We’ve all heard the admonition a couple of times to secure our confidential data before sending it as an email attachment. Even a simple password-protected zip file is still better than nothing. On the high end, email encryption using tools like PGP, or the one included with Astaro Security Gateway will insure that your email is protected from prying eyes. There are free tools out there like AxCrypt, the open source file encryption software which allows you to encrypt single files or folders. I have seen a lot of clients sending off bank statements, credit card and social security numbers via email without encryption or protection.
The Cost of a Lost Laptop
It happens millions of times a day: rushing off to the airport and dashing out of a cab to catch a flight; having a distracting conversation at a restaurant; returning a rental car; checking out of a hotel. Someone inevitably forgets a laptop or has one stolen. Each lost or stolen laptop caries some drastic cost and a recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute has tried to put an estimate on the full cost associated with a lost or stolen laptop.
Getting Ready for Windows 7
It’s coming and you know it. As Microsoft gets ready to release Windows 7 to the general public, it is very important for small business owners to start thinking of how to migrate to the new OS. Unlike, Windows Vista, there is no reason why enterprises should not start planning for the move now.
Of course, with every new iteration of an Operating System, there comes the headache of application compatibility. Will that legacy application that worked flawlessly in Windows XP be able to deliver in Windows 7? While there seems to be a lot of tolerance for legacy apps built into Windows 7, there could be a few problems along the way.
Cost Cutting and Productivity
The general saying these days is that the economy is in a bad shape, things are tight and it is becoming increasingly difficult to make payroll. For small business owners, this is evident in the rate at which employees are being laid off, or having their hours reduced. The danger in all this is that cost cutting may be taken to such an extreme level that it is bound to affect productivity in the long run. I remember working very hard to convince a friend of mine to be careful about laying off too many good employees. “Why?” he asked, and my response was, what are you going to do if the work starts coming in and you do not have experienced people to get it out the door efficiently and profitably?
KDE 4.3.1 Released
The KDE team has released KDE 4.3.1. This is a bugfix release of KDE 4.3 with a few new improvements. So, users of KDE 4.3 or older versions may want to upgrade it to the new release. From the changelog, a few significant bugs were fixed: More than 25 bugs fixed in KMail, KDE’s default … Read more
Benefits of Using Managed Services
The rapid growth in online commerce and the way we interact has great significance for small business owners since it affects our ability to collaborate online, work remotely and engage in transactions with several parties even on a global scale. The underlying glue that makes all this work however, is confidence. We are able to do all the wonderful things with technology because we allowed ourselves to believe that our information will be protected and that the risks of foul play are minimized.
This expansion in connectivity creates new opportunities for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small business owners. At the same time, the new frontiers bring along a new set of vulnerabilities and threats like phishing, pharming, identity theft, data leakage and unmanaged endpoints. Recent research shows that about 63 percent of businesses are going to experience some form of information loss and regulatory breach which will lead to damage to reputation and loss of revenue, partners and customers.
Small businesses have to find ways to maximize current technologies and must do so in a cost effective manner. As is often the case, many small businesses have little Information Technology experience and cannot afford to maintain a full-time IT department because it is just too expensive, time-consuming and in many instances flat-out inefficient.