IT Consultant & Young Entrepreneur from Somerset
Posts tagged technology
Protect your data
Mar 22nd
Ensuring your data is secure is becoming more and more difficult, as RSA recently announced that it has been the victim of an ‘extremely sophisticated’ hack which managed to breach its security.
Whilst at the end of the September file sharing hit the headlines again. This time it wasn’t a simple “is file sharing bad?” debate,, but instead because data that the UK law firm ACS:Law Solicitors held had been leaked, mainly personal details of individuals provided by UK Internet service providers, and the files they are alleged to have downloaded illegally
This makes us consider how careful organisations need to be with our personal data and data of customers, suppliers and staff. Many companies don’t give it much thought, yet UK businesses hold (and transmit) huge amounts of personal data, bank details and customer records.
There are many things that both individuals and small businesses can do to reduce the risk of their data being lost or stolen, from simply ensuring you have a secure password, not something like secret, or password11 will instantly reduce your risk. It is also important to have a good and up to date Antivirus, such as Eset Smart Security, which will protect you from web and email attacks.
It’s also very easy to add passwords to important word and excel documents - in Office 2007 click the Office button, go to Prepare and then click Encrypt. You can now add a password to the document. If you are using OpenOffice, go to File, then Save As and ensure that Save with password is ticked.
Protecting memory sticks is also very important, so how can you ensure this data is encrypted? – How about a SafeStick? – SafeStick is a CCTM Government Certified file encryption memory stick, which features features military level hardware encryption of all data. – I’ve used a couple of these and they are very good, but if you forget your password, you can forget seeing your data again!
We all must take care of the data we provide to websites, as announced last night Play.com‘s marketing company has had a data breach, meaning “some customer names and email addresses may have been compromised”
Play.com advised users to be “vigilant” with their email, and asked users to forward “anything suspicious” to privacy@play.com for investigation.
So taking simple extra precautions will help to prevent people stealing your data and you protect other people’s data.
How can you avoid the snow disruption this winter?
Dec 20th
As the UK heads into a pre-Christmas cold snap and we prepare for a heavy winter snowfall, thoughts turn to the chaos faced at the start of 2010 to UK businesses thanks to the white stuff.
However, current technologies mean that businesses do not have to feel the impact of the widespread disruption across the country. By utilising services such as Hosted Telecoms (VoIP), Hosted Exchange email, instant messaging, cloud computing, and creating virtual offices for employees, businesses can carry on as normal while the rest of the country grinds to a halt, including your competitors!
By allowing your employees to set up an office in their own home and forego their regular commute during the disruption, you can save your business time (employees won’t be late) and money (no lost business due to absences).
But what if an important client calls our phone number?
You or one of your employees will be able to answer it! Using Business VoIP telecoms, your numbers can go anywhere, even if it is a different country! All you need is a broadband connection, and a piece of software on your computer or the VoIP phone you use on your desk. This is all possible because the number is tied to the account, not the physical connection like BT lines. As an added benefit, your business will also save money on calls and line rental – You won’t pay for calls between your employees, even if they are at different ends of the country.
But what about their email and messages?
Using a Hosted Exchange Email service means your employees have ‘anywhere access’ to their email, contacts, calendar and tasks, whether that be through Outlook, a web browser or on their smartphone. They can send and receive mail as if they had ploughed in through the snow! All the information is held in ‘the cloud’, so anything you do when away from the office is synced with your Outlook client when you return.
But what if they need access to files on their computer?
Your employees can either use a remote access service, such as LogMeIn, to access and control their computer from their home PC. Alternatively, a sharing service like Dropbox allows you to share folders (and the files within them) on your computer with colleagues. You can then either install Dropbox on your home computer or access the files from a web browser. If your employees need IT Support for their home PC’s, then we can utilise TeamViewer to continue supporting them.
If you add all the simple and affordable services to your business, your employees won’t be among the thousands losing working hours when stuck at home.
Talk to our sales team about how Business VoIP, Hosted Email Exchange and Cloud Computing can help you and your business prepare for winter on 01934 440030.
