Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
One thing that the coronavirus pandemic has changed is the whole concept of how we work. For many of us, video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Teams means we can work from home. The technology has shown it can work. And many homeworkers are reluctant to go back to the office, with more than one third not believing their employer has done enough to protect their health, according to Aviva.
But businesses are just as vulnerable to homeworkers as vice-versa.
An astonishing 30 per cent of all smart home devices are hacked and right now, over 1.8bn passwords are being sold on the dark web. What this means is that hackers steal passwords, listen in on commercially sensitive conversations and use employees’ home networks to access businesses.
>See also: What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Daniel Verblis, The Moving Home Warehouse
Scott Lever began his career at IBM, and over the last 25 years, his roles included head of infrastructure and end user computing for the Houses of Parliament and chief technology officer for The Royal British Legion.
His background in technology, digital transformations and cybersecurity made him realise how vulnerable we all
Tag Archive for Cyber Security
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What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Scott Lever, Zobi
by Timothy Adler • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Timothy Adler on Small Business
One thing that the coronavirus pandemic has changed is the whole concept of how we work. For many of us, video conferencing tools such as Zoom and Teams means we can work from home. The technology has shown it can work. And many homeworkers are reluctant to go back to the office, with more than one third not believing their employer has done enough to protect their health, according to Aviva.
But businesses are just as vulnerable to homeworkers as vice-versa.
An astonishing 30 per cent of all smart home devices are hacked and right now, over 1.8bn passwords are being sold on the dark web. What this means is that hackers steal passwords, listen in on commercially sensitive conversations and use employees’ home networks to access businesses.
>See also: What winning The Start-Up Series meant for me – Daniel Verblis, The Moving Home Warehouse
Scott Lever began his career at IBM, and over the last 25 years, his roles included head of infrastructure and end user computing for the Houses of Parliament and chief technology officer for The Royal British Legion.
His background in technology, digital transformations and cybersecurity made him realise how vulnerable we all
Hot Business News Today
7 actions to improve your company’s cyber security while working remotely
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Working remotely has become a fixture during COVID-19 and is likely to become more common in business once the lockdown has passed.
Cyber security is now all the more important for you and your employees. Research from DSA Connect shows that since working from home, 8 per cent of people have increased access to confidential data compared with the 6 per cent who say they have less.
It seems that companies are aware of the risks. Cyber security services provider, Nexor, says that UK Google searches for ‘cyber defense’ [sic] went up by 126 per cent between January and March 2020. That’s up 116 per cent from March 2019. Searches for ‘cyber security services’ rose by 44 per cent and ‘how to install a VPN’ increased by 40 per cent.
However, Kaspersky says that only a third (34 per cent) of small businesses are keeping employees updated on security requirements for personal devices. This can be mirrored in staff conduct. Research from Tessian shows that 52 per cent of workers feel they can get away with riskier behaviour when they work remotely.
It’s not the same case for everyone. Normally cyber security is in the hands of
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Cyber security and data protection for SMEs – a podcast with the experts
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Today’s episode brings together a panel of experts to help SMEs understand how to remain secure online and navigate the world of GDPR. It aims to help micro and small business owners become familiar with common cyber threats and take away simple practical tips to protect important data, process it correctly and improve cyber security.
Have a listen to it in the media player below.
For more advice on running your small business, head over to the UK Domain.
Want to hear more podcasts?
You can also catch our episodes with:
Entrepreneur and former Dragon, Rachel Elnaugh
Businesswoman and Dragon, Deborah Meaden
Entrepreneur and The Apprentice 2005 candidate, Tim Campbell
Gousto CEO, Timo Boldt
Entrepreneur and The Apprentice 2018 candidate, Jackie Fast
Investor and former Dragon, Piers Linney
Investment fund manager, Nicola Horlick
Supermodel turned entrepreneur, Caprice
We’ve got podcast episodes from the first series looking at:
How one business owner’s mental breakdown caused her to see trolls from her past
How one entrepreneur hired a videographer to track their every move and build their business brand
How funding a business led one entrepreneur to stress-related alopecia
One entrepreneur’s first professional public speaking engagement
Adapting to UK life and learning English before starting a business
Securing seed funding
Finding the perfect head of
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Join the UK Domain for a live webinar on GDPR and cyber security
by Partner Content • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Partner Content on Small Business
Trusted advice and insightful tips from a panel of experts to help you protect your business, customers and their data online. Tuesday 21 April 2020 at 11am (BST). Register here.
Whether you’re running a personal training business or an online shop, keeping your customers and business safe online is just as important as sales and product or service delivery.
With thousands of cyber-attacks threatening small businesses daily and GDPR bringing data security and protection into the spotlight, it’s never been so important to understand how you need to be securing your assets online as a small business owner.
There can be a lot to get your head around, from data consent to phishing and GDPR legislation to hacking. That’s why, here at The UK Domain and in partnership with the trusted standard in data protection, iCaaS, we’ve brought together a panel of experts to share trusted advice and insightful tips on how you can protect your small business, customers and data.
The panel features: GDPR expert and co-founder of iCaaS, Nicola Hartland, Nominet’s CISO, Cath Goulding and Managing Director of cyber security company OxSec and ethical hacker, Joseph Garbett.
The webinar will cover:
How vulnerable your website and data are to cyber-attacks
What small businesses need to know about GDPR
How GDPR applies to your business and why data protection is so important
What
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How to protect your small business from coronavirus cyber threats
by Nick Ismail • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
The disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis has forced small business to change how it operates; non-essentials workers are now working remotely and physical events have become virtual.
In this new mass remote and online environment, what can a small business do to protect itself and its workforce from coronavirus scams and cyber security threats?
We spoke to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for the latest coronavirus cyber security advice:
What cyber security advice do you have for small business?
For organisations of all sizes this period presents a cyber security challenge, and this is particularly the case for those moving towards home working arrangements for the first time, or significantly increasing home working.
The NCSC recently published new guidance for organisations with staff working from home, which includes everything from preparing for home working to helping staff look after devices.
Smaller businesses may also wish to familiarise themselves with the NCSC’s Small Business Guide, which sets out five steps to take to bolster their cyber security, and SMEs should encourage staff to try the NCSC’s e-learning package while working from home.
As well as taking steps to protect themselves from becoming a victim it is important for businesses to plan how they
Hot Business News Today
How can small and micro businesses achieve enterprise-grade security?
by Partner Content • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Partner Content on Small Business
Thinking that small and micro businesses will not become targets of cyber threats is one of the worst misconceptions in business IT. Just because a business is still struggling to scale or become profitable doesn’t mean it is safe from attacks. In fact, small businesses are the most popular targets of cybercriminals.
An Accenture study found that 43pc of cyber attacks are aimed at small businesses. Unfortunately, according to the same study, only 14pc of SMEs are prepared to address such attacks, which include data breaches, malware penetration, financial theft, identity theft, phishing, and denial of service. On average, these incidents cost businesses £65,000 to £115,000. This figure does not include additional damage including opportunity costs, adverse brand and reputation implications, and the negative impact on customer goodwill. What’s even more alarming is that 60pc of companies that have been attacked go out of business within six months according to a report by Inc. These realities only mean that it’s imperative to invest in competent cybersecurity defense.
Basic antivirus protection is not enough
Most businesses are not prepared for cyber threats usually because their owners or managers lack the competence to foresee and implement measures against
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HTTPS: why your small business website needs to be HTTPS ASAP
by Partner Content • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Partner Content on Small Business
The ultimate aim for any business website is to attract new customers or clients. So imagine if your website actually turned them away… This could happen if your website does not have HTTPS enabled, as it’s essential for every business website to have this. If not, all the time, effort and money you’ve invested on your website may be wasted. And that risk greatly increased from July 2018 due to some major changes that Google brought into force.
The current key benefits to switching your website to the secure HTTPS standard already include:
1. Better security
2. Greater customer trust and sales
3. More accurate Google Analytics data
4. A boost to your search engine visibility
You can read more about these in detail here: Should you switch to an HTTPS website?.
But the bottom line is that the negative impact for not making this reasonably simple security improvement will only get bigger. Here’s why…
Why non-HTTPS website will struggle
When you visit a website which has a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) Certificate installed, you’ll see a padlock icon in the address bar at the top, and the web address will begin with https rather than http. This
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What does PCI compliance mean for your small business?
by Geoff Forsyth • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Geoff Forsyth on Small Business
PCI DSS compliance can often seem like a mountain to climb for small businesses, but that needn’t be the case. With the right knowledge and the right partners, it can be understood (and achieved) without much trouble at all.
What is the PCI DSS?
PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. It is an international security standard which was set up by the biggest names in the payment card industry (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and JCB) to help businesses process card payments safely and securely, helping them to avoid credit card fraud.
The standard enforces strict guidelines regarding the processing, storage and transmission of private cardholder data.
See also: 40% of the UK’s micro businesses do not accept card payments
Who needs to be PCI DSS compliant?
All companies that take credit card payments. If you accept, store, transmit or process cardholder data then PCI DSS applies to you. It doesn’t matter how large or small your business may be, you are obliged to comply with the standard.
What is PCI DSS Compliance?
PCI DSS sets out 12 requirements that merchants need to meet if they are to comply, as follows:
►Build and maintain a secure network
• Install
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Improve your cyber security using the ‘Check and Change’ method
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Despite their prevalence, SMBs have traditionally been under-served when it comes to cyber security options, especially in comparison to what’s available to larger organisations. Historically, cyber criminal activity has focused on consumers and large enterprises as the most lucrative targets. And while these audiences continue to be a focus, the number of security solutions available
The post Improve your cyber security using the ‘Check and Change’ method appeared first on Small Business.