Tech
IT Management Best Practices to Protect Your Business from Data Breaches
Published
1 year agoon
By
mtnnews
50 million records at Facebook, 500 million at Marriott, and 143 million accounts at Equifax were all compromised from recent breaches. A breach at Quora exposed 100 million accounts. Other breaches have hit LinkedIn, eBay, Target, Yahoo, and Anthem in the past few years.
In the past five years, more than 14.7 billion records have been lost or stolen due to data breaches.
Deploy Strong Security Technology
Cyber security needs to be a top priority in any business handling sensitive data or personally identifiable data. Traditional security such as firewalls, anti-virus software, and intrusion protection provide a base level of protection, but it’s only the start. A layered security approach using real-time monitoring and alerting is critical.
Less than 5% of the data exposed in breaches over the past five years was encrypted. Encryption dramatically decreases your exposure from both a technical and legal standpoint. Military-grade encryption can prevent the data from being read even if cyber criminals manage to breach your systems and get it.
Breaches can occur when software hasn’t been patched or updated regularly. The breach at Equifax that exposed credit card records happened when attackers exploited a known flaw in the company’s Apache-Struts web application software. The breach happened months after the software manufacturer reported the problem and offered a patch. Equifax hadn’t gotten around to installing it. If they had, the breach likely would never have happened.
You need constant monitoring for intrusions and unusual activity.
Train Employees on Security
93% of data breaches begin with phishing attempts. Cyber criminals send legitimate-looking emails in an attempt to obtain login credentials, passwords, and sensitive information. While software solutions can help filter email phishing attempts, employees need to be trained to recognize them to avoid falling victim. You can have the best security systems, but if an employee gives up their login and password, cyber thieves may be able to bypass your security.
Your employees are your weakest links. Cloud-based storage, mobile devices, and more employees mixing company-owned and personal devices for business open up more potential access points. Employees need to know how to detect threats and avoid data leakage by using tools like ExpressVPN when connecting to any unsecured WiFi location.
Companies should have clearly defined security policies.
Maintain Strict Compliance
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) governs security protocols and standards for anyone handling credit card information, including use and access. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulates access to personally-identifiable health and medical records. Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) deals with controls on financial data by corporations.
There may be additional standards within your particular industry. Compliance may include security measures and reporting, but each sets measurable standards for protection.
Pay Attention To Emerging Regulations
Security breaches are bad enough. New privacy laws are increasing the responsibilities for data protection and increasing the penalties for when breaches happen. In some cases, they mandate pro-active actions you must take to ensure security and actions you must take immediately on discovery of a breach.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted in the European Union impact companies located in the EU as well as companies doing business with EU residents. Several U.S. companies have already been fined for failing to comply with strict regulations on privacy and data protection.
California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides additional consumer protection and privacy rights. It takes effect in 2020.
New legislation is being proposed regularly that makes the penalties for non-compliance high and may affect your IT policies, procedures, and staffing.
Conduct Security Audits
It’s important to regularly stress tests your systems. At a minimum, you should conduct security audits to make sure you are maintaining your established level of protection. Many companies conduct penetration tests with outside agencies to find weaknesses in their security.
Other companies use security audits in their training by identifying weaknesses and putting their team through the paces to identify and fix security threats while managing the business impact.
Develop A Disaster Response Plan
Every company that handles sensitive data or personally identifiable data needs to have a pre-established data breach response plan as per the experts on it services over the world. Roles and responsibilities should be spelled out in case you ever have to manage a breach.
It should include all levels of company management and not just IT professionals. In addition to repairing the damage to your systems, you also need people that will be responsible for managing your company’s reputation and business impacts.
This plan may be part of complying with regulations. It’s part of the GDPR, which has formal procedures you will need to enact within 72 hours of detecting a breach. This includes notifying the appropriate government authorities and informing all of those affected.
The post IT Management Best Practices to Protect Your Business from Data Breaches appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.
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It takes every blade of grass to make the meadow green. After all, a company is only as good as its qualified leads, and we’d love to have enough of them. I mean, how can these leads materialize out of thin air? By using a technique known as “lead generation.” But what, exactly, is lead generation? As the first and most crucial step in creating a client, we will explain how it is done.
Get ready to learn about the importance of lead generation and process.
What is Lead Generation in Marketing?
Generating leads is the first step in turning potential customers into paying customers by piquing their interest in your product or service. Lead generation involves collecting prospective customers’ contact details (leads) via various means, such as online forums on landing sites.
B2B lead generation is the first step in the sales process for many businesses.
Leads are prospective consumers who have provided contact information to learn more about your business’s offerings via business-to-business marketing. By creating them, B2B companies may better target their marketing efforts and move potential buyers down the sales funnel.
Why is Lead Generation Important?
Every company’s expansion depends on its ability to generate new leads. Focusing on lead quality ensures that your sales teams have access to potential customers that fit your desired customer profile. As a result, conversion-based income rises.
Lead generation is crucial for increasing brand awareness and credibility within your target demographic. A B2B marketing funnel may help you convert casual browsers into serious buyers by guiding them through the stages of the buying process, from awareness to consideration to purchase.
In other words, when it comes time to complete the purchase, they will be more receptive to your sales team’s overtures.
What Does the Lead Generation Process Look Like?
There is more to fixing your issues than just turning to the lead-generating process. It’s structured with an introduction, body, and conclusion. It would help if you did produce not only leads but also make effective use of them. No worries, we’ve got you covered in every way possible.
Identifying a Buyer Persona
It would help if you had a clear picture of your ideal customer before you can begin gathering information for a lead generation campaign. Identifying your ideal customer is the first step in selling a product.
Developing a Lead Generation Medium
Finding your target demographic is the first step in selecting a suitable lead magnet. You may accomplish this goal via the use of several marketing strategies, including but not limited to content, social media, and interactive formats.
Developing a Lead Generation Database
If you don’t know how to follow up on those leads, all you do is pointless. The best way to analyze, sort, and prioritize your leads is to compile all this information in a database.
Qualifying and Scoring Leads
It’s impossible to handle every lead the same. Your leads still need to be qualified and scored, even after you’ve identified your ideal customer. Depending on your situation, you may need to provide more attention to a select few leads. You’ll have more options for reaching out to them this way.
Creating Lead-Ready Channels
To maximize the effectiveness of your marketing initiatives, you must first capture leads via efficient channels. Marketing techniques such as social media (advertising and other lead magnets), landing sites, and so on are all examples of channels to consider.
Invest in an Analytics Engine
You’ll need an analytics engine to keep track of your conversions, so you don’t have to. Identifying the moments in your cycle when you lose the most leads is crucial, even if many of these contacts will not turn into customers.
If you find that a large percentage of your leads are abandoning the sign-up process on your lead form, you may want to try making the form easier to fill out by lowering the number of required fields or adding some interactive elements.
Final Thoughts
Gaining a large number of leads is beneficial, but only high-quality prospects, who are more likely to become paying customers, should be prioritized.
A lot of legwork is involved in evaluating your quality leads, but the payoff is well worth it. Make sure you foster connections with the high-quality leads you’ve found. They will be your clients in the future.
The post What Is Lead Generation Process ? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.
Tech
Tools Remote Workers Can Use to Collaborate Online
Published
4 months agoon
December 1, 2022By
mtnnews
The number of people who work from home tripled between 2019 and 2021, according to a US Census survey. Working remotely has become so popular in recent years, that technology has had to make it easier for workers to stay connected online. As well, companies of all sizes are realizing that remote work can be more efficient than in-person work. But working remotely can also be isolating, and it can be difficult to collaborate with teammates who are not in the same physical space. There are a number of tools that remote workers can use to collaborate online, from video conferencing to project management software.
Communication Tools
There are a variety of communication tools available to remote workers that can help facilitate and collaborate online. Some common options for remote, real-time communications include:
- Voice and video conferencing: Platforms like Skype, Zoom, and Google Meet allow users to connect with one another via voice and video calling, making it easy to have face-to-face conversations even when you’re not in the same room. All three can be used on any connected device: laptops, desktops, mobile phones, and tablets.
- Instant messaging: Services like Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and Jabber provide instant messaging capabilities that make it easy to have quick back-and-forth conversations with colleagues.
- Project management software: Asana, Trello, and Basecamp can help teams keep track of tasks, deadlines, and progress on projects. They also typically include features like file sharing and real-time discussion forums that make collaboration easier.
Each of these tools has its own strengths and weaknesses. So it’s important to choose the right platform for your needs. Most of them offer free trial periods. This way you can test them out with your whole team before purchasing subscriptions or license fees.
Tracking Projects and Tasks
There are a few different ways to keep track of projects and tasks when working remotely. The most important thing is to find a system that works for you and your team.
One popular method is using a project management tool like Asana or Trello, both of which work very well to support small business teams. These tools allow you to create projects and tasks, assign them to team members, set due dates, and add notes and attachments. They also have features like calendars and Gantt charts to help you visualize your project timeline.
Best of all, if you use one of the communication tools recommended above, in particular Slack, you can integrate them. So, your team can update tasks right from Slack and vice versa.
Whichever method you choose, the important thing is to find something that works for you and your team. So that everyone is on the same page about what needs to be done and when it’s due.
Managing Calendars
Assuming your team is already using a calendar tool like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, or Apple Calendar, you can take advantage of some features to help manage everyone’s schedules.
For example, if you need to schedule a meeting with people in different time zones, you can use the “world clock” feature in Google Calendar to see what time it would be in each person’s location to better collaborate online. You can also set up calendar sharing so that everyone on your team can see each other’s schedules and know when someone is available or busy.
If you have recurring meetings or events, you can use the “repeat” function in most calendaring tools to save yourself some time. And finally, if there are certain days or times when no one on your team is available, you can block off those times on your calendar so that people won’t try to schedule something during that time.
Calendly is a scheduling tool that integrates with your calendars, so you can share your calendar with people outside your organization so they can set meetings with you. They offer a free version, so you can try it before you buy. The paid subscriptions allow more users for your company, as well as more functions.
Sharing and Storing Files
There are a variety of ways that remote workers can share and store files online (in the cloud). File-sharing services like Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive are three of the most popular cloud-based file management systems. These services allow users to upload files and share them with others. Another way to share files is to use a collaboration tool like Slack. This tool allows users to share files and communicate with each other in real-time.
If you need to proofread, markup, or sign (non-legal) PDF documents, PDF.Live has an easy-to-use tool to sign PDFs online, or you can edit and convert documents, and then share them via email, chat platform, or through your cloud drive.
In fact, even if you’re not a remote-working small business, getting your documents into the cloud and off hard copies and hard drives is highly recommended. Today’s cloud-based systems are safer than ever, as long as you train your employees to follow best practices for cybersecurity.
Conclusion
If you work remotely, it’s important to have a good set of tools that you can use. This way you can better collaborate online with your team. In this article, we’ve shared some of our favorite tools for remote workers, including Slack, Google Drive, and Zoom. We hope you’ll find these tools helpful in staying connected with your team and getting your work done.
The post Tools Remote Workers Can Use to Collaborate Online appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.
Tech
Gift of Networking – Mobilo Smart Business Card
Published
4 months agoon
December 1, 2022By
mtnnews
Holiday gifting is a big part of the season checklist. Picking gifts for friends and family more often is not an easy task. A lot of thought goes into the selection of gifts. While you may find this in many tech gift guides, it’s still a gift to surprise your loved ones with. Mobilo smart business card is an NFC and QR code-powered business card. That enables you to share your contact details and other information with a Tap.
Here’s how you can benefit by carrying one Mobilo instead of a stack of business cards:
– A great first impression, you can wow your connections with the swift contact exchange.
– Never run out of Business cards again, all you need is one card
– Stand out from others while networking, be in your connection’s phone with a tap. Never be forgotten again
– Instant follow-ups, you can connect your card to a CRM of your choice, slack, salesforce, google docs, etc(3000+ apps). Your connection’s info gets automatically entered into your CRM system.
You can also benefit from the QR code feature of this card. You can use this card during your online meetings, just hold up your card to the camera for a quick scan. Then, you can share any information you want during the meetings.
With Mobilo, you’re not only giving a smart tech gift but also an environmentally conscious one. Making the switch from paper business cards to Mobilo saves money and trees. Every year 2 million trees are cut to manufacture paper business cards, and 88% of those cards end up in the bin within a week. So, consider yourself helping to save the environment by giving this gift!
Final Thoughts
Head to the online Mobilo store now and pick from your choice of smart business cards and accessories for your favorite family, friends, or colleagues. Happy Networking!
The post Gift of Networking – Mobilo Smart Business Card appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

What Is Lead Generation Process ?

Tools Remote Workers Can Use to Collaborate Online

Gift of Networking – Mobilo Smart Business Card

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