WatchGuard bolsters SMB offering with new appliances

WatchGuard has added new appliances to its Extensible Content Security (XCS) range.

According to the company, the XCS 280 and XCS 580 provide small and medium-sized businesses with a centralised management dashboard, making it easier to manage security options and create reports. In addition, customers get instant access to WatchGuard LiveSecurity Plus that provides 24/7 web or phone-based support services.

These also feature a data loss prevention wizard, ReputationAuthority and web security subscriptions for users with limited IT resources to deploy and maintain an enterprise-class content security solution.

Roger Klorese, WatchGuard's director of product management, said: “The WatchGuard XCS solution provides the web and email content security, management and reporting features that SMBs need to maintain the highest level of security and defend against attacks.”

Android botnet detected that uses victims\' devices to send SMS spam

A botnet of Android users has been discovered that is being used to deliver SMS spam.

According to research by security firms Cloudmark and Lookout Mobile Security, this is the first known Android botnet and it consists of compromised devices sending out spam SMS messages.

According to research, the botnet grows when users install a malicious game application that contains the SpamSoldier Trojan. The infected devices then communicate with a command and control (C&C) server, receiving instructions to send SMS messages to more than 100 phone numbers. After those numbers are texted, infected phones get a new list of targets within about a minute. The malware also blocks incoming and outgoing texts from unknown numbers incase users or mobile service providers try to alert victims of their spamming.

Cloudmark researcher Andrew Conway said that the botnet's owners are likely to be making money through a variety of strategies, including sending out links to claim bogus gift cards, but which actually lead to rogue marketing sites that request personal information.

He told SC Magazine US: “This botnet has ‘changed the economics' of spamming campaigns. The typical SMS spamming technique is that a spammer will go to the grocery store, buy some prepaid SIM cards and use them to send out spam messages.

“We think the spammers are getting less and less value for money out of that approach as the industry catches on to that.”

With SpamSoldier, it is the victims who shoulder the cost of spamming, as Conway said that while the botnet was ‘primitive' compared to those that fester among infected endpoints in the traditional PC environment, the tactic may demonstrate a future model to be taken up by attackers.

Cloudmark researchers said that they had detected more than 800 phone numbers sending out the spam, and they believe the total number of infected devices is around 1,000.

A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on the research.

Research from Lookout found that once SpamSoldier was opened it begins working, but first it removes its icon from the launcher to cover its tracks. After receiving instruction on the initial 100 numbers to contact from the C&C server and getting its new list of 100 numbers, it will continue to get these until the C&C either doesn't respond, or the application is closed.

“SpamSoldier also attempts to hide any evidence of malicious activity: the user won't be able to see outgoing messages, and the app also attempts to intercept any incoming SMS replies so that the user remains blissfully unaware of any problems,” it said.

“It appears that the distribution of this malware is limited. The potential impact to mobile networks may be significant if the threat goes undetected for a long period of time. The primary negative impact appears to be the large amount of SMS messages sent and the potential this has to result in charges to the user and/or a slowdown of the carrier's network. The sole infection vector appears to be spam SMS messages; we have not yet detected SpamSoldier on any major app stores.”

Adobe to fix Shockwave flaw two years after detection

Adobe has failed to fix a remote code execution bug in Shockwave, more than two years after it was reported.

According to the US computer emergency response team (Cert), the flaw was reported in October 2010. "By convincing a user to view specially crafted Shockwave content (e.g. a web page or a HTML email message or attachment), an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user," the agency wrote.

The software installs Xtras signed by Adobe or Macromedia without prompting the user, a function that allows attackers to target old and vulnerable Xtras. According to Adobe, Xtras are "plug-in code modules that allow users to add specialised capabilities and extended functionality to products".

The slim version of Shockwave bundled fewer Xtras, meaning attackers had more avenues of attack.

The Cert said: “Because the location from which Shockwave downloads the Xtra is stored in the Shockwave movie itself, this can allow an attacker to host old, vulnerable Xtras that can be installed and exploited automatically when a Shockwave movie is played.”

Failed exploit attempts would likely result in denial-of-service conditions. Adobe issued a statement saying it will only fix the flaw, found by analyst Will Dormann, in February next year in line with its next major Shockwave Player release.

The US agency recommended users either restrict handling of untrusted director content, run NoScript to whitelist Shockwave Player websites or disable Shockwave Player ActiveX control.

Security blogger Brian Krebs called the delay ‘shocking'. He said: “Shockwave is one of those programs that I've urged readers to remove or avoid installing. Like Java, it is powerful and very often buggy software that many people have installed but do not really need for everyday web browsing.

“Securing your system means not only making sure things are locked down, but removing unneeded programs, and Shockwave is near the top of my list on that front.”

Adobe recently announced plans to align their patching alongside Microsoft's Patch Tuesday, as did Google. Ziv Mador, director of security research at Trustwave, said: “Due to our dependence on Flash, there is indeed a co-dependent relationship between Microsoft, Adobe and Google. Interestingly, a large number of Flash security updates are now originating from Google, so the cooperation does seem to be going both ways.

“Synchronising these platforms is generally a good thing, so long as they remain committed to pushing out-of-cycle patches when they are necessary.”

Security speakers of the future given mentoring opportunity at Security B-Sides London

Conference speakers of the future are to be given the opportunity to be mentored and trained via the ‘rookie track' at next year's Security B-Sides London.

With offers of an experienced mentor to help the speaker prepare for a friendly, introductory environment, the rookie track is designed to bring new blood into the speaking circuit.

B-Sides London rookie track co-organiser Robin Wood told SC Magazine that they were inviting people who have never spoken at a conference before to submit talks with full support available to help them with it.

He said: “It can be very daunting to get up on stage and speak for an hour in front of a large group of peers, so the rookie track is deliberately offering short talks â€" just 15 minutes, in a controlled environment with only 20 people maximum for the room.

“We are hoping that once people have given their first talk they will realise that it isn't as bad as they think it is and will go on to present in the future.”

Asked what sort of people they were hoping to attract, Wood said that the target audience was originally students, but a mix of students, junior pen-testers/researchers and general security enthusiasts have already submitted ideas.

“The range of talks goes from fairly technical to soft skills required for talking to management,” he said.

Mentor Brian Honan, head of the Irish computer emergency readiness team (Cert) and consultant at BH Consulting, told SC Magazine that he was looking forward to seeing how he and the presenter worked together.

He said: “I hope to provide the person I am mentoring with a number of things, all with the purpose of building his confidence in delivering the talk.

“I see my role as one where I give guidance on how to structure the presentation so as to ensure the key messages are delivered clearly and concisely. This advice will be on how to structure the presentation, how to identify the key messages and how best to make the audience learn from the presentation. I will also share some of my experiences from presenting at conferences to build his confidence and calm any potential stage fright.”

For more information on submitting content for presentation, visit the application page. To apply to be a mentor, enter your details here. Security B-Sides London will take place on 24th April 2013, at Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall.

Apple Fails to Block Sales of Samsung Mobile Devices

The resolution of a dispute between Apple and Samsung will only hasten the coming of a more mobile economy. Your business must be ready. To this end, we've assembled some big picture information about where the mobile explosion stands and how it may change customer behavior. We also take a closer look at what you can do in your business to prepare.

The Move to Mobile

The genie in the bottle. Apple's efforts to block U.S. sales of Samsung's Galaxy devices, strong competitors to Apple's own mobile line, have failed. The result will be a further proliferation of mobile devices and greater access. It certainly means more choices for techpreneurs who use the devices for their businesses, but it also means more customers going mobile. Many challenges and opportunities await. Bloomberg Businessweek

Tomorrow never knows. But PayPal president David Marcus may know a thing or two about what 2013 holds in store for mobile payment and the trends as far as mobile customer behavior. Check out Marcus's predictions about what lies ahead. From cash registers going mobile to the evolution of the check-in experience, there are many important considerations here for your business, so get a primer on the future of mobile from the leader in online payment. LinkedIn

A Quick Refresher Course

Time to play catch up. There are plenty of business owners out there who haven't yet come up to speed on the mobile revolution. If you're one of those small business owners that finds it all a bit overwhelming, check out Small Business Trends CEO Anita Campbell's post on keeping up with mobile trends. Mobile changes don't need to cause stress! Instead, they can offer new chances to grow your business. Open Forum

Tools to change the world. Creating a mobile presence may be intimidating to many entrepreneurs. Fortunately, there are simple tools that can help you get started . Ramon Ray gives an overview of one such application, Imprego. The service provides a simple way to quickly and easily create a landing page for mobile users. Don't get intimidated. Just get started. Smallbiz Technology

The Latest Features

Mobile shopping squared. A new app combines one of the most popular consumer products of the past decade and a half, the gift card, with one of the latest consumer trends, mobile shopping. Read more about how businesses that already partner with Square can take advantage of the company's gift card app with no additional investment. Offering mobile options has never been easier. Small Business Trends

Mobile payments rise by 62 percent. If you want to get a better idea of the revenue stream your business could tap into by offering customers mobile payment options, just consider this statistic. According to a post by Leah Singer, mobile sales are projected to hit $171.5 billion worldwide by the end of 2012, a 62 percent increase over 2011. Many options are available to help you get into the mobile shopping game. Merchantos

Mobile payment options abound. If you jump onto the bandwagon by offering mobile credit card processing to your customers, here's a great place to start. Guest blogger Sarah Levy runs down some of the most important options in the field with a look at key features. Pick the one that works best for your business. Small Biz Diamonds

Clique Marketing: A New Way to Understand Your Audience

Everything you really need to know about marketing you learned â€" in high school â€" and probably the hard way!  Think back to your alma mater or picture a film like Mean Girls, Breakfast Club, or Sixteen Candles. High school is all about finding your place in society and discovering where you fit in. Everyone wants a place where they belong.

Teens handle this by forming cliques. Cliques are self-selecting social groups, which have a very profound impact on the school environment. Membership in the clique could be dependent on a shared interest, such as sports, drama, academics or band, or it could be a matter of other, more nebulous, identity based qualities. Think back to your high school days. Chances are you can remember specific groups â€" the jocks, the Goths, the Stepford-Wives-in-Training â€" and the efforts you made to find the place where you belonged.

This was the very first market research you ever did. Securing and maintaining a position within any clique meant that you had to follow certain unwritten rules. To be accepted by the group, you had to present yourself in a specific way.  Teenagers are obsessed with fashion for a reason. The clothes we wear are a powerful social language and behave in an expected manner.

The Big 3 Rules of Cliques

Associate With Your Own

Cliques spend time together â€" lots of time. Group members prefer the company of the people in the group to that of people not in the group. Clique members are trusted more than non-members, and receive preferential treatment in any situation of scarcity. In other words, if you only have room in your car to drive three friends home, you're going to offer those seats to members of your clique first.

Exhibit Common Interests

Cliques often form around a shared activity, such as sports or drama. But having that in common isn't nearly enough. Bonds between clique members are strengthened by having multiple points of commonality. It's great if you and your friends all play soccer. But it's even better if you all play soccer, all listen to Rihanna, all wear Abercrombie, all wear blue glasses…

Wear A Signature Style

Cliques are visually identifiable. Members deliberately cultivate a specific look, expressing their collective identity through clothing, accessory, hairstyle and makeup choices.

The ability to successfully identify and follow these three rules is what researchers call social intelligence. Also coming under the social intelligence umbrella is the ability to successfully engage with and form relationships with members of other cliques.

Cliques Then and Now

Cliques don't go away once high school is over. They evolve and enlarge, becoming niche communities or markets. As business owners and entrepreneurs, it's important to understand that our success is directly dependent on our social intelligence. It's essential that we can identify the cliques that our customers belong to. That's the only way we can truly understand the nuanced web of expectations that the clients have of us: meeting and exceeding those expectations is the route to business success.

Clients from different cliques have different expectations. In my own practice, I work with both small business and corporate clients. The two groups are very different. Small businesses are more relaxed and easy going. They want quality work but they also place a premium on the experiential aspects of doing business. They are looking for a personable company with an added social touch. Corporate clients tend to prefer things to be mostly business with little small talk, hard deadlines â€" no excuses.

The better you understand your client's clique, the more successfully you'll appeal to them. One of the fundamental rules of business is that we prefer to do business with people we perceive to be like ourselves. In other words, with members of the same clique.

You have to be able to assure your clientele that you have enough points of commonality with them that you'll be able to understand their needs and serve them well.

Identifying Cliques

Cliques exist in every field and industry. If you're a person strong in social intelligence, you may be able to spot these cliques instinctively through the course of your everyday business. Sometimes you may need to be willing to take a step back and consider the situation from a distance.

Look at your client, and where they do the majority of their business:

• Who are their customers, colleagues, and suppliers?
• Who are their competitors?
• What portion of the market is distinctly theirs?
• How do they spend their time, and who do they spend it with?

The construction company that focuses on leading edge sustainable skyscraper building is a member of a different clique than the construction company focused on manufactured home production.

The products and services you offer to your client must be in alignment with their signature style. This doesn't mean you need to look like a carbon copy clone, but your presentation must be recognized as your clientele as both familiar and appealing. This creates the necessary comfort level in your customer, enabling them to trust that working with your organization will complement and enhance their brand's image.

Cliques and Social Mobility

As a business owner, you have to make a strategic decision whether to focus your marketing efforts on one specific clique or to position yourself in a way to serve multiple cliques. The ability to present yourself and interact with more than one clique is what researchers call social mobility. You have to really understand your organization's social intelligence and mobility skills before you make this decision.

Some firms are far better served by focusing on one clique â€" assuming it is large enough to sustain profitability over the long term â€" than by attempting to appeal to multiple groups. For other companies, working with a range of customers from multiple cliques provides a revitalizing energy that helps the organization thrive.

High School Clique Photo via Shutterstock

Financial Management Trends And Tactics

Is it really time to turn the corner on a new year again? Things move so quickly these days, it's easy to get overwhelmed, even if you're sitting still.

But we know that small business owners like you don't sit still â€" can't sit still â€" or your business will die. The good news is there are plenty of companies, from spirited startups to established old school brands, who want to help you survive. So let's take a look at what will happen to impact the financial opportunities for small business next year.

I see two mega-trends that will impact small business in a big way in 2013. Those are cloud computing and mobile technology:

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing has been around for a while now, but small business has been slow to embrace using the cloud to run their business. That looks like it's turning a corner. According to the Microsoft SMB Business in the Cloud 2012 research report (PDF), the number of very small companies using a paid cloud solution will potentially triple in the next three years and those companies will be using multiple cloud apps.

The report states that many of these businesses will use as many as five apps to help run their business. That's good news for small business owners and for cloud service providers.

Mobile Technology

Mobile Technology is exploding with the easy availability of smartphones and tablets. It's rare that a small business has not yet embraced this technology in some way.

According to the ATT Technology Poll (PDF), nearly all small businesses (96%) use wireless technologies in their operations, with almost two-thirds (63%) indicating that they could not survive â€" or it would be a major challenge to survive â€" without wireless technologies and 85% of small businesses reported using smartphones for their operations.

Despite being a relatively new technology device, two-thirds (67%) of small businesses indicate that they use tablet computers.

Both of these mega-trends open up a world of possibilities for small business to help them run their businesses leaner than ever before. That can mean plenty of freed up cash to help your business grow.

Here's how you can leverage those mega-trends for your business:

Lose the Pen and Paper for Good

If you've been stubborn about moving from paper for your invoicing, now's the time to make the move. This area of the cloud is maturing quickly and there are plenty of competitors who want to help you get those invoices out so you can get that hard earned cash in your pocket.

One of particular interest is SageOne, an all-around tool that can help you not only get those invoices out the door quickly, but also track project time, manage your money and help your team collaborate. You can do it all on any device. No need to be stuck in an office. That means you and your team can be flexible and still be on top of your financials. But they're not the only game in town. There are plenty of cloud-based invoicing apps you can choose from depending on the needs of your business.

Check out this comprehensive list of online invoicing apps here on Small Business Trends. There are so many apps it could boggle your mind, so make sure you define your specific needs and requirements before you choose.

Don't Hire One Person, Hire a Crowd

Crowdsourcing is becoming increasingly popular and can create a big advantage for your business. It allows you to leverage the power of many rather than just one. If you need to outsource a task and would like the power of many minds, crowdsourcing is the right thing for you.

It's still a growing trend, so there are many markets that can open up in this area, but for now you can crowdsource a new logo design for your business (99designs), raise funds for a new creative project (Kickstarter), and have a comprehensive customer support knowledge base (GetSatisfaction) â€" to name a few.

It's worth taking a look the next time you need some help.

Getting Funding Hasn't Gotten Any Easier, But the Network Has Grown

One thing that's always been tough for small business is securing funding for their business venture. That's one constant that never seems to budge. When you need money, it's very tough to get it. Then when you become successful, the companies who have funds to help seem to come out of the woodwork.

The traditional way to get the money you need is to tap into your favorite small business banker and see if they can help you or find an SBA loan vendor that can walk you through the laborious process to get much needed funds. The good news is that the network for small business funders has grown. No longer are small businesses restricted by their local network. The Web has spawned networks, such as Biz2Credit that will help connect you to a lender depending on your loan needs.

Accounting Software Choices are Growing Too

All you have to do is mention accounting and you'll hear a collective groan from small business owners around the world. That's not a good thing since cash flow is a key factor in small business success. But choices have been limited in the past, putting small business in a “take or leave it” position when it comes to software â€" and a lot of them just decided to stick with paper.

Lots of companies are seeing the opportunity to help you with this area of your business. GoDaddy has dipped its toe in the accounting pond through acquisition of cloud-based accounting app Outright that helps organize small business finances and automate bookkeeping tasks. There are some interesting new entrants moving into this space too like Wave Accounting from Australia and Xero from Canada, both with the objective to make accounting simple for you.

Who Need a Computer, Just Use Your Phone

Swipe devices for mobile have radically changed the landscape for small business. With vendors like Square and PayPal Here, no matter where you want to sell your products or services you can do it. It won't break the bank either. In addition to getting paid on your phone, there are a ton of financial apps that can help keep you on track. (Google Play lists over 1000.) There's everything from expense tracking apps like Concur and Expensify to full-fledged banking apps â€" just to name a few.

So there you go. Moving your business functions to the cloud and leveraging your mobile technology can help your small business be leaner and meaner than ever before. And that will produce better results for your bottom line.

Are you embracing the cloud and have you become more dependent on your mobile to run your business?

A Collaboration Company That Answers Your Support Phone Calls and Is Easy To Use.

I use Google Apps quite a bit, others use Office 365 and still others use a variety of other great online collaboration and communication services on the market. I think all of us use a mixture of Dropbox, Box.net, and other point online services to run our little enterprises.

Recently I was introduced to Centroy. It's got a lot of built in features â€" file sharing, CRM, collaboration, chat and more.

What really impressed me was that their spokesperson said one of their distinguishing features was that they answer the phone when customers call and they are fanatic about being easy to use.

So many online services hate when customers call and are built by geeks that don't know to make software for non-techies.

There are at least dozens of these online collaboration and communication services on the market â€" Centroy is one of many. When choosing a system that works for you, it's important to think of the FEATURES they offer, which features YOU NEED, what is the USER INTERFACE LIKE, how well does it integrate into your work flow and the cost is negligible for most of these services.

What I like about BatchBook is that you can email the system to add names to the contact database. ASANA has a similar feature to add projects to it's database. Other services let you use an RSS integration to add their calendar to your own calendar.

Here's a more about Centroy from their vice president of business development on what makes them different:

Centroy is easy to use (our competitors alienate users with a complex user-experience).  

Our belief is that the core features (file share, project management, wiki, etc) widely discussed among the more established player are commoditized. That's not to say the features are not important, but the technology of say ‘file sharing' is very much a checkbox. Sure, we also promote encryption, workflow, time-stamping files, etc. But we think the competition is missing the point. The features mentioned above matter nill if users don't adopt them because they're too confusing to users.

We have a lot of former 37signals customers who fill our ear on this subject. The dirty little secret in the collaboration market is that it suffers from anemic user adoption.

This was a big reason we got into this space a couple years ago. We saw an unmet need.

I don't want to downplay the features side because we have more features packed than most our competition. But it's really secondary to us.

First it has to be rock solid secure.

Then it must be easy, as in Facebook-familiar easy.

If users open the app with a confused look, companies will soon find they're going to spend a whole bunch of time and money on a complicated interface that users won't adopt. Making it easy is where we shine. It's a subtle, but huge differentiator for us.

Centroy lets companies brand as their ownâ€"their logo, their colorsâ€"to make it look like an extension of their website.

Most collaboration tools focus on internal collaboration. Our focus is on business-to-business communication. Small businesses are trying get an edge on competition. They don't need to “collaborate internally” with software (just go walk 10 feet down the hall…).

Bloated corporations need bloated Sharepoint for that. What small businesses DO need  is to “collaborate externally” with customers, clients, partners, suppliers.

It's do or die on cash flow for SMBs. And driving stronger relationships with customers through collaboration tools is a great focus. We allow our customers to nice branding capabilities to make Centroy look like an extension of their website. Our support team does this for customers within 10mins of sign-up. Their logo, colors, even their favicon.

We don't promote ourselves in our software. We want our SMB customers to feel empowered and look good with their clients. They really like that!

Centroy actually picks up the phone when a customer calls. Service is an absolute standout

We believe a problem among many of our competitors and other B2B web app vendors is a reluctance to speak with customers. They'll give out their chat tool and email address, but usually not a phone number. even if they do, you're likely to go to voice mail.

But again, sometimes it's the obvious things are most important to customers. People like calling up their vendor when they have questions. It's amazing how surprised our customers are to reach someone on the phone. They're thankful for it. Sure it's a measurable cost investment, but we believe it's more than justified through a better customer experience, higher retention rates, and overall faster user adoption and roll-out of customers. Customers give us great feedback. Most of our internal meetings are centered around what customer have told us. Real customer service is a lost art in the cloud space. We're exploiting that.

Centroy focuses greatly on security and compliance.

One of the biggest inhibitors of signing on with any web app company is the obscurred security of what's behind the curtain. While we target mostly SMBs, we're proud our of our enterprise-class security requirements. Highest-grade 256-bit SSL encryption, Password protection (of course..), Super-granular user permission roles, automated browser time-based logout, workflow history, change-based revisions roll-backs. SAS70 TypeII operations, synchronous replication across 2 geographic datacenters.

Tech Review: Check Out Imprego To Create Mobile Ready Landing Pages

Over the weekend I had a real quick look (nothing in depth) of a new service, Imprego.

For small businesses that don't need or don't have the time or resources to create a full fledged mobile web site, they might want to consider just creating a simple landing page for their mobile users.

Sure it's not a full blown web site, but for some uses a business just might want to capture information from mobile users or showcase one service or product of their business.

Imprego offers drag and drop, great looking templates, lead capture, stats and more.

One caution, it's always BEST to have all of your customers coming through ONE system. For example, your lead capture being through one backend fed to one database. So it would not be so great to have some of your customers coming to your main web site form and another set of mobile customers coming to your mobile database form.

Either way Imprego looks pretty interesting.

Let me know what you think.

Technology Continues To Revolutionize Work

According to formal work surveys Smallbiztechnology.com is a solo company enterprise â€" me â€" as its only employee.

However, what they miss, is that throughout the year, I hire professionals responsible for event management, marketing, editorial support, free lancer writers, photographers and more. The government does not see this money flow now count it as much.

For small businesses looking to GROW â€" you don't need to hire EMPLOYEES for your business â€" at first. You can hire smart professionals. In fact I run much of my business through Elance.

Elance's 2013 Predictions of Work Study predicts that students, online work and ObamaCare flexibility will make up a big chunk of the new work force in 2013. For those out of work this is BAD but it's also a HUGE opportunity for small businesses to connect to these newly released professionals and an opportunity for these professionals to reinvent themselves.

While having a professional you can see and touch in your office is AWESOME, you might get the same or better results by hiring someone you can't see physically.

When working with remote professionals ensure you have CLEAR and MEASURABLE work you want them to do and clear and frequent communication.

 

Two Security Scenarios: Hosted Or On Premise Solutions Offer Choices For Your Business

As you consider securing your small network there are two options:

a) install software on your end points (computers, notebooks, servers) and properly configure your network.

b) option “b” is to invest in cloud security solutions and ensure every end point is managed online through a cloud solution.

Many security vendors offer this option, including Total Defense, whose solution includes three layers of security:

• Advanced endpoint anti-malware and application controls: protects Windows, Mac and Linux devices from malware, secures & controls applications being used by end users and protects against threats from removable media;
• Web filtering and malware protection: cloud-based URL filtering including sophisticated anti-malware security, real-time dynamic content analysis, outbound data leakage prevention, application controls, quota management and policy compliance;
• Email security: cloud-based anti-spam and email threat prevention, providing a clean email connection and securing

Using cloud based security, every device with the installed software, is fully managed and controlled by you (and/or an IT administrator).

Speak with your tech consultant about which option is best for you.

Other cloud security options include Symantec and GFI Security

Need To Verify ID? Can\'t Check Identification In Person? miiCard Is Here To Help.

When meeting with someone face to face you can ask to see their ID â€" driver's license, passport or otherwise.

However, when you're not near them, what are you to do ? Ask them to hold their ID up to their web cam? There is a better way.

miiCard DirectID verifies the identify of someone FOR YOU and provides an, authenticated ID.

Now the next time you are hiring that remote employee or working with a contractor whose ID you need to manage you have some level of security knowing that at least you've checked their ID.

Here's how it works, according to their press release:

miiCard DirectID Check is a cloud based verification service that can be deployed by Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs), law firms, real estate agents, family physicians, job recruiters, and other small businesses that do not have their own website or with limited technology resources.

To use DirectID Check a business simply signs-in to a custom identity management portal to request that a customer verify their identity using miiCard. For customers, miiCard works as a Bring Your Own Identity (BYOID) service, allowing them to prove their identity to the level of an offline photo identity check in minutes and completely online. There is no technology integration required.

miiCard DirectID Check is designed for low-volume businesses with a small number of daily identity checks. Business owners enjoy pre-defined reporting functionality, and benefit from an immediate compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Know-Your-Customer standards. Using the authority and security inherent in a user's online financial accounts to validate identity, miiCard's LOA3 service is able to verify approximately 300 million users across nine countries and five continents today.

miiCard offers verified identity solutions for both consumer and business applications. miiCard launched the open API for its Identity as a Service (IDaaS) platform earlier this year for large and enterprise clients. miiCard DirectID expands miiCard's identity verification service to businesses of any size and within any industry.

Ready To Rent All Your Software, Including Your Windows Desktop?

Online applications are not new â€" you probably use Google Apps, Office 365 and a host of other online services. What about Windows, Microsoft Office and other software.

In a new stab at an old industry (hosted desktop virtualization), Nivio recently launched to provide an all in one suite of software services to small businesses.

For $35 per year you get online storage (no need for Dropbox), Microsoft Office (no need to install it on each computer) and more.

Nivio has only been around since 2012 and I'm not a fan of you putting your entire infrastructure with a brand new company â€" but hey â€" maybe this is for you â€" especially if you're tired of maintaining your security, online and installed software.

Here's some Nivio features:

• Create virtual Windows desktops on-demand as businesses add users.
• Windows with Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more on nearly any device via a downloaded application (for iOS, Android, PCs, and Mac), or via the Nivio HTML 5 web interface.
• Rent software, including Microsoft Office, for low monthly fees. Rent it by the month only when it is needed. All software provisioned within Nivio is fully licensed with all updates and maintenance managed are covered.
• Manage accounts with the administrative control panel interface. Create new desktops, provision software, manage storage and permissions, monitor usage, and run reports.
• Built-in networked storage via the company share virtual file server. Store and share files, set access permissions, and add storage as your business grows.
• Share files via nDrive, our built-in file sharing and storage functionality which synchronizes files across devices, and makes sharing and collaborating easy.
• Nivio customer support is available around the clock to all customers at no added cost.
• Data, files, and activities are protected against viruses, malware and security breaches, so staff can access data anywhere with confidence.

Four Tips For Retailers On Credit Card Security: A Reminder

Retailers who accept credit cards, but retailers and small retailers, have a huge risk of accepting stolen credit cards and not being paid for the goods they sell. It's a tough business.

Don't let thieves use your retail establishment as the center of their operations. Here's four quick tips from Sage Payment Solutions to give you some guidance from Rob Bertke, senior vice president of research & development

If the Whos Had Been PCI Compliant, The Grinch Wouldn't Have Stolen Anything â€" It's vital as well as required that any business accepting credit or debit cards is Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliant. A very easy way to lose customers is to allow their payment information to be pilfered when shopping at your store or your online website. Maintaining PCI compliance helps plug security holes, plus serves to significantly dampen the effects of a breach.

Your Holiday Cards Don't Need Encryption, But Your Payment Information Does- Whether your organization is PCI-compliant or not â€" and hopefully it is - fully encrypting all points of payment is paramount to keeping vital company and customer information from being hacked. End-to-end encryption is the technical term for this practice, and it essentially boils down to scrambling the data sent from one device to another. A company's mobile payment devices, credit card terminals, software applications, and online payment portals need built-in encryption functionality when transmitting customer information.

You Should Take In All the Holidays Have to Offer - Scammers frequently attempt to tamper with an organization's credit card terminals in an effort to steal credit card information, often with a small piece of hardware attached to the actual terminal. Alert your employees to this possibility, and remind them to conduct regular visual assessments of all payment processing equipment. While these information-stealing devices can be concealed to look like a piece of the credit card terminal, attentive employees should be able to easily identify extraneous equipment.

Santa Isn't the Only One Checking a List - Unfortunately, even with the best payment processing security, a breach can still happen. So, you should keep meticulous credit card sales records. If an issue does arise, it's essential you have a means of retracing your steps in order to determine where the breach occurred, as well as to prevent any further theft. Not only will the ability to work backwards to determine the source of the breach allow your organization to plug any security holes and abate the possibility of additional customer information becoming exposed, but it can also often lead straight to the credit card fraudster.

5 Reasons To Consider Using Digital Pen and Paper To Boost Productivity

Earlier this year I reviewed Anoto's digital pen and paper technology, it's time to revisit that issue.

Paper is good â€" I'm not one of these techno beasts who put down business professionals who rely on paper. Often times, paper is just a better medium for reading and editing information.

The benefits of a digital pen and paper is that you get the best of both worlds. The digital pen means your back office can have accurate information, more easily capture into your computer systems and you have an automatic archive of what is being written. These benefits alone make it worth seriously looking into.

Joshua Greenbaum, is principal of Enterprise Applications Consulting and gives these five reasons why digital pen and paper technology might be best for your business:

• User-Friendly. It is as easy to use as a regular pen and paper. Just replace the existing pen with a digital pen and familiar handwritten documents and forms can become part of a permanent, fully-digitized, record.
• Collaborative. There are many instances where digital pen and paper technology is ideal. For example, a group of architects marking up a blueprint at a construction site, or a doctor taking a medical history without having a PC or tablet that might normally get in the way of the patient/doctor interaction.
• Rugged. Many business processes require capturing information under less-than-ideal circumstances where a PC or tablet may not be the best solution. This may be in challenging environments, where extremes of heat and cold require gloves and other equipment that impede the use of keyboard and touch screens, but where a digital pen solution works very well.
• Keeps Users “on Task.” The use of digital pen and paper technology places an intrinsic limit on what a user can do in the course of completing a specific task. A general purpose device such as a PC, tablet or phone, provides a potentially large number of distractions and diversions for users, who may be tempted to use the device for a purpose unrelated to the specific task or process at hand. The close link between the user and the digital pen means the only interaction a user can have with the device is dictated by what is on the piece of paper.
• Easy to Integrate With Existing Business Processes. The ability of digital pen and paper technology to capture the pen strokes of a user and digitize them lends itself readily to the use of this technology inside an existing business process that is already dependent on the use of a paper-based form. Therefore, digital pen and paper technology can be used for pre-existing workflows and business processes, and can be integrated into the development of new business processes.

Should You Invest In Content For Tablet Users?

So you KNOW that you need a web site. You KNOW that you need your online content designed for smartphones. You know that you need to develop social content, email newsletter and a blog. There is yet ONE MORE thing for you to CONSIDER.

Should you develop content just for tablet users? Based on a recent press release:

 Harry & David,provider of gourmet premium gifts, announced that they turned to Skava to create a fully tablet optimized website experience after the company saw that their tablet traffic had more than doubled in the last 12 months. 

The big lesson learned in this is that they WATCHED their analytics and discovered that they had enough customers and potential customers to warrant a dedicated focus on content just for tablet users!

A recent Skava report “The Significance of Tablet for Retailers Report 2012” shows that a tablet shopper spends more, is 4 times more likely to buy and is much more affluent than a smartphone shopper. The same report also shows that prior to Thanksgiving this year, only 7% of the top 100 US retailers have created a tablet optimized website â€" but Skava expect that to double by the end of 2012 as retailers finally understand the value of catering to tablet users.

Harry and David chose to create the new tablet website in order to:

•          Optimize the Harry & David brand experience across platforms
•          Better leverage unique capabilities and high resolution imagery of tablets
•          Improve ease of navigation for tablet shoppers
•          Create an engaging shopping experience for high value customer segment
•          Increase conversion rates for tablet shoppers

 

Share Files and Outlook Folders From PC to PC: No Cloud Needed

I LOVE the “cloud”. Without online software my business would not be nearly as productive as it is. In fact, without the cloud there would be no Infusionsoft, no Facebook, no Google â€" there would not be a lot of the online services we use so much today.

However, sometimes you want to share a file or Outlook folder and you wonder, “if I share this file through an online service, is it really secure”.

CodeTwo Public Folders is Windows software that let's you share and synchronize files and Outlook folders directly, from computer to computer with no online cloud storage.

Pricing starts at $160 â€" no monthly fee and here are some features of CodeTwo

• Create and share public or personal folders â€" Share personal Outlook folders or create and share public folders that work similarly to Microsoft Exchange Server.
• Real-time, automatic syncing â€" No need to click.  Selected folders are automatically synchronized in real-time.
• Work online or offline -- Since files are stored on local computers, users can work offline without an Internet connection.  All content changes are updated when users return online.
• Sync Outlook custom forms and views  â€" Teams can synchronize custom Outlook forms and views to help increase efficiency and ensure everyone has the same workflow.
• Administration Panel â€" Manage access rights, backups, licensing or restore removed items from the convenient admin panel.
• Fast set up, easy to use â€" No need to learn new software. Set up in minutes on Windows PCs.  No servers or high-level technical expertise required.