Help me, help you: Time management strategies for small businesses
As a small business owner, you have a lot on your plate. You’re managing your business’ value in the marketplace on a daily basis while at the same time striving to maintain superior customer service and employee satisfaction. There’s a lot on your mind and the minds of your employees, too. Some days, it feels like nine a.m. becomes five p.m. in a heartbeat. At times like this, you spend most of your time just trying to keep the ship afloat.
Of course, you also want your employees to feel accomplished and productive at the end of the day. Professional success is largely a mental game, after all. If you believe you are getting things done and doing good work -- then you will probably get things done and do good work! The following are steps you can take to ensure that your team is put in the best possible position to effectively manage their time.
How shadow IT threatens the enterprise and what to do about it
Increasing adoption of BYOD and use of mobile devices means that employees have the ability to access business data from anywhere. However, this can come into conflict with company security policy.
Policies are often seen as too invasive, hard to understand and not always in tune with how employees work. This can lead to workers finding their own alternative solutions. Companies need to come up with strategies that safeguard data in use, in transit and at rest to let employees focus on their work.
Who is your IT outsourcing firm working for?
While the US Government has been remarkably opaque about the recently discovered security breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), we know that personal information on at least 21.5 million present, former, and prospective federal employees was lost. The Feds claim Chinese hackers are at the bottom of it, which is disputed by the Chinese government. This, to me, raises a number of questions, especially about the possible role of IT outsourcing firms and implications for organizations beyond OPM. Does IT outsourcing make your data more vulnerable? Yes, I believe it does.
It’s easy to blame the Office of Personnel Management for its own troubles. Oversight was lax. The agency failed a security audit and didn’t seem to do much in response. When shit hit the fan and it became clear that the identity of almost every living person associated in any way with Federal employment had been compromised, the agency lamely offered 18 months of identity theft screening but then didn’t have the money to pay for it. Pathetic. Both the Obama Administration and Congress are to blame, the former for mismanagement and the latter for "starving the beast" by limiting the OPM budget, pushing the agency toward cost-saving decisions that at least to some extent led to the current crisis.
Facebook makes new security checkup tool available to everyone
A couple of months ago Facebook started to talk about a new security tool. It was initially only made available to a select group of users, but today it rolls out to all.
The aptly-named Security Checkup gives Facebook users the opportunity to double check the privacy and security settings they have in place, helping to ensure that private information is not shared with too large an audience. It can also be used to monitor logins and check for suspicious account activity, acting as a handy centralized hub for everything security-related.
59 percent of consumers reuse passwords
We all know that we shouldn't reuse passwords across multiples sites, but that doesn't stop a majority of us from doing it.
A new survey for password manager Password Boss shows that 59 percent of consumers reuse passwords because it's too hard to remember them. Yet memory is the most common means of managing passwords, used by 63 percent, with only eight percent using some form of password manager.
Top 5 benefits of wireless power
As the wireless power space continues to rapidly expand, everyone is getting increasingly anxious to never again have to plug in their phone, laptop or headset. Simply placing devices on the furniture, work surface, auto console, or walls without any cords is becoming a long-awaited reality.
However, few people are aware of the benefits of wireless power. Here are five of hidden benefits of wireless power, based on our experience at NuCurrent:
Employee negligence is major source of insider threats
Multitasking and working long hours, can result in employee negligence which leads to insider threats and costs companies millions of dollars each year.
A new survey of IT and security practitioners in the US and Germany carried out by the Ponemon Institute for cyber security company Raytheon|Websense reveals that employee negligence can cost a US company as much as $1.5 million and Germany companies €1.6 million in time wasted responding to security incidents caused by human error.
How to install Windows 10 on your Mac
Windows 10 is now officially available to PC users across the globe, launching in 190 countries on July 29. But Microsoft's latest operating system can also be experienced on Macs, requiring even less effort to get it up and running on your Apple-branded device. And here is how you can join the Windows 10 bandwagon right now.
Just like on a PC, there are two ways you can install Windows 10 on your Mac. The first is by using virtualization software, like Parallels 10. And the second is through Boot Camp. Here is what you need to know about both options, and which one is best for you.
Windows 10 first-impressions review
The most eagerly awaited new version of Windows since -- well, since the last new version of Windows -- has finally arrived. Windows 10 is rolling out to consumers, and it’s a free upgrade for users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. So, what’s it like and has it been worth the wait? Here are our first impressions.
There are four main versions of Windows 10: Home, Pro, Enterprise and Mobile. The differences have been well documented elsewhere so we’ll skip the detail here, but most people will encounter the Home or Pro versions. This review is based on Windows 10 Home.
Microsoft Edge introduces new security risks in Windows 10
The Internet Explorer replacement Microsoft Edge is one of the headline features of Windows 10. With security at the heart of Microsoft's latest operating system, and the general concern about online safety, it makes sense to put the web browser under the microscope to see how it fares against the competition.
This is exactly what security analysts at Trend Labs have done. While the team concedes that Microsoft Edge beats Firefox's security and roughly draws level with Chrome's, the new web browser also introduces new security problems and threat vectors.
The best alternative Start menus for Windows 10
Windows 10 is here, and with it is the Start menu missing from Windows 8.x. The world rejoices. Except not everyone likes the new Start menu which blends the functionality of the Windows 7 menu with the Metro/Modern tiles from Windows 8.
If you’re not a fan of Windows 10’s Start menu (and some people are avoiding the free upgrade purely for this reason), the good news is there are a number of decent replacements available.
Hackers target PDF readers, yet a high percentage go unpatched
Vulnerability intelligence firm Secunia has released its second quarter 2015 country report for US and 14 other countries around the world. This looks at what programs users have installed and which are most at risk.
The big news is that a high percentage of users have unpatched versions of Adobe Reader. Adobe has the highest market share in this segment and PDF readers are a common target for hackers.
Recording Microsoft HoloLens videos: How it's done
I know this is some Iron Man-level stuff, but it is true. Microsoft’s HoloLens allows you to interact with holographic objects that are set in the real world.
If you told me five years ago that I’d be able to wear a futuristic augmented reality headset and do so many tasks, I wouldn’t have believed you. We already saw what HoloLens can do and how it can make us feel like the Iron Man (except the suit). The best thing is, we are barely scratching the surface of the capabilities of this headset. A recent research paper outlines how the headset can be used to grab live video and turn it into a hologram.
How to cope with Stagefright
Earlier this week we reported on the Stagefright vulnerability that could affect 95 percent of Android devices. It has arisen as a result of code vulnerabilities which could have been detected and resolved earlier.
Application security company Checkmarx has been looking more deeply into Stagefright and what it means for users and developers.
PC-to-Xbox One game streaming is in the pipeline for Windows 10
One of the features of Windows 10 that created ripples of excitement is the ability to stream Xbox One games from the console to a PC. But what about doing things the other way round?
If you like the idea of turning your already-powerful Xbox One into a fully upgradable games PC, you'll soon be able to do just that. Microsoft is currently working on PC-to-Xbox One game streaming, and you might not have to wait too long.
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