Social media security Social media is a great tool for SMBs to get the word out about their products and services, build their brand, and connect with prospective customers. It also offers paid marketing avenues as well, such as PPCs, marketplaces, etc., But are your social media accounts secure? Typically what happens in a business account on social media is that multiple people may have access to the account. Access could stretch across different departments such as marketing, sales, PR, HR or it could be multiple people from a single team with access rights--usually marketing. If you outsource your social media management to marketing agencies, their staff also end up having access to your social media accounts. All of these situations make your social media accounts very vulnerable. Here are a few tips to keep your social media accounts secure. Always be aware of who has access to your social media accounts. This may seem obvious, but you may be surprised to know that many SMBs are

Three things to consider when investing in new software When running a business, you will often find yourself in need of new software tools to enhance the productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and even the security of your various business processes. These software programs range across a wide spectrum of tools including accounting, finance, IT, e-commerce, marketing, sales and many more. In this blog post, we discuss the key elements you should consider before investing in software tools for your business. Whose software is it, anyway ? Learn more about the company that owns the software. Find out how long they have been in the business. Are they dealing in similar software programs across different industries, or is this their only product? Get more information about their company size and business model. How do they sell? What kind of after-sales support do they offer in terms of training, troubleshooting and product updates? You need to have answers to all these questions. This i

Insider threats: Not as uncommon as you think When we speak of cybercrime and data theft, we typically think of seasoned cybercriminals. But you’d be surprised to know that the cause of businesses becoming victims of cybercrime is most often their own employees--sometimes on purpose, sometimes inadvertently. Remember Bob from accounting who was let go? Or the new intern who worked for 3 days and never showed up? Yep! They could engage in cybercrime activities to ‘get back at you’. Many businesses have been victims of cyberattacks brought on by disgruntled employees, both current and ex. No matter who attacks you virtually, whether it is a seasoned cybercriminal or an employee who is simply upset with the kind of coffee your office coffee machine makes, becoming a victim of cybercrime causes you a lot of damage. For starters it erodes the trust your customers have in your brand, it affects your brand negatively. If your data is held ransom, you have no choice, but to pay up the demanded

Gaining a competitive edge during the pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on everyone. The lockdowns, the need to follow social distancing--though indispensable--have been tough on individuals and also resulted in a lot of revenue loss to businesses. For SMBs though, this time has been particularly difficult, with a general downturn in the economy and the job losses, which has been affecting people’s ability to make purchases. In the middle of all these challenges, SMBs are grappling with yet another issue--the need to keep their business running, even remotely in some cases. A lot of businesses had a tough time adapting to the work-from-home setup. Since this sudden transition to the work-from-home model was largely unplanned, a lot of them became victims of cybercrime and many more are being targeted even as you read this. If you're one of those businesses that implemented the WFH model overnight, then it’s time you paid attention to the cybersecurity angle of it. Here

Best practices for remote desktop access Remote desktop access is an essential in these days when businesses are expected to be responsive to their clients almost 24/7. Moreover, there has been a surge in the remote desktop access practice with coronavirus pandemic. But, did you know that remote desktop access, while almost indispensable now, can threaten your network security? In this post, we discuss a few best practices that you should engage in for safe remote desktop access. Have your basics in place Make sure your security basics are covered. Your systems should be secured with the latest Firewalls, anti-malware software and up-to-date with all security patches and software upgrades. Another item on this list is passwords. Make sure you are following good password hygiene such as no password sharing, setting secure passwords, not repeating passwords, etc., Train your employees Train your employees who will be accessing your network via remote desktop connections to identify cyber

Five reasons to invest in a password management system ASAP Password management tools are software programs that put up enough security and safety mechanisms in place to ensure there’s no password breach. Your employees can use the program to generate random, high-security passwords as per the industry best practices. They don’t have to worry about remembering them either, because these tools have built-in mechanisms to store the passwords securely and retrieve them automatically when needed. All passwords are encrypted and stored privately, so no one, other than the authorized user has access to their passwords. It takes care of timely password update reminders and password reset, so you don’t have to worry about them. Password management tools make it easy for you to enforce role-based access permissions. For example, a data entry executive may be able to enter data into the sheet only once, and may need authentication from the manager to edit the data, or only someone at the manager