Tips To Prevent a Ransomware Worst Case Scenario
Fans of the CBS show, “The Good Wife” will remember the episode where the law firm’s computers were taken over and locked up by ransomware. Unless they agreed to make a payment to certain bank account, the firm’s computers would remain locked. Unfortunately this scenario is becoming far too common today. Mark Stefanick, who runs a small benefits firm in Houston, had it happen to him. When he related the story recently to the Wall Street Journal, he said that the hijackers demanded $400 to be paid within 72 hours. “They set the ransom so low that, as violated as I feel and as much as I wanted to fight, at the end of the day I realized I can pay and get back to work,” Stefanick explained. Attacks up significantly By one estimate, in the fourth quarter of 2014, ransomware attacks were up 155 percent from the previous quarter. While the law firm in the CBS Sunday night drama was held up for big bucks, the demands made of small businesses aren’t so huge; owners like Stefanick are inclined to pay up and move on with their lives. It seems like any computer system is vulnerable. Various law enforcement computers in Maine were taken over by ransomware recently, according to a report from WCSH in Portland. Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett said they made a Bitcoin payment to free their systems. The FBI traced the payment to a Swiss bank account, but that’s where the trail stopped. Many variations One version of ransomware is called CoinVault and it targets Windows machines. CoinVault encrypts all the files on the system so they are useless to users until they pay the ransom. A clock ticks away on the computer screen, raising the ransom price all the time. If you – or anyone you know – gets hit with this one, Kaspersky Lab has posted the decryptor so you can solve your problem without paying the ransom. Unfortunately, that’s just one of many that are out there today. Other major threats include Cryptoware and Cryptowall. Instances of smartphone ransomware are also being reported. One scam puts child pornography on the phone and then threatens to alert the police unless money is paid. Creative crooks Typically, the advice for protecting against malware like this is “not to download any suspicious looking attachments.” The problem is that the bad guys are becoming very adept at making attachments look innocent and legitimate. A colleague recently received an email from this address: no-reply@usps.com. The email said the Post Office had a package to deliver but the address label was damaged. Make address corrections to the attached Word file, the email instructed. My friend was expecting a USPS-delivered package that day, so when this email arrived it wasn’t “out of the blue.” Further, he checked other elements of the email and they didn’t seem outrageously counterfeit. Fortunately, he went back to his original tracking information and that’s when he realized that the email was completely malicious and the attachment wasn’t really a Word document. Another variation Not all of the ransom scenarios start with an email or a link to a website. Some victims have received phone calls from individuals identifying themselves as Microsoft technicians. The “technician” then takes control of the victim’s computer, deleting or...
read moreData Breaches: How To Protect Your Business From Internal Threats
The biggest threat to your data may not come from external hackers. Find out how to guard against intentional or accidental internal cyber breaches. The NSA leaks we learned about are a constant reminder of just how vulnerable data is and how this vulnerability can result in data breaches by organization insiders. As Reuters reported, “Edward Snowden may have persuaded between 20 and 25 fellow workers at the NSA regional operations center in Hawaii to give him their logins and passwords by telling them they were needed for him to do his job as a computer systems administrator.” It’s apparent now that the nation’s most significant intelligence and security team failed to install the most up-to-date, anti-leak software. This news coincides with two recent reports that show insiders are becoming the most significant reason data breaches proliferate. While threats to data security and privacy are often perceived to come from the outside via criminal hackers, recent research has marked internal threats as equally dangerous to customer/client data—whether breached on purpose or by accident. According to a Forrester Research report titled “Understand the State of Data Security and Privacy,” 25 percent of survey respondents said that abuse by a malicious insider was the most common way in which a breach occurred in the past year at their company, while 36 percent of breaches were caused by employee mistakes, making it the current top cause of most data breaches. Another report, from MeriTalk, which focuses on the federal government, found that 49 percent of breaches happen when employees bypass existing security measures, such as when they’re Web surfing or downloading email or other files. If the federal government can’t protect itself against data leaks, how can small-business owners expect to adequately protect their business data? Let’s take a look at how these data leaks are happening to find out how you can protect against them. Cracking The Code We’re at a point where companies interested in protecting their data have invested significant resources into fighting off network attacks from outsiders by incorporating numerous layers of security, such as firewalls, antivirus software, antispyware, antiphishing software and security awareness training, but they’re leaving their data vulnerable to their employees. Companies may have malicious, Edward Snowden-like insiders who hack the network for information, including fellow employees’ passwords. Or, on the less malicious end of the spectrum, employees may just make simple mistakes that leave the network vulnerable to data breaches. Because of this “hidden” vulnerability, company networks are often compared to candy bars that are hard on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Additional risks revolve around savvy employees who might have good intentions but may make the network vulnerable when they go outside existing security measures. They may find themselves forced to do this because of restrictions that prevent them from getting their jobs done. The Meritalk study found: 66 percent of federal network users believe security is time-consuming and restrictive. 69 percent say their work takes longer because of additional cyber security measures. One in five users report an inability to complete work because of security measures. 31 percent of users work around security measures at least once a week. Forrester found: 36 percent of breaches stem from inadvertent misuse of data by employees. 42 percent received training on how...
read moreHow to Listen and Be Heard During National Small Business Week
More often than not, Economics and Politics are like conjoined twins who don’t get along very well. I can hear Economics shouting at Politics, “I always feel used by you!” However, occasionally the two come together and play nice-nice and that happens at least once a year during National Small Business Week. It’s a tradition President Kennedy started back in 1963 that every Oval Office occupant has continued. This year the event runs from May 4-8 with the theme of “SBA: Dream Big, Start Small.” SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet will highlight the week with small business events in Miami, Los Angeles, San Antonio and New York City. The week winds up in Washington, D.C. where national winners will be recognized and receive their awards. While this is an SBA-sponsored week, a variety of larger corporations climb onto the bandwagon, scheduling various events intended to benefit small business owners. Discovering events near you is not the easiest thing to do if you aren’t near one of the major cities mentioned above. Search for events However, if you’re even a novice social media maven and semi-schooled Googler, there is a good chance you can unearth some local gems. Hit Google first with a search like “small business week events.” That’s going to deliver results. Along with the straight web search, hit the link on the Google search results page for “News” to see if it reveals any additional insights. Try adding the name of your community or the largest city within driving distance to that search, just in case Google hasn’t already figured out your location. I recommend searching Twitter as well. When I last checked there was @sbwem and @sbwstl for Eastern Missouri and St. Louis. Ft. Lauderdale is also represented on Twitter with @SBWFLL. If your community is doing anything to mark the week, consider establishing a Twitter account to promote your events. This might be handled by your Chamber of Commerce or other local business association. I suspect that the hashtag #smallbusinessweek will start being used as we approach May 4. It is already appearing occasionally in the twitterverse. Head over to Twazzup to monitor the hashtag action. You may find new events, and even if there’s nothing happening in your hometown, you’ll discover corporate sponsors of National Small Business Week as well as get some business inspiration. Rattle some cages At the top of this, I noted the relationship between economics and politics. National Small Business Week 2015 happens at a time when lawmakers are considering a variety of bills that would impact the small business scene. Click over to Govtrack to scan this list of bills. Perhaps the best way for you and the other small business owners in your community to celebrate this week is to take some time to personally contact your representatives in Washington, D.C. and your state capital. Also touch bases with trade associations and other commercial organizations to see if they are reflecting your needs and desires in their lobbying. Small business is always the 800-pound gorilla in the room when politics and the economy are being discussed. However, usually this gorilla stays pretty quiet. Can’t we at least make a little noise during National Small Business...
read moreWhy We’re Celebrating Small Business Week on a Very Tight Budget This Year
The Small Business Administration says that National Small Business Week – May 4-8 – is for “celebrating America’s entrepreneurs.” But can anyone afford the party favors this year? One of the uplifting facts of entrepreneurship, is that many successful founders start their businesses in slow economies. However, that hasn’t been the case in the past five years when entrepreneurial start-ups have declined. We can thank our elected officials and policy makers for contributing to an environment that make starting, nurturing or growing a small business difficult at best. Missing a low target As I wrote this, January through March growth figures were released. Experts expected a lousy number like an annualized rate of 1 percent. If only it had been that good! The US Commerce Department pegged first quarter 2015 growth at 0.2 percent annualized. In other words, it’s essentially no growth. This comes after last year’s growth was a paltry 2.4 percent. Some pundits will point to the snow storms – as if winter is supposed to be a season for shorts and muscle-tees – but that can, at best, only explain for a small part of the problem. It’s interesting that “income disparity” and the minimum wage have become major national media stories while the disparity between large companies and small businesses has been virtually ignored. Goldman Sachs recently released a report that shows how poorly small businesses have faired during this recovery when compared to large corporations. In fact, historically, small firms, those with fewer than 500 employees, have outpaced big companies in terms of job creation. That situation has reserved transforming our economic landscape. Small Biz is MIA As I noted, the real number of small business firms has declined and revenues have failed to keep pace. Let’s take a closer look at what that means. If we take the historical small business growth rate that the US experienced between 1977 and 2007, and project it through 2012, we fall 600,000 small businesses short. There should be another 600,000 small businesses located across the fruited plain. Think of how many jobs that would add to our economy. There would be work for those millions of individuals who have simply dropped out of the labor force. It would also put labor market pressures on wages and tend to push up entry-level incomes. We probably wouldn’t need a national debate about the central-government-imposed minimum wage. How will it ever be possible to ease the income gap with these kinds of economic conditions? No fiats from Washington, D.C. will change that reality. In fact, so far virtually everything our politicians have done has made the situation worse. When few people are founding new small businesses, it kills the biggest opportunity individuals have to move themselves into the upper income levels. Owning vs earning The only real path for upward mobility is to move from being a wage-earner to a property-owner and the property I’m talking about is a business. When small business formation is as anemic as it is today, you can’t logically expect any other outcome than a widening gap between the rich and the poor. So as we approach National Small Business Week in 2015, this year I think we need to celebrate the “potential” of small business ownership and entrepreneurism, and also give a special pat...
read moreThis Week in Small Business: Good advice to follow, bad advice to avoid
This week’s digest of curated wisdom starts with telling you how to avoid bad advice and ends by taking a dip in the Shark Tank. Marketing and sales There’s a lot of bad marketing advice floating around and here are tips on what you need to avoid. Shopify has put together a series of videos that explains the basics of content marketing. If you’re planning an ecommerce site, or yours isn’t performing up to snuff, review the 10 practical tips here and make sure your bases are covered. Email Be careful about casting too wide a net in your email marketing campaigns, says Paula Chiocci. That are three more tips are here. Social Media/Digital If you understand the psychology of why users continually comeback to Facebook, like, and share items, it should help your social marketing efforts. LinkedIn launched some new tools recently. The “Lead Accelerator” could boost your social media marketing. Along those same lines: LinkedIn can be the best lead generator for B2Bs. Jeff Bullas goes through the steps. Here are three tips to increase your reach on Facebook, although the author also says that you shouldn’t worry about it too much. Pinterest is the ideal social media marketing platform for many small businesses. Here are some of the best tips. Are you taking advantage of the synergy between your social media and content marketing efforts? Here are three ways. Bone up on the seven digital marketing skills you – or someone in your business – need. Content The five points made here about a successful content marketing campaign would be the answers on any marketing final exam. Etch them into your brain. If you’re creating blog content like crazy and not scoring the followers you need, review these 12 ways to increase traffic. You gotta love lists in your content marketing program. Here are 25 list ideas you should scoop up. WordStream founder Larry Kim explains how to use PPC marketing to make your content go viral. Video Google makes the case for online video: Mobile viewers are more likely to watch, share, and feel connected to ads and branded video. Leadership, management and productivity Launching or updating a website soon? Usability is a lot more than just a good looking design. Are you looking for a social media marketing person? Here are the 14 traits they need to be successful. And speaking of hiring, in this article you’ll find the five signs a prospective employee will drain your team dry. Entrepreneur Reva Minkoff aims to stop small businesses from making the same mistakes over and over. See if you’re among the guilty. Rory Vaden says that there’s no such thing as “time management” just “self management.” In this article and podcast he talks about how to procrastinate your way to success! To meet expectations, you have to understand your customers. This article focuses on millennials. Next-generation social analytics are transforming digital marketing speed and accuracy, according to AdWeek. Here’s a list of upcoming small business events. Look it over and follow my site for announcements about my scheduled appearances this Spring and Summer. As April 15 fades in our rearview mirrors, you may be wondering which financial records you need to keep, and which you can chuck. Here’s guidance. Why the Internet of Things Is...
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