Is Your Blog Written By Humans for Humans 5 Ways To Tell

Sometimes when we read online content - we can tell it’s not written for humans to read. If it’s marketing copy for a law firm - maybe it’s written in confusing legal language not “for humans”. If it’s a retail store, it’s written by the business owner thinking like a fashion retailer instead of thinking about his customers - again “not for humans”.

Custom publishing company Hammock, in their most recent email newsletter shared five tips to ensure your online content stays grounded and approachable by your customers.

  1. Your website’s “About Us” page indicates you believe the “us” includes your customers. The page should be more than long lists of historical bullet points, credentials and products. Read the page from a customer’s perspective. Would he or she consider it help or hype Customers want to learn how you can help them. They grow tired of companies listing credentials.
  2. Your blog is fresh: Look at the date of the most recent post on your company’s blog. Is it older than a week If so, this is what the potential customer sees and thinks: Nothing is happening of interest at this company. Do they still exist
  3. Your blog is written by humans for humans: Is your blog filled only with press releases Unless your blog was created to help you build closer relationships with lawyers and the media, press releases are the wrong content. On a blog, write about your news in terms of how it can help your customers â€" and not in the voice of a compliance officer.
  4. Your after-the-sale content equals the quality of your before-the-sale content: The pre-sale product marketing is your promise. The user-manual that accompanies the purchased product is the beginning of your fulfillment of that promise.
  5. Your how-to content should be easy enough for a CEO to follow: Hand your CEO the company’s latest “some assembly required” product, along with the assembly instructions and the necessary tools. If the CEO can easily assemble it without any help, appoint the creator of the instructions to your company’s content working group.


Is Your Blog Written By Humans for Humans 5 Ways To Tell

Sometimes when we read online content - we can tell it’s not written for humans to read. If it’s marketing copy for a law firm - maybe it’s written in confusing legal language not “for humans”. If it’s a retail store, it’s written by the business owner thinking like a fashion retailer instead of thinking about his customers - again “not for humans”.

Custom publishing company Hammock, in their most recent email newsletter shared five tips to ensure your online content stays grounded and approachable by your customers.

  1. Your website’s “About Us” page indicates you believe the “us” includes your customers. The page should be more than long lists of historical bullet points, credentials and products. Read the page from a customer’s perspective. Would he or she consider it help or hype Customers want to learn how you can help them. They grow tired of companies listing credentials.
  2. Your blog is fresh: Look at the date of the most recent post on your company’s blog. Is it older than a week If so, this is what the potential customer sees and thinks: Nothing is happening of interest at this company. Do they still exist
  3. Your blog is written by humans for humans: Is your blog filled only with press releases Unless your blog was created to help you build closer relationships with lawyers and the media, press releases are the wrong content. On a blog, write about your news in terms of how it can help your customers â€" and not in the voice of a compliance officer.
  4. Your after-the-sale content equals the quality of your before-the-sale content: The pre-sale product marketing is your promise. The user-manual that accompanies the purchased product is the beginning of your fulfillment of that promise.
  5. Your how-to content should be easy enough for a CEO to follow: Hand your CEO the company’s latest “some assembly required” product, along with the assembly instructions and the necessary tools. If the CEO can easily assemble it without any help, appoint the creator of the instructions to your company’s content working group.


12 Daily Ways to Communicate Company Culture

company cultureWe revere companies with great culture, and idolize CEOs like Tony Hsieh who put culture first in a very public way. Young startup founders in particular invest a lot of energy into defining their values, and often put “culture fit” at the top of their hiring must-haves.

But much of what we call “culture” is about the day-to-day interactions between staff and executive team members, or customers and your service or sales departments. And so the actions you do (or don’t) take as a leader are what really influence perceptions of your company’s culture, both inside and out.

We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question:

“How do you communicate company culture on a daily basis â€" a corkboard Email taglines Standup meetings”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

1. Celebrate Values Alignment Through Actions

“Culture isn’t a few platitudes on the wall. Culture flows from true values: what the company spends time and money on. Discuss how alternatives (strategy, hiring) reflect company values. Include values alignment in performance coaching. Celebrate team members when their actions embody company values. ” ~ Kevon Saber, Fig

2. Create Traditions

“Capture and create traditions that support your culture. They’re under your nose every day; you just have to find them. Look for opportunities to create “rites of passage” for new employees, stimulate healthy competition, award prizes and celebrate major accomplishments. These things all give your company personality and are what people go home talking about.” ~ Christopher Kelly, Sentry Conference Centers

3. Hold Virtual Meetings

“Virtual meetings are our tool of choice. We run a large team of 50+ employees, and getting an entire division’s â€" let alone the entire company’s â€" attention is near impossible. Instead, we do virtual meetings through Skype chat groups and a ‘virtual state of the company’ meeting where we go through our sales and next steps as a video address, which we record so the team can view it when they want.” ~ Liam Martin, Staff.com

4. Put Egg in Everything

“We include the word “egg” in a lot of our words. It’s really embarrassing, but it works: egg-cellent, egg-ceptional, egg-stra. When we’re feeling really TalentEgg-y, we even come up with more creative lines, such as “hatch your career” or “omelette you go.” ” ~ Lauren Friese, TalentEgg

5. Connect at Morning Meetings

“Each morning, we get together for the only mandatory part of our schedule: the morning meeting. We go around answering first, what we’re most excited about doing that day and then second, a silly question. (Examples include favorite children’s book, first pet’s name and No. 1 Thanksgiving dinner staple.) It’s a refreshing way to start the day and laugh a lot (one of our core values).” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

6. Send Encouraging Emails

“As an online business owner, I try to write a message each day to my staff that reinforces my organization’s culture. It may be an excerpt from our goals and initiatives, or details on a project recently completed that was in tune with our company culture.” ~ Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

7. Lead by Example

“Most people could care less what you say â€" what’s important is what you do when the chips are down. I try to work harder than anyone else, never be to good to do the jobs that no one wants to do, and most importantly treat everyone with honesty and respect. That culture drives decisions from how we work with vendors, employees and especially customers.” ~ Erik Severinghaus, SimpleRelevance

8. Get Pumped for Game Time

“Every day, my team and I get together and talk about our goals for the day and what we learned from yesterday. What challenges, customer service and production issues did we have The company then provides free breakfast and we tell jokes, write down goals for the day, play loud music, get pumped up and get on with our day to be a better company today. ” ~ Ak Kurji, Gennex Group

9. Show Appreciation

“I make a point of walking around the office every day and thanking people for their contributions. It could be something as small as, “I really appreciated the email announcement you crafted,” or something more substantive like, “Thanks for handling that tough situation a few days ago.” Thanking them reminds them to thank others and be appreciative of what we have.” ~ Brent Beshore, AdVentures

10. Appoint a Chief Culture Officer

“Culture is communicated, whether we try or not; it lives in all the small interactions we have and in the policies and procedures we adhere to. The goal is to be intentional about creating a great, life-giving culture â€" and the best way to do this is to have someone whose job is building good culture. Unless someone (or a team) is specifically paid to focus on it, it’s unlikely to be good.” ~ Josh Allan Dykstra, Strengths Doctors

11. Have a Daily Huddle

“Each and every single day at 11:11 a.m., we have a 5-minute, high-energy meeting that is open to every team member from every level of the company. We review good news and numbers from the day before, but an important part of the agenda is to share specific examples of how we’ve each demonstrated one of our company’s four core values in the last 24 hours. ” ~ Nick Friedman, College Hunks Hauling Junk

12. Share Successes Everywhere

“We make sure everyone has a channel to announce their successes and curiosities with the rest of the team. Yammer announces everyone’s daily progress, a sales gong rings throughout the office whenever we get a new client and whiteboard paint from IdeaPaint covers many of our walls so no one ever has to travel far for a brainstorming session.” ~ Robert J. Moore, RJMetrics

Vision Wall Photo via Shutterstock




Is Your Blog Written By Humans for Humans 5 Ways To Tell

Sometimes when we read online content - we can tell it’s not written for humans to read. If it’s marketing copy for a law firm - maybe it’s written in confusing legal language not “for humans”. If it’s a retail store, it’s written by the business owner thinking like a fashion retailer instead of thinking about his customers - again “not for humans”.

Custom publishing company Hammock, in their most recent email newsletter shared five tips to ensure your online content stays grounded and approachable by your customers.

  1. Your website’s “About Us” page indicates you believe the “us” includes your customers. The page should be more than long lists of historical bullet points, credentials and products. Read the page from a customer’s perspective. Would he or she consider it help or hype Customers want to learn how you can help them. They grow tired of companies listing credentials.
  2. Your blog is fresh: Look at the date of the most recent post on your company’s blog. Is it older than a week If so, this is what the potential customer sees and thinks: Nothing is happening of interest at this company. Do they still exist
  3. Your blog is written by humans for humans: Is your blog filled only with press releases Unless your blog was created to help you build closer relationships with lawyers and the media, press releases are the wrong content. On a blog, write about your news in terms of how it can help your customers â€" and not in the voice of a compliance officer.
  4. Your after-the-sale content equals the quality of your before-the-sale content: The pre-sale product marketing is your promise. The user-manual that accompanies the purchased product is the beginning of your fulfillment of that promise.
  5. Your how-to content should be easy enough for a CEO to follow: Hand your CEO the company’s latest “some assembly required” product, along with the assembly instructions and the necessary tools. If the CEO can easily assemble it without any help, appoint the creator of the instructions to your company’s content working group.


BYOD at the NSA Maybe someday with mobile hardware root of trust

SAN FRANCISCO -- Could BYOD ever be a reality for mobile device users at the National Security Agency

"I never like to say anything's outside of the realm of possibility," said Troy Lange, NSA mobility mission manager, "but there are some significant challenges involved with being able to bring a mobile device inside a secure facility."

In this video, recorded at the 2013 RSA Conference, Lange discusses the key mobile security issues that must be resolved before bring your own device (BYOD) could happen at the NSA. Lange also discusses promising mobile security technologies, including mobile hardware root of trust and Suite B Cryptography algorithms, as well as why he hopes enterprises will throw their support behind NIST publication 800-164, a standard that outlines how to create application programming interfaces for mobile device management policy enforcement engines.



Does Your Small Business Need A Tech Transformation To Improve The Customer Experience

Traveling small business owners will have a much more automated experience when they visit the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. The hotel recently engaged in a complete tech transformation that allows guests to check-in using an iPad or one of the kiosks located throughout the lobby.

The Hyatt Regency automation is a sign of things to come in an electronic society. Businesses of all sizes must learn to make things easier for customers and clients…or lose those customers and clients to the competition. Thanks to the large number of customers who now walk around with mobile devices, small businesses can affordably deploy apps that automate the customer experience without having to buy hardware.

To learn from the Hyatt Regency technology overall, small businesses can evaluate these very targeted changes.

  • Add Wi-Fi. To encourage customers to keep coming back, businesses from hotels to fast food restaurants are adding free wireless Internet as a customer perk. The Hyatt Regency installed 800 access points around its property, keeping guests connected whether they are in their rooms or wandering around the hotel grounds.
  • Eliminate Lines. The Hyatt Regency acknowledged that guests dislike waiting in line to check in. The hotel addressed this by allowing guests to check in on kiosks or iPads. For retail stores and restaurants, those lines can be equally as daunting. In fact, research shows that waiting in long lines is the second-biggest complaint behind rude staff. By investigating alternatives like mobile checkout, small business owners can prevent walkouts and increase customer retention.
  • Be Creative. The Hyatt Regency installed plasma TVs in the lobby to display directions and provide information. The screens offer digital concierge service, directing guests to sites in town and services offered by the hotel. This helps reduce the need for paid staff on site to answer questions and provide directions, saving money.
  • Secure the Premises. The Hyatt’s state-of-the-art security system is a much larger example of what a small business can implement. A business doesn’t have to spend a fortune on special software that allows cameras to be viewed from selected mobile devices or a security room on site. Several solutions are on the market today for a fraction of the price. Consider a security solution that allows you to keep an eye on your shop while you’re on the road or at home. This monitoring may come in handy if your business ever has an issue that needs to be addressed.

Proving that aesthetics are still important, the Hyatt Regency also remodeled its lobby with state-of-the-art lighting and new finishes. The restaurant and bar have been updated and digital components have been installed throughout the hotel.

While your small business may not have the funds to do a major renovation, consider implementing small changes that can bring you up to date. Chances are, your competitors already have, putting you behind the crowd.



Wondering If Telecommuting Can Work For Your Business Staples Thinks It Can.

I’m a firm believer that telecommuting done right can work very well for any business. This does not mean it IS for every business or that it is for every employee. But there are surely benefits to consider.

Staples gives a few best practices for telecommuting success:

  • Connectivity - With IT connectivity issues being a main concern for both parties, telecommuting programs should ensure easy access to email, document sharing, instant messaging and video conferencing.
  • Network Access - Provide remote VPN capabilities so telecommuters can easily access the network.
  • Data Backup and Security - Employees need to be educated about data backup and security best practices to avoid risky practices such as emailing sensitive information.
  • Ergonomics -Incorporate ergonomic furniture options into telecommuting offeringsâ€"59 percent of survey respondents would accept company-purchased, ergonomic furniture, which would create a healthier work environment.
  • Storage - Desk and drawer organizers, file cabinets and additional storage options help telecommuters minimize clutter and maximize space, making home office environments more productive.
  • Sustainability - Environmentally preferable furniture options not only help support individual employee and company green initiatives, but also help promote healthier work and living spaces.

While Staples offers a zillion products for you to buy for your home office, they’ve also got a team of folks who can help you navigate through telecommuting establishment for your company. Check that resource out here.



Does Your Small Business Need A Tech Transformation To Improve The Customer Experience

Traveling small business owners will have a much more automated experience when they visit the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. The hotel recently engaged in a complete tech transformation that allows guests to check-in using an iPad or one of the kiosks located throughout the lobby.

The Hyatt Regency automation is a sign of things to come in an electronic society. Businesses of all sizes must learn to make things easier for customers and clients…or lose those customers and clients to the competition. Thanks to the large number of customers who now walk around with mobile devices, small businesses can affordably deploy apps that automate the customer experience without having to buy hardware.

To learn from the Hyatt Regency technology overall, small businesses can evaluate these very targeted changes.

  • Add Wi-Fi. To encourage customers to keep coming back, businesses from hotels to fast food restaurants are adding free wireless Internet as a customer perk. The Hyatt Regency installed 800 access points around its property, keeping guests connected whether they are in their rooms or wandering around the hotel grounds.
  • Eliminate Lines. The Hyatt Regency acknowledged that guests dislike waiting in line to check in. The hotel addressed this by allowing guests to check in on kiosks or iPads. For retail stores and restaurants, those lines can be equally as daunting. In fact, research shows that waiting in long lines is the second-biggest complaint behind rude staff. By investigating alternatives like mobile checkout, small business owners can prevent walkouts and increase customer retention.
  • Be Creative. The Hyatt Regency installed plasma TVs in the lobby to display directions and provide information. The screens offer digital concierge service, directing guests to sites in town and services offered by the hotel. This helps reduce the need for paid staff on site to answer questions and provide directions, saving money.
  • Secure the Premises. The Hyatt’s state-of-the-art security system is a much larger example of what a small business can implement. A business doesn’t have to spend a fortune on special software that allows cameras to be viewed from selected mobile devices or a security room on site. Several solutions are on the market today for a fraction of the price. Consider a security solution that allows you to keep an eye on your shop while you’re on the road or at home. This monitoring may come in handy if your business ever has an issue that needs to be addressed.

Proving that aesthetics are still important, the Hyatt Regency also remodeled its lobby with state-of-the-art lighting and new finishes. The restaurant and bar have been updated and digital components have been installed throughout the hotel.

While your small business may not have the funds to do a major renovation, consider implementing small changes that can bring you up to date. Chances are, your competitors already have, putting you behind the crowd.



Sending a Fax Via the Internet with eFax

There are still a fair number of businesses that use fax as their primary means of communication. The fax machine may be going the way of the dinosaur, but faxing is still going on, oddly enough.  eFax is on top of these trends and that’s why they keep diversifying to keep up with the digital marketplace.

Before you ask where, let me say that in researching this article I discovered a number of government offices, medical professionals, financial and insurance industry people who rely on it. If you are still wondering about this, read this New York Times article published just a few weeks ago about faxing in Japan.

This post is for the small business owner who gets the occasional or regular fax stream.

In addition to small businesses, other industries are using their mobile devices a lot more to fax. Doctors, many of whom I consider small business owners, are using online options to fax in prescriptions or sign off on X-rays. The eFax app is very valuable for many industries and it works well with mobile devices, including the iPad Mini, iPhone 5, and, of course, Android-powered phones.

eFax allows you to send and receive faxes around the world from Word without using a fax machine or all-in-one printer. It is one of the top online fax service for professionals, boasting 11 million users. This cloud-based app is easy to download and only requires an Internet connection to work.

As you can see in this dashboard image, it is pretty straightforward. Just below what you see in this screenshot for my trial account is a spot to add a cover page and also attach a file as the fax itself.
internet fax

There are two pricing plans and both come with setup or activation fees. The eFax Plus 16.95 monthly (less on annual plan) and has a $10 setup fee. You receive 150 free pages per month, then it is $0.10 per page. The premium level is eFax Pro which is $19.95 monthly (again, less with annual purchase) and $19.95 setup. The Pro plan allows you to receive 200 pages per month, which lets you save $1.00 on those additional 50 pages.

What I Really Like

  • You can use a fax machine from anywhere with any Internet accessible device, including your phone. For the small business owner on the go, it keeps you from being tied to your office while waiting for a fax.
  • I like that they keep watching the market and adding features. I like that they are on top of mobile.
  • It allows you to sign faxes and other documents digitally. Instead of printing, signing, and scanning, you can just drag and drop.
  • When you need to send a file that will not attach to an email because it is too large, you can send it through eFax. They have a partnership with FuseMail. It is nice to the option of fax and large email attachments, especially when you are traveling.

What I’d Like to See

  • I would like to see them offer a free trial.  They used to have one and discontinued it.
  • They should not charge fees for faxes that do not go through.
  • A bigger value proposition between the Plus and Pro plans (currently only 50 extra pages).

Just because they seem to be increasingly rare, doesn’t mean you won’t need a fax machine or service from time to time.

As additional proof of the need, as I was finishing this article, my wife said, “Can we fax something from that multifunction inkjet” When I asked why, she said that a bank confirmed that we had to fax in our document. I told her I had a temporary trial with eFax and we could use it for a test.

So there’s  one more bit of proof that the fax machine has not totally gone extinct. When you do need a service, you’ll want to take a closer look at eFax and its useful service.




Wondering If Telecommuting Can Work For Your Business Staples Thinks It Can.

I’m a firm believer that telecommuting done right can work very well for any business. This does not mean it IS for every business or that it is for every employee. But there are surely benefits to consider.

Staples gives a few best practices for telecommuting success:

  • Connectivity - With IT connectivity issues being a main concern for both parties, telecommuting programs should ensure easy access to email, document sharing, instant messaging and video conferencing.
  • Network Access - Provide remote VPN capabilities so telecommuters can easily access the network.
  • Data Backup and Security - Employees need to be educated about data backup and security best practices to avoid risky practices such as emailing sensitive information.
  • Ergonomics -Incorporate ergonomic furniture options into telecommuting offeringsâ€"59 percent of survey respondents would accept company-purchased, ergonomic furniture, which would create a healthier work environment.
  • Storage - Desk and drawer organizers, file cabinets and additional storage options help telecommuters minimize clutter and maximize space, making home office environments more productive.
  • Sustainability - Environmentally preferable furniture options not only help support individual employee and company green initiatives, but also help promote healthier work and living spaces.

While Staples offers a zillion products for you to buy for your home office, they’ve also got a team of folks who can help you navigate through telecommuting establishment for your company. Check that resource out here.



Tenable CSO praises APT1 report as a standard for information sharing

The APT1 report has been praised and releasing the indicators of compromise (IOCs) "was a very good thing for all of us".

According to a blog post by Tenable Network Security chief security officer Marcus Ranum, the Mandiant APT1 report was a stimulant for worthwhile discussion for the next five years.

“I think the report is a good thing, a sign of deep dysfunction in security, a stimulant to information sharing, an indicator of failed foreign policy, a brilliant marketing manoeuvre and a bit of business as usual,” he said.

He said that he believed any information and incident sharing is good, and while there is little in the report that can be considered actionable, other than the IOCs, this will help organisations understand that targeted malware attacks are a problem and that it serves to document that attacks are real.

He also said that the most valuable aspect of the report is that this demonstrates that they can happen to anyone, and this will show executive management that "we've always been in the deep end of the swimming pool and that it never was amateur hour".

Despite some criticisms that the report revealed too much information, Ranum said that this was a very good thing. “Since many organisations will now be able to use them to look back into the past and discover things they might have been happier not knowing,” he said.

“The IOCs will provide indisputable data; I've already heard a few security executives ask, ‘if we look for this, and we find something, what does that mean' What I hope will happen from the APT1 report is we'll get some industry-wide reassessment of the effectiveness of some tools and techniques. It's that kind of information that remains sadly lacking.”

Ranum concluded by saying that the type of information sharing that is needed is around techniques and practices, tied to strong statements about what worked and what does not, specifically from those who were there when it happened

“Until we start talking about that, our learning experiences remain private and much more costly since they will be repeated over and over again. The important point about the IOCs is that they're a measure of how ‘too late' you may be,” he said.



Tenable CSO praises APT1 report as a standard for information sharing

The APT1 report has been praised and releasing the indicators of compromise (IOCs) "was a very good thing for all of us".

According to a blog post by Tenable Network Security chief security officer Marcus Ranum, the Mandiant APT1 report was a stimulant for worthwhile discussion for the next five years.

“I think the report is a good thing, a sign of deep dysfunction in security, a stimulant to information sharing, an indicator of failed foreign policy, a brilliant marketing manoeuvre and a bit of business as usual,” he said.

He said that he believed any information and incident sharing is good, and while there is little in the report that can be considered actionable, other than the IOCs, this will help organisations understand that targeted malware attacks are a problem and that it serves to document that attacks are real.

He also said that the most valuable aspect of the report is that this demonstrates that they can happen to anyone, and this will show executive management that "we've always been in the deep end of the swimming pool and that it never was amateur hour".

Despite some criticisms that the report revealed too much information, Ranum said that this was a very good thing. “Since many organisations will now be able to use them to look back into the past and discover things they might have been happier not knowing,” he said.

“The IOCs will provide indisputable data; I've already heard a few security executives ask, ‘if we look for this, and we find something, what does that mean' What I hope will happen from the APT1 report is we'll get some industry-wide reassessment of the effectiveness of some tools and techniques. It's that kind of information that remains sadly lacking.”

Ranum concluded by saying that the type of information sharing that is needed is around techniques and practices, tied to strong statements about what worked and what does not, specifically from those who were there when it happened

“Until we start talking about that, our learning experiences remain private and much more costly since they will be repeated over and over again. The important point about the IOCs is that they're a measure of how ‘too late' you may be,” he said.



Chemist Stephen Miller named as the 2013 winner of the Cyber Security Challenge

Chemist Stephen Miller has followed a postman and student as the third winner of the Cyber Security Challenge.

Miller told SC Magazine that he was "still surprised" and was delighted to be "at the top of the pile".

 A 28-year-old team leader within the labs at GlaxoSmithKline, Miller said that he manages a team of 13 people and has some personal background in programming. He originally entered the first challenge, which was won by postman Dan Summers.

He said: “I use IT as part of my labs software, but I do not have any responsibility for IT here. I have got a background web development and Google Maps APIs but this was my interest in IT generally, and I saw this and thought ‘why not enter and see how far I get' in the first year. I got the email again last year and thought why not have a second shot.”

Miller praised the challenge in changing to include more business skills and in replicating real-world scenarios, saying the competition was more rounded and did not just focus on skills but on content.

“This shows that you don't need to work in the IT industry or have a background in hacking or cyber security or whatever to do this, it is about business skills and communications,” he said.

Miller, a chemistry graduate from the University of Bath, said that he did not plan to move away from his current job immediately, but instead use his experience internally at GlaxoSmithKline. He said that further down the line there was potential to change, but he did not plan to make any rash decisions.

Roy Matthews, cyber security senior engineer at Cassidian, sponsor and organiser of the final challenge, told SC Magazine that the changes were not a move away from something ‘techie', but instead were to attract a wider range of people to enter. He said: “What we learned last time was that it should have a mixture of business and technical aspects to it so it takes in what we see every day and base this on real-life events that we see out there.”

Miller said that this became very clear and working for a pharmaceutical, this was something not too unfamiliar. Asked if he would recommend one of his team or others to enter next year, he said: “I think any industry can benefit from the business skills, soft skills, team work and anyone who wants to enter it will get a good experience from this.” 

Miller receives his choice of rewards from a collection of career-enhancing prizes worth over £100,000 that includes industry training courses and access to industry events. Alongside this there will be opportunities for paid internships and the offer of university bursaries.

This year's Masterclass was developed by the cyber security teams at HP and Cassidian Cyber Security. It saw 40 finalists take on the role of cyber professionals at a fictitious technology communications supplier to a Formula 1 racing team, who had been hacked in the lead up to a big race.

Candidates had to spot signs of malicious attacks and come up with the best solutions, both technical and policy-based, to fix them. Despite the glamorous setting of motor sport, the competition was designed to be highly representative of real world issues facing professionals working in most sectors across industry and government.

Stephanie Daman, CEO of the Cyber Security Challenge UK, said: “Miller's success in the challenge, as a chemist with no formal training in this profession, is a powerful demonstration of the hidden talent that exists in people from across all types of professional backgrounds.

“Identifying and nurturing this talent is vital for the success of UK companies as even sectors as seemingly unconnected as pharmaceuticals contain vital intellectual property that must be protected. The challenge exists not only to identify skilled people for the traditional security industry, but also serves to highlight to organisations the security skills within their own teams.

“We then give those talented individuals confidence and exposure to professional training to improve the security practises of their own day-to-day operations.”



MiniDuke malware exploits Adobe, Internet Explorer and Java vulnerabilities

Spyware designed to infiltrate government networks can infect via Java and Internet Explorer vulnerabilities.

Research of the malware called MiniDuke by Kaspersky Lab and CrySys Labs initially found that it relied on social engineering to deliver infected PDFs targeting Adobe Reader 9-11.

According to a report by Threatpost, the attacks exploit CVE-2013-0640 that was patched by Adobe last month. Once on a compromised machine, the attackers are able to copy and move files to their servers, create new directories, kill processes and install additional malware.

However new infection mechanisms have been revealed that rely on vulnerabilities in Java and Internet Explorer to infect the victim. Kaspersky Lab's Igor Soumenkov said that while inspecting one of the command and control (C&C) servers of MiniDuke, it found files that were not related to the C&C code, but seemed to be prepared for infecting visitors using web-based vulnerabilities.

It said that the first page serves as a starting point for the attack. It consists of two frames: one for loading the decoy web page from a legitimate website and another for performing malicious activities. The second web page contains 88 lines, mostly JavaScript code, which identifies the victim's browser and then serves one of two exploits.

He said: “The exploits are located in separate web pages. Clients using Internet Explorer version 8 are served with ‘about.htm', for other versions of the browser and for any other browser capable of running Java applets, the JavaScript code loads ‘JavaApplet.html'.

“Although the exploits were already known and published at the time of the attack, they were still very recent and could have worked against designated targets. As previously recommended, updating Windows, Java and Adobe Reader to the latest versions should provide a basic level of defence against the known MiniDuke attacks.”

Last week, Bitdefender discovered that a version of MiniDuke had been operating since 20th June 2011, predating a previous-seen version of the spyware by a year.

Bitdefender said that this sample currently seeks encrypted C&C instructions via an active Twitter account, with a single instruction dated 21st February 2012. The 2011 version does not use Google to search for command and control instructions, but lays dormant if it can't connect to Twitter.



3 Video Tips That Can Make or Break Your Blog

video tipsWe’re a couple of months into the new year and it’s safe to say that everyone  has thrown predictions out into the ring about what the year holds for content marketing. By all accounts, this year is shaping up to be the year of visual marketing. Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, video. . .great. Bring it on.

However, I feel the need to voice one concern: Don’t overdo it.

Investors diversify their portfolios and content marketers need to adopt that strategy, too. As video continues to explode and every other company’s CEO points to the medium’s omnipotence, it’s important to remember one wordâ€"moderation.

Where Video Gets Dicey

Don’t get me wrong, I love video. In fact, our company just created a custom animated video to use in our sales funnel. You’ll see videos embedded in a number of the posts there. While this is great, it’s important to keep a level head in dealing with this medium.

Video can get dicey, so please:

Don’t Ask for Too Much

Here’s the thing, folks - nobody has to read your blog. Nobody has to tweet it. Nobody has to comment. When you make a video a core piece of a blog post, your audience either has to watch it or bow out. You can’t really get much from a blog post that continues to refer to a video when you haven’t actually watched the video, right

Respect your audience. Don’t post a video unless you’re confident that your audience will appreciate the share.

Don’t Bore or Over-Stimulate

You wouldn’t sit your kids down in front of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” would you I guess if you wanted them to take a long nap, you might. At the same time, if you have a lot on your plate, you can’t afford the distraction of an action-packed movie playing on the T.V. Think of your video content in the same way.

Don’t bore and don’t over-stimulate.

Don’t Overdo It

Too much blogging can hurt engagement. So can too much video. If you develop a reputation as the “video blog,” people are going to be less inclined to engage with your blog. (Unless you happen to post incredible videos on a regular basis that are universally loved. . . good luck.)

Finding the Artful Balance

There’s no magic formula. But I do have three tips to help you make the most of video on your blog. Follow these 3 video tips for a successful, balanced approach:

Experiment

Experiment with different frequencies of video posts to find what’s working best for you. Then, take your data and create an editorial calendar that repeats this ideal frequency.

Be Creative

Be creative with your video. Having your bloggers read their posts in front of a webcam is not being creative. Offer more than the competition.

Have a Reason

Last, choose video for a reason. Failure to use video does not mean you’ll lose the race. If video doesn’t make sense for you, then disregard it. It’s better to have no video content (or very little) than to create content that doesn’t have a clear reason for existing.

How will you be using video and what balancing tips do you have

Video Photo via Shutterstock




Know What Visitors Are Doing “Now” On Your Web Site and Respond In Real Time

Wouldn’t it be nice to know, in real time what customers are doing on your web site If they are looking for a sweater you could reach out to them in real time to help and/or encourage them to buy two sweaters.

I know Google Analytics has a beta version of a tool to see real time browsing data - but it’s not of specific customers.

Lexity recently released a new application, Lexity Live Sales, which sends online merchants notifications to alert them of customer activity in their store, enabling them to monitor their store while they are on the go, via their smartphone. It also provides the ability for online retailers to initiate an online chat, via their smartphone, with the prospective customer, helping to convert visitors into buyers.

“For online store owners that are on the go, Lexity Live Sales enables them to monitor their store at all times, from wherever they are, “said Amit Kumar, CEO of Lexity. “It’s a powerful tool for closing sales, because online store owners are notified (via text or email) when a prospective customer is interested in buying, and it enables them to immediately engage with the customer via online chat- all from the online retailer’s smartphone.”

According to their press release, with Lexity Live Sales, online merchants are notified via text or email of activity in their store, based on customer behavior (e.g. pre-configured rules might be more than 5 minutes on site, number of web pages visited, etc). Along with the notification, the app enables business owners to view the individual customer’s online shopping activity. The online retailer can then easily initiate an online chat with prospective customers to answer questions and close the sale.

While it’s essential to NURTURE your prospects and NURTURE your customers, it’s also important to react in “Internet time” to the current desires of your customers and prospects.



SXSW 2013 : Startup Loyakk Lets You Create Your Own Social Network Anywhere

Ramon Ray and I have been talking to Small Business and Startups at SXSW 2013 and we ran into the team from Loyakk.com.
Here is a quick interview we took:

Imagine you needed your own network for your small business based on connecting your community of customers. If you are organizing event and want to be able to establish a quick network so that all attendees can have their own stream based on the common factor that they are attending the same event. It is possible to hack this using social networks like Twitter etc by using a hashtag. For example the South by South est hashtag is #sxsw. You can follow the conversation about #sxsw by putting the hashtag into the Twitter search box or even doing a search on Google or Bing. LoYakk lets you create your own network based on the location or activity. They have both an Android, iOS  and Blackberry app that you can download and try to see it solves a problem that you may have. Let us know if you use this app. More info at http://Loyakk.com

See how Loyakk works in this video.



SXSW 2013 : Startup Loyakk Lets You Create Your Own Social Network Anywhere

Ramon Ray and I have been talking to Small Business and Startups at SXSW 2013 and we ran into the team from Loyakk.com.
Here is a quick interview we took:

Imagine you needed your own network for your small business based on connecting your community of customers. If you are organizing event and want to be able to establish a quick network so that all attendees can have their own stream based on the common factor that they are attending the same event. It is possible to hack this using social networks like Twitter etc by using a hashtag. For example the South by South est hashtag is #sxsw. You can follow the conversation about #sxsw by putting the hashtag into the Twitter search box or even doing a search on Google or Bing. LoYakk lets you create your own network based on the location or activity. They have both an Android, iOS  and Blackberry app that you can download and try to see it solves a problem that you may have. Let us know if you use this app. More info at http://Loyakk.com

See how Loyakk works in this video.



Check Your Google+ Page: Cover Images Now Much Larger

Google+ surprised people by suddenly making cover images much larger on the social network.  Cover images are the big wide image at the top of your Google+ page. They will now be a HUGE  2120 pixels by 1192 pixels.  That is much wider and taller - previously the dimensions were 940 x 180.

Another change: profile avatars that appear superimposed over cover images have gotten smaller and have moved.  They used to be square on the right side.  Now they are on the  left side, and appear round.

The announcement was made by Googler Sara McKinley on (where else) Google+ last week.  The changes include several other enhancements:

- A new tab for your Local reviews. In addition to your photos, +1′s and YouTube videos, there’s now a place for all your Local reviews. Highlight your favorite restaurants, or hide the tab completely via settings â€" it’s completely up to you.

- An easier way to edit your info. The ‘About’ tab now consists of separate cards (like Story, Places, and Links) â€" each with its own prominent edit link. As always: you can share specific fields with specific circles, or keep them just for you.

- Bigger cover photos, with a better aspect ratio. Cover photos are much larger than before (up to 2120px by 1192px), and they display in 16Ã-9 when fully expanded. This way more images can be used as cover photos, and there’s more room for your selection to shine.

By default, the cover images will not show completely. Only the bottom part will show unless the visitor scrolls and extends it.

Even so, the cover image takes up most of the space on many displays.  Below is an example.  On a 17-inch laptop, essentially that’s all one can see of the person’s Google+ profile when you first land on the page.  None of the posts show unless you scroll down the page:

Google+ cover image larger size

It means you probably have to change your cover image.  If you had carefully chosen five images for a collage as your  cover, to convey just the right impression â€" it’s back to the drawing board.

Businesses are likely to have designed a special cover image for their Google+ business pages.  Now those cover images will have to be redesigned  or rearranged.

For instance, for BizSugar (one of our sites) we strategically laid out our cover images so that the large square photo avatars covered an empty spot on the right.  Now that the profile avatars are on the left, they are obscuring part of the cover image verbiage and there’s an unintended blank area on the right.  We have 3 different cover images that we rotate  from time to time.  All our cover images will have to be redesigned now.

Also, creating a cover image for a business just got trickier.  With the cover image being so large parts of it may get cut off on some browsers and devices.  Asif Rahman has some helpful information on how to determine the “logo safe” area of your business’s cover image. You don’t want your logo to be obscured.

If you have been using one of those default cover images, this is a good reason to ditch it. Use a personalized cover image.  The cover image is now so large it makes a powerful impact.

Reaction so far has been mixed. You can see that from the comments on McKinley’s Google+ post. Many people love the new size. On the other hand, numerous people are annoyed at having to change their images. Others think the larger images hide the content.




Know What Visitors Are Doing “Now” On Your Web Site and Respond In Real Time

Wouldn’t it be nice to know, in real time what customers are doing on your web site If they are looking for a sweater you could reach out to them in real time to help and/or encourage them to buy two sweaters.

I know Google Analytics has a beta version of a tool to see real time browsing data - but it’s not of specific customers.

Lexity recently released a new application, Lexity Live Sales, which sends online merchants notifications to alert them of customer activity in their store, enabling them to monitor their store while they are on the go, via their smartphone. It also provides the ability for online retailers to initiate an online chat, via their smartphone, with the prospective customer, helping to convert visitors into buyers.

“For online store owners that are on the go, Lexity Live Sales enables them to monitor their store at all times, from wherever they are, “said Amit Kumar, CEO of Lexity. “It’s a powerful tool for closing sales, because online store owners are notified (via text or email) when a prospective customer is interested in buying, and it enables them to immediately engage with the customer via online chat- all from the online retailer’s smartphone.”

According to their press release, with Lexity Live Sales, online merchants are notified via text or email of activity in their store, based on customer behavior (e.g. pre-configured rules might be more than 5 minutes on site, number of web pages visited, etc). Along with the notification, the app enables business owners to view the individual customer’s online shopping activity. The online retailer can then easily initiate an online chat with prospective customers to answer questions and close the sale.

While it’s essential to NURTURE your prospects and NURTURE your customers, it’s also important to react in “Internet time” to the current desires of your customers and prospects.



Let the Sequester Cut SBA Loan Guarantees

the sequesterThese days, the director of virtually every federal agency is writing to Congress to outline some disaster looming for its constituency as a result of the sequester that cut $85 billion from the federal budget.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is no exception. Its former director, Karen Mills, wrote the Senate Appropriations Committee Chair, Barbara Mikulsi to tell her that the sequester would hurt small business’s access to capital by cutting the SBA’s budget for loan guarantees.

The claim is overblown. Sure the sequester will impact small business owners, just like it will affect all Americans. But the cuts to the SBA’s budget will do little to affect small business owners’ access to financing. By contrast, not letting the sequester work has the potential to do serious damage to small business credit.

Let’s start with what Ms. Mills said the sequester will do. According to the former SBA administrator, sequestration will cut $16.7 million from the SBA loan guarantee program. Yes, that’s million with an “M,” not billion with a “B.” She said the cut in the SBA loan guarantee program will force the SBA to guarantee $902 million less in loans to 1,928 fewer small businesses.

That’s barely a rounding error when it comes to small business lending. Data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) shows that at the end of 2012 there were just shy of 1.4 million non-farm, non-residential loans of less than $1 million - a common proxy for small business lending - totaling $302 billion in outstanding debt. Even if the SBA’s estimates for the effect of the sequester aren’t inflated, it will cut the number of small business loans by 0.1 percent and the value of the loans by 0.3 percent.

The economic impact of the reduced SBA funding is even smaller than the drop in lending. The SBA estimates that 22,600 jobs would be affected by the sequester-induced drop in small business lending. That’s only 0.04 percent of small business employment.

Moreover, it’s not clear that all this employment would be lost. Some loans that typically carry SBA guarantees would be made anyway because the lenders would deem the creditors to be acceptable risks.

To justify exempting SBA loan guarantee funds from the sequester, the SBA would need to show that we are better off cutting some other government agency’s funding instead. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence of that for any metric that our elected officials consider important, from job creation to economic output.

On the other hand, the sequester itself has value. Washington has a credibility problem. The American people don’t believe that Congress and the President are serious about getting the country’s financial house in order. If the sequester cuts are reversed, and Congress and the President simply spend the money that otherwise would have been cut, they won’t look serious about cutting the deficit to the ratings agencies, like Moody’s and Standard and Poors, or our creditors, like China and Japan.

If ratings agencies respond to a failure of the sequester to stick, by cutting the federal government’s credit rating, our creditors might lose confidence in us.

A crisis of confidence would roil financial markets. If banks raised interest rates, cut access to credit, or took actions similar to what they did during the 2008 financial crisis, the effect on small business access to credit could be severe. A loss of $16.7 million in SBA loan guarantees will look like nothing in comparison to another financial crisis hitting the small business credit market.




Chinese hackers infiltrated Australian Reserve Bank

Computer networks at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) were compromised in 2011 by Chinese intelligence gathering malware.

According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the email disseminated Trojan horse malware was planted on six computers at the RBA, bypassing anti-virus scanners.

Several RBA members of staff, including heads of department, were sent the malicious emails over two days, but it isn't known if the malware executed and succeeded in capturing information from the compromised computers. The email purported to come from RBA senior management in order to trick staff to download the malware.

The Australian Defence Signals Directorate was brought in to rectify the compromise, but no details were given as to the type of malware utilised in the attack, beyond it being ‘Chinese-developed' and that it was attempting to seek intelligence on sensitive G20 negotiations between Australia and 19 other countries.

The FOI report also reveals a series of data breaches resulting from lost and stolen laptops, phones and documents, along with email gaffes. From 2008 to 2012, six laptops and two BlackBerrys, and an iPad and a USB drive were lost or stolen.

The thumb drive contained sensitive information and was taken home by a staff member, as was ‘standard practice' in the several years to 2010. While the drive was password-protected, it was not encrypted in contravention to RBA security policies.

In 2009, 82 staff members were locked out of their accounts after an autorun virus was loaded onto a machine and began brute-forcing accounts. A further 20 system accounts were locked for about 30 minutes.

In another breach, the RBA was forced to retract part of a tender after it sent a document revealing how it would consider evaluating bids to a interested external third party.



How to Fund the Publishing of Your Book: #BizBookAwards Chat

Small Business Book Awards for 2013Join the Small Business Trends team and guests for a text chat on Twitter.com. It takes place on Wednesday, March 13 from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern (New York time zone).

So you want to write a book You’ve got a whole lot of challenges to face. For example, when you self-publish a book, there are costs involved. You’ll need to cover the expenses of cover design, typesetting/formatting, and editing, and that’s before you’ve even looked at potential marketing costs.

So, how can you fund the publishing of your book before you’ve even sold your first copy We’ll hear from authors and experts about your options.

Our Panel

This is an open chat. Everyone will be welcome to attend and participate, so please share this announcement with a friend. We’ll be joined by a panel of guests who will also be adding to the conversation.

Nancy Spooner Bsharah (@SurfDateBook)â€"Nancy is the co-author of Everything I Know About Dating I Learned Through Surfing with Tara Brouwer. She is also a small business person and owner of Tempo Live Events, Inc.

Susan Payton (@eggmarketing)â€"Susan is the President of Egg Marketing, an internet marketing, social media, and communications services company. She’s written two books: 101 Entrepreneur Tips and Internet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs.

Ivana Taylor (@DIYMarketers)â€"Ivana is the publisher of DIYMarketers and the book editor for Small Business Trends. She is also the co-author of Excel for Marketing Managers, a book “self-published” by MrExcel.com.

Anita Campbell (@SmallBizTrends)â€"I’ll be very pleased to join the conversation too. I’m publisher of Small Business Trends, founder of the Small Business Book Awards, and the co-author of Visual Marketing.

Invited Guests

Jim Kukral (@JimKukral)â€"Jim was recently named by Dun & Bradstreet as one of “The Most Influential Small Business People on Twitter.” He is the author of eight books currently available on Amazon.com and assists other authors with publishing and marketing their books.

Phil Simon (@philsimon)â€"Phil is a sought-after speaker and recognized technology expert. He consults with companies on how to optimize their use of technology and is the author of five books.

How to participate

Taking part in the Twitter chat couldn’t be easier. Just log in at Twitter.com. Then do a search on Twitter for the hashtag #BizBookAwards to follow the conversation. To make your comments heard, add the hashtag #BizBookAwards to the end of your tweets during the hour.

PS: This chat is in honor of the Small Business Book Awards. Cast votes for your favorite titles and book resources  through March 26, 2013.




Entrust IdentityGuard

A big name in the digital certificate and identity space, Entrust should be a name familiar to all security consultants, and with good reason. With its IdentityGuard product, Entrust integrates physical and logical, mobile and cloud security, all at a surprisingly low price. 

The initial setup of IdentityGuard was about as complicated as we expected, given the feature set of the product. That said, it wasn't an especially difficult process, and the installation guide was written in such a way that we were never left wondering what the next step was. Since we were testing with Active Directory as our user repository, we needed to extend our schema with a LDIF file provided by Entrust. We then ran the IdentityGuard installer file, choosing to use the integrated Tomcat application server. After completing that process, a configuration panel appeared that guided us through setting up the link to Active Directory, product licensing and setting up the first IdentityGuard administrator.

Supported on Linux, Solaris, Oracle and Windows servers, IdentityGuard is a highly flexible solution. Providing authentication for workstation, application and VPNs, it supports a number of different authenticators, including software and physical Oath tokens, grids, smartcards, machine identity and geolocation based on IP. The product is SAML 2.0 compliant, and comes with built-in support for Salesforce.com, Google Apps and Office 365. 

A very interesting innovation, however, comes by way of Entrust's mobile smart credential application. Available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry, mobile smart credential uses either a mobile phone's near field communication chip or the Bluetooth stack to emulate a smartcard, allowing users to log into their workstations and applications just by having their mobile phone present, with the workstation seeing the phone as a standard smartcard. Considering the fact that IdentityGuard can be integrated with physical access control systems, the possibilities for its mobile technology become clear.

We also liked the fact that IdentityGuard offers very granular lockout policies, allowing administrators to set authentication failure thresholds on a per-method level. So for example, say a system requires a standard password and either a one-time password or a grid authentication. The end-user just can't seem to figure out how the grid works, and consistently inputs the wrong information. Rather than locking the user's entire account, the system simply locks out that user's ability to use the grid, and forces the one-time password method. Couple that with the product's self-service modules, and users are empowered to manage their own credentials without making numerous trips to the help desk. 

The one thing we didn't like was that there is no built-in support for biometric readers. While biometric data can be captured through the smartcard enrolment process and stored on a smartcard, there's no way to simply scan a finger and log in to a workstation or application without third party utilities.

Entrust did a fantastic job with its product documentation. It has made available planning, installation and deployment guides for each module, along with user guides for the client pieces. It's all clearly organised and indexed, bookmarked and hyperlinked, with clear screenshots where appropriate. 

Entrust has three levels of support: silver provides 12/5 phone and email support; gold expands those hours to 24/5; and platinum expands them even further to 24/7. Entrust also offers 24/7 emergency support for non-platinum subscribers, and it hosts a FAQs section and a knowledgebase on its website.

At a cost of approximately c£5* per user, IdentityGuard is surprisingly affordable, given the impressive feature set. Its support plans are billed annually, with silver costing 18 per cent of the total solution cost, gold costing 20 per cent and platinum at 22 per cent.

(*Converted from US dollars.)



SXSW 2013: Small Business Conversation With Cigna’s Tonya Marksteiner

Cigna wants to make sure their supplier base is as diversified as it’s employee base and are looking for small businesses to be partners with Cigna as suppliers. In this quick video interview Tanya Marksteiner - Supplier Diversity Manager explains their mission in recruiting small business and coaching them to get certified as a diversified supplier. Tanya is here as part of the Cigna Partnership with Startup America at SXSW

More information on Cigna’s Diversity Partner program



SXSW 2013: Small Business Conversation With Cigna’s Tonya Marksteiner

Cigna wants to make sure their supplier base is as diversified as it’s employee base and are looking for small businesses to be partners with Cigna as suppliers. In this quick video interview Tanya Marksteiner - Supplier Diversity Manager explains their mission in recruiting small business and coaching them to get certified as a diversified supplier. Tanya is here as part of the Cigna Partnership with Startup America at SXSW

More information on Cigna’s Diversity Partner program