As a business looking to take advantage of the latest technology trends, it's important that you're not bamboozled by a smooth talking technology marketer with no depth.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of getting scammed, and the scammers of today love using technology to rip you off and leave you with that sinking scammy feeling. The best way to avoid scams is to be proactive and know what to look for. New to your list of scams to be on the look out for are fake apps.
The Internet is a powerful tool. Another powerful tool is the circular saw. You wouldn't give your kid a circular saw and let them use it without any supervision. In the same way, you shouldn't let your kid use the Internet unsupervised and without any training.
Cloud computing is making everything easier. Companies that operated IT infrastructures of their own before the cloud know firsthand how much easier it is thanks to the cloud. A brief comparison of doing business before and after the cloud will show just how much cloud computing is changing things.
2014 has been a year of technological advancement, but with any kind of advances such as these, there will always be those who want to steal the work of others. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center and , as of March this year, there have been 204 instances of data breaches this year alone. These affected companies are perfect examples of why web protection is important. SMART Services can provide you with this protection and peace of mind. Here are a few of the more unbelievable breaches, most of which could have been easily avoided.
April 7th 2014 was a big day for the world, not only because Microsoft ended security support for Windows XP, but because a massive security flaw was found in the OpenSSL cryptographic library. This problem, called the Heartbleed bug, was found by Google Security, and it leaks information from any applications and services utilizing OpenSSL. The problem, however, is not that it was found; the problem is that over two-thirds of the entire Internet contains sites that utilize the OpenSSL/TLS protocol specification. It also doesn't help that this bug has been active since December of 2012.
Not too many years ago comedian Jeff Foxworthy became a star with his trademark "You Might Be a Redneck If..." jokes. Rednecks are an interesting breed that do things backwards because they stubbornly believe that it's the best way, and like all of us, rednecks use technology. Are you a technology redneck? Check out our redneck technology list to find out.
What kind of phone do you have? Or rather, what kind of person does your phone have? With people relying on constant connectivity and constant communication, do devices have an interface for constant productivity, or is it just a constant distraction? Do all these outstanding new gadgets have the kind of value business professionals claim they do?
The CEO baton at Microsoft has been passed from Steve Ballmer to Satya Nadella, making Nadella the third CEO in Microsoft's well-publicized history. You may not think that this will have an impact on your business, but considering how intertwined Microsoft is with the the global economy, you may be surprised to learn that this move will affect your company.
Everything DiSC
