GoDaddy Launches Get Found, Google Takes Hit on Motorola Sale

There’s big news every week that can affect your business. The Small Business Trends editorial team makes sure you get it all. Here’s our weekly roundup:

New or Rebranded Services

GoDaddy launches Get Found. GoDaddy launches Get Found as a new feature. It’s actually an evolved version of a technology GoDaddy acquired last year. We now see it put to use so large and small business can get attention on the Web.

Microsoft renames SkyDrive. Microsoft’s cloud service will soon be called OneDrive. The change is the result of an infringement suit filed by UK broadcaster BSkyB.

Acquisitions

Google Takes $9.5 Billion Hit on Motorola. In case you haven’t heard yet, Google has announced intentions to sell Motorola to Lenovo. And the company took a big hit on the deal when you consider what the company paid for this business in the first place. But there’s another side to the story.

ThinkHR Acquires HR That Works. Actually the two companies claim it’s more of a merger. HR That Works Founder Steve Phin takes a position on the ThinkHR management team and a lot of the two companies’ resources are combined.

Social Media

Twitter is planning eCommerce move. The microblogging platform is apparently in talks with payment processing startup Stripe to handle the back end. But PayPal was also reportedly considered.

Is Tumblr traffic leveling out? Of course, we’re talking about active users here, not accounts, which sources say are still increasing. Still, Tumblr says reports trying to count their active users are missing the mark.

Now, animate your Pinterest with GIFs. They are popular files on many sites including social media these days. And now Pinterest has decided to support them too. So how will this change the site’s dynamic?

Grants

Get your Google grants. If you’re a non-profit, that is. Amanda DiSilvestro provides more information on the funding that’s available from the tech giant and how your non-profit can access it.

12 grant recipients celebrate. These businesses received $250,000 each, a combined $3 million in funding, from Chase’s Mission Main Street Grants. But they’ll also be traveling to Google headquarters in California for a course to help market their businesses better.

Security

There’s a new contender for worst password. In this  case, making the list is no honor. It indicates your password was weak enough to have already been guessed by hackers. Fortunately, there are some suggestions for making your pass code stronger.

Linksys offers cameras for your small business. If you’re responsible for security at your business, these cameras may interest you. Small Business Trends publisher Anita Campbell has more on the new Linksys products.

Finance

Dealing with Chinese currency fluctuation. If your small business deals with Chinese partners or vendors, be aware. Fluctuations in the exchange between the two currencies can add to the costs. Small Business Trends publisher Anita Campbell reports on some solutions.

Profiles

Speedzone Performance built from a passion for premium parts. We profiled this Florida business in our first Small Business Spotlight sponsored by iCIMS, provider of talent acquisition solutions for growing businesses.

Reading Photo via Shutterstock



How To Deal With The Extra Cost of Chinese Currency Fluctuations

It’s the Chinese New Year, and 2014 is the year of the Horse.

If your small business works with Chinese companies, there are some things to know.

Although we often think of Chinese currency as the Yuan, the official name is the Renminbi (RMB).  Use of RMB currency is growing.

According to November and December SWIFT data, the RMB has broken into the top ten most-used currencies for payments.

But if you do business with China, exchanges between the dollar and this Chinese currency may bring risks.

According to Alfred Nader, vice president of corporate strategy and development at Western Union Business Solutions, there are some things you can do to decrease the financial risk of currency fluctuations. Here are three strategies:

Pay Chinese vendors and partners in RMB instead of U.S. dollars.

“Our research shows that one in five Chinese suppliers add roughly 3-4% to invoices to cover FX risk, which is eliminated with RMB payments,” says Nader. Knowing this, U.S. businesses can look to negotiate a discount with their Chinese suppliers by asking if they want to be paid in RMB, he adds.

Lock in exchange rates for as long as 9 months.

This creates stability on small business’ balance sheets.  When you know your expense levels, you can more accurately forecast.

Use the offer to pay in RMB to open a dialogue.

You can initiate a conversation to change terms and improve business relationships, when you raise the currency issue.  By meeting the other side partway, you begin an important and potentially profitable dialogue.

Chinese currency photo via Shutterstock



The 7 Best WordPress Alternatives

Once upon a time, blogging platforms like WordPress were only used for blogging. Now, WordPress is commonly implemented for easy, user-friendly website design. But these days, WordPress isn’t the only game out there.

Below are the best established and up-and-coming WordPress alternatives, both for blogging and websites.

1. IM Creator

IM Creator bills itself as “a simple & elegant website builder,” and includes mobile-friendly templates that are a far cry from the early days of WordPress templates, which were flat, clunky and difficult to customize. Templates fall into categories like Architect, Wedding, Hotel and Restaurant and use visual imagery that fit each genre.

wordpress alternatives

The site offers ample support, including “how to” articles and manuals for those wanting a bit more technical detail but who, perhaps, don’t have that level of knowledge.

And while designing a site is free, IM Creator also offers white-label services for companies (marketing agencies, as an example) that want to provide their clients with branded website, hosting, email and domain services.

2. SilverStripe

SilverStripe is actually two animals. Its content management system (CMS) is used for building websites, intranets and Web applications. It is open source, which means, of course, it’s free to use.

wordpress alternatives

For most small business owners, that’s all you’ll need from SilverStripe. But if you’re more technical and looking for more complexity in your content management system, its Framework platform might fit the bill. The benefits of using Framework, according to the website are that it “reduces the overhead associated with common programming tasks, and enables developers to write code in a logical and structured manner.”

3. Tumblr

Tumblr is designed for blogging and social sharing. Stripping away all the scary backend of a blog platform, Tumblr makes it dead simple to share a blog post, video, photo, link or audio file.

wordpress alternatives

Its simplicity, combined with the fact that users spend on average 154 minutes a day on Tumblr, make it a resource worth considering to reach a wider audience (especially if that audience is between 18 and 34 and male).

4. Google Sites

For those die-hard Google fans, Google Sites offers a simple, no-frills solution to website creation. If you’re looking for fancy marketing copy and rich, visual images, you’re in the wrong place. Google assumes if you’ve stumbled upon its unpublicized Sites page, you’re already accustomed to the spartan attitude that is Google.

wordpress alternatives

The templates aren’t frou-frou, but there are interesting add-ons like maps and blogs (using Google properties, naturally).

5. Blogger

Another Google property, this one focused on blog development, is Blogger. Consider it Google’s response to the massive popularity of WordPress. An obvious benefit of staying in the Google family is that Blogger uses Google Analytics without having to visit a separate site entirely.

wordpress alternatives

Blogger, whose hosted blogs are all hosted on Blogspot domains, also ties in seamlessly with Google+, as would be expected. Bloggers can view and respond to blog comments through Google+ rather than having to log into the blog backend. AdSense publishers like Blogger because Google’s ad platform is integrated into the blogging platform.

6. GetHiFi

Unlike the other WordPress alternatives listed here, HiFi is more targeted to the small marketing agency who designs or updates websites for its clients. It still requires a designer and/or a programmer to customize its visually rich templates, but after that, anyone, technical or otherwise, can easily update content through the CMS.

wordpress alternatives

HiFi promises that, even if you don’t know what SEO (search engine optimization) stands for, it can help ensure your site is search engine friendly. If you do know what SEO is, you can edit the meta descriptions yourself, which is easy enough to do.

7. Ghost

Consider Ghost the antithesis to WordPress in that it removes the clunkiness (“What do I do with this plugin? No idea.”) that many less technical bloggers experience with WordPress and focuses instead on writing and publishing.

wordpress alternatives

The premise is that bloggers can write in Markdown, a text-to-HTML conversion tool, and see a preview of what the post will look like.

Interestingly, the platform is free, but Ghost charges for its server. In fact, Ghost charges based on the number of blogs, as well as the total traffic of all blogs (one blog with 10,000 or fewer views a month is $5 monthly).

* * * * *

Bottom line:  With more blogging and WordPress alternatives available, it’s easier for small businesses to find exactly what they’re looking for, based on their technical skill level, how much support they need, budget and type of site they want to publish.  There are alternatives for those who want more of a blog approach (Blogger) to those who want more of a website presentation (IM Creator).

Pondering Photo via Shutterstock

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Lenovo Is Buying Motorola from Google. Here’s Why it Matters To Small Businesses.

Google bought Motorola in 2011 for about $12 billion dollars. Google recently announced that it’s selling Motorola to Lenovo for $3 billion dollars. Why does this matter?

Google is a master at engineering simple and fast software - that does amazing things. Think Gmail, Google (search) and other awesome tools we use and love. However, Google is not the leader in making hardware - Lenovo does that quite well.

From this purchase expect to see Lenovo enter the phone business - not just selling computers anymore.

While Apple still reigns in creating smartphones, it’s got stiff competition from Samsung. Lenovo’s entry to the marketplace could cause even more serious competition.

What does this mean to you?

It means that we small business owners have a continued wider selection of smart phones, with amazing features to pick from. Here’s the key areas you need to focus on when buying a smart phone.

The wireless carriers - AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, etc. Make sure you have wide coverage, fast service and great support.

The cell phone you have will be a huge factor in how successful your mobile productivity is. This is where Lenovo comes in. Can it innovate enough to make a smart phone (or more than one) that makes a difference? Can it offer the marketplace something that Apple, Samsung and other vendors don’t have?

The software (apps) - the apps on your cell phone and those you download are critical to adding customized productivity to your day to day work day.

NEVER forget about your mobile security - in fact be vigilant of all apps you download and links you click on.



ChewBacca malware hits retailers in 11 countries

A new point of sale-based Trojan called ChewBacca has been used to steal payment card and personal customer data from dozens of retailers across 11 countries, according to RSA.

The rapid spread and ‘success' of the malware was revealed in a 30 January blog by RSA senior security researcher Yotam Gottesman and has led to calls for retail organisations to encrypt or tokenise cardholder data to keep it secure.

Gottesman said ChewBacca, which was only discovered in mid-December by researchers at Kaspersky, is behind the theft of customer data from several dozen retailers in the US, Russia, Canada, Australia and seven other countries. So far the UK remains unscathed and RSA has found no links between ChewBacca and the recent hacks at major US suppliers Target, Neiman Marcus and Michael's.

RSA would not confirm the names of the retailers affected but said they been hit between 25 October and 15 December. RSA has contacted them to share the information it has gleaned.

RSA said the ChewBacca botnet is able to collect track 1 and 2 payment card data and confirmed, significantly, that it uses the Tor network to hide the identity of the criminals behind it. However before disappearing behind Tor - the free software which protects Internet anonymity, RSA spotted its controller logging in from a country in East Europe.

ChewBacca steals data in two ways: it uses a keylogger and a memory scanner, which targets systems that process credit cards such as POS terminals. This scanner looks for card magnetic-stripe data, then when it finds it, extracts and logs it. The malware includes a control panel that lets criminals review the stolen information.

After installation, the keylogger creates a file called ‘system.log'. Based on its current findings, RSA believes that deleting this file and rebooting will effectively remove ChewBacca from an infected system.

Rashmi Knowles, chief security architect for the EMEA region at RSA, told SCMagazineUK.com: “ChewBacca has been upgraded with Tor functionality, which enables anonymous communication, allowing IP addresses to be hidden. This version installs a Tor client on the victims' computer system, so all traffic from the cybercriminals' server to the cash register remains hidden.”

Knowles described the rapid spread of ChewBacca as “a wake-up call” for the retail industry and added that it's the latest example as to how “regulation like PCI does not make you secure.” She instead urged organisations to focus on the early detection of breaches to minimise damage and to consider encryption and tokenisation.

“An option is to examine where card numbers are being kept in plain text and look at encryption or tokenisation technologies,” she told SCMagazineUK.com. “Cyber criminals are always going to try to be a step ahead of company's defences so they have to be prepared.”

Security expert Richard Moulds, vice president of product strategy at Thales e-Security, echoed her call for encryption.

“The ChewBacca findings simply confirm something we already know - regular PCs and servers can't be secured,” he told SC.

“In-store point of sale terminals are particularly vulnerable because they handle highly sensitive cardholder data, they exist in large numbers so are hard to manage and yet are in notoriously insecure places - the retail store.”

Moulds backed the PIN protection system as PINs are encrypted directly in the card reader as soon as they are entered by the shopper and decrypted only when absolutely necessary.

“We should extend this approach to cover all cardholder data,” Moulds said. “Encrypt or tokenise cardholder data at the point of capture and decrypt only on a need-to-know basis and only in trusted environments.

“Encryption protects data wherever it goes. It's the difference between giving data its very own bodyguard rather than relying on bouncers at every doorway the data passes through.”



BAFTA film academy suffers website hack

BAFTA, which runs run the British film and TV 'Oscars', has had one of its websites attacked with usernames, emails and encrypted passwords possibly stolen.

The hack happened on 23 January but was only reported by BAFTA on 30 January, after it had notified users of the breach, moved the website to new secure servers and deleted all data from the site database. The charity says it does not know who the attackers are, or their motives.

The breach hit the BAFTA Guru website, which offers advice to budding film directors and those interested in the TV and games industries from well-known industry figures.

BAFTA has reported the hack to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) which in turn confirmed to SCMagazineUK.com:

“We have recently been made aware of this possible data breach. We will be making enquiries into the circumstances of the alleged breach of the Data Protection Act before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken.”

The charity insists the hack did not affect its BAFTA Awards or the data of its BAFTA membership, which is held on a separate database. A spokesperson told SC that “investigations are currently underway” but declined to say how many people were affected.

BAFTA said in a statement that it has “moved the site to a new server and securely deleted all email addresses and passwords from the website database”, adding that “the new servers have been independently tested to ensure that they are secure. Routine security checks will also continue as usual.”

The charity added that it has “requested a full and immediate investigation by the companies that designed the site and managed the server on which the site was hosted”.

The Guru website was created by digital agency and software development company, Illumina Digital, working in partnership with branding agency The Council.

SCMagazineUK.com contacted Illumina Digital but a company representative said they were providing “no statement”.

BAFTA says it has no direct evidence that data has been stolen, but alerted its users so they could change passwords if they felt it necessary. It said: “Personal data entered by our users during the registration process for the site included first and last names, email addresses, age and encryption-protected passwords.

“We believe it's better to be safe than sorry. We have contacted everyone who has registered on the site to make them aware of the situation so they can take any precautionary measures. This may include changing their password on any website where they have used the same user ID and password. As an additional precaution, all email addresses and passwords registered with the site have been securely deleted.”

Security expert Mike Loginov, chief cyber security strategist for HP ESS, said that it was important for the site users to change their passwords given the prevalence of cyber crime attacks based on collecting this kind of data.

Loginov told SCMagazineUK.com: “This has the hallmarks of a criminal intelligence-gathering exercise where data is captured for future use or targeted ‘spear phishing' attacks where the information on key individuals is collated for further exploitation.

“BAFTA have recommended that users of the site change any passwords they might use on other systems that are the same as the ones compromised as a first step - that's an imperative.”



Snowden backlash: Germany\'s Merkel takes UK to task

German leader Angela Merkel openly attacks the UK and US's mass electronic surveillance programmes

In a speech to the German Parliament last week following her re-election, Merkel - whose own mobile phone was bugged by the Americans - criticised the mass data harvesting by the UK's GCHQ intelligence agency and America's NSA revealed by ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden, according to reports in The Guardian and US media.

She said: “Does it make it right for our closest allies, like the United States or Britain, to access all imaginable data - arguing that it helps their own security and that of their partners? Our answer can only be - no, that cannot be right."

She added: "A programme in which the end justifies all means, in which everything that is technically possible is then acted out, violates trust and spreads mistrust. In the end, it produces not more but less security."

UK privacy expert Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, welcomed her stance - and warned that Germany's stronger view on data privacy is encouraging companies to store their data there and so harming the British economy.

He told SCMagazineUK.com: “Chancellor Merkel is absolutely correct to highlight how it is not right for every possible piece of information to be collected by intelligence agencies. It is neither consistent with our values as democracies nor a sustainable way of dealing with the new challenges the internet poses for security.”

And he warned: “What is clearly a concern is that Germany's legal framework is viewed as more robust by businesses, both in terms of protecting customers from the state but also citizens from corporate data collection. That differentiation, coupled with a more transparent and rigorous oversight regime, makes Germany more attractive and we are already seeing efforts to lure businesses there because of these issues. That hits the British economy and is one of many reasons why we need a root and branch review of surveillance law in the UK, to ensure citizens and businesses alike can have confidence that their privacy and security is not being compromised.”

Pickles said “we need a full and frank review of the British legal framework and the role of GCHQ in issues like encryption standards, so we can be confident that we are respecting the privacy of ordinary British people, allowing Parliament to consider what surveillance is reasonable and to protect our digital economy”.

In her speech, Chancellor Merkel stopped short of threatening to suspend Europe's free trade agreement with the US to achieve change, and she said Germany's close friendship with the US should not be damaged "through surveillance measures that obstruct our trusting communication".

Two days after she spoke last Wednesday, she met US Secretary of State John Kerry in Berlin.

Meanwhile the latest Snowden revelation, reported by Canadian news broadcaster CBC, is that the Canadian intelligence service used metadata obtained from the free WiFi service at a major Canadian airport to track the mobile devices of thousands of airline passengers for days after they left the terminal.

CBC said the electronic eavesdropping was part of a trial run for the NSA and other intelligence services, and quoted one Canadian authority on cyber security as saying the operation was almost certainly illegal.



Snowden backlash: Germany\'s Merkel takes UK to task

German leader Angela Merkel openly attacks the UK and US's mass electronic surveillance programmes

In a speech to the German Parliament last week following her re-election, Merkel - whose own mobile phone was bugged by the Americans - criticised the mass data harvesting by the UK's GCHQ intelligence agency and America's NSA revealed by ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden, according to reports in The Guardian and US media.

She said: “Does it make it right for our closest allies, like the United States or Britain, to access all imaginable data - arguing that it helps their own security and that of their partners? Our answer can only be - no, that cannot be right."

She added: "A programme in which the end justifies all means, in which everything that is technically possible is then acted out, violates trust and spreads mistrust. In the end, it produces not more but less security."

UK privacy expert Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, welcomed her stance - and warned that Germany's stronger view on data privacy is encouraging companies to store their data there and so harming the British economy.

He told SCMagazineUK.com: “Chancellor Merkel is absolutely correct to highlight how it is not right for every possible piece of information to be collected by intelligence agencies. It is neither consistent with our values as democracies nor a sustainable way of dealing with the new challenges the internet poses for security.”

And he warned: “What is clearly a concern is that Germany's legal framework is viewed as more robust by businesses, both in terms of protecting customers from the state but also citizens from corporate data collection. That differentiation, coupled with a more transparent and rigorous oversight regime, makes Germany more attractive and we are already seeing efforts to lure businesses there because of these issues. That hits the British economy and is one of many reasons why we need a root and branch review of surveillance law in the UK, to ensure citizens and businesses alike can have confidence that their privacy and security is not being compromised.”

Pickles said “we need a full and frank review of the British legal framework and the role of GCHQ in issues like encryption standards, so we can be confident that we are respecting the privacy of ordinary British people, allowing Parliament to consider what surveillance is reasonable and to protect our digital economy”.

In her speech, Chancellor Merkel stopped short of threatening to suspend Europe's free trade agreement with the US to achieve change, and she said Germany's close friendship with the US should not be damaged "through surveillance measures that obstruct our trusting communication".

Two days after she spoke last Wednesday, she met US Secretary of State John Kerry in Berlin.

Meanwhile the latest Snowden revelation, reported by Canadian news broadcaster CBC, is that the Canadian intelligence service used metadata obtained from the free WiFi service at a major Canadian airport to track the mobile devices of thousands of airline passengers for days after they left the terminal.

CBC said the electronic eavesdropping was part of a trial run for the NSA and other intelligence services, and quoted one Canadian authority on cyber security as saying the operation was almost certainly illegal.



BAFTA film academy suffers website hack

BAFTA, which runs run the British film and TV 'Oscars', has had one of its websites attacked with usernames, emails and encrypted passwords possibly stolen.

The hack happened on 23 January but was only reported by BAFTA on 30 January, after it had notified users of the breach, moved the website to new secure servers and deleted all data from the site database. The charity says it does not know who the attackers are, or their motives.

The breach hit the BAFTA Guru website, which offers advice to budding film directors and those interested in the TV and games industries from well-known industry figures.

BAFTA has reported the hack to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) which in turn confirmed to SCMagazineUK.com:

“We have recently been made aware of this possible data breach. We will be making enquiries into the circumstances of the alleged breach of the Data Protection Act before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken.”

The charity insists the hack did not affect its BAFTA Awards or the data of its BAFTA membership, which is held on a separate database. A spokesperson told SC that “investigations are currently underway” but declined to say how many people were affected.

BAFTA said in a statement that it has “moved the site to a new server and securely deleted all email addresses and passwords from the website database”, adding that “the new servers have been independently tested to ensure that they are secure. Routine security checks will also continue as usual.”

The charity added that it has “requested a full and immediate investigation by the companies that designed the site and managed the server on which the site was hosted”.

The Guru website was created by digital agency and software development company, Illumina Digital, working in partnership with branding agency The Council.

SCMagazineUK.com contacted Illumina Digital but a company representative said they were providing “no statement”.

BAFTA says it has no direct evidence that data has been stolen, but alerted its users so they could change passwords if they felt it necessary. It said: “Personal data entered by our users during the registration process for the site included first and last names, email addresses, age and encryption-protected passwords.

“We believe it's better to be safe than sorry. We have contacted everyone who has registered on the site to make them aware of the situation so they can take any precautionary measures. This may include changing their password on any website where they have used the same user ID and password. As an additional precaution, all email addresses and passwords registered with the site have been securely deleted.”

Security expert Mike Loginov, chief cyber security strategist for HP ESS, said that it was important for the site users to change their passwords given the prevalence of cyber crime attacks based on collecting this kind of data.

Loginov told SCMagazineUK.com: “This has the hallmarks of a criminal intelligence-gathering exercise where data is captured for future use or targeted ‘spear phishing' attacks where the information on key individuals is collated for further exploitation.

“BAFTA have recommended that users of the site change any passwords they might use on other systems that are the same as the ones compromised as a first step - that's an imperative.”



Book Review: “Made to Stick” from by Chip Heath and Dan Heath Show Us Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Ever wonder why certain ideas survive and others die? “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath show us exactly why certain ideas stick and why others just fade away.

The book explains how simplicity and emotion play a part in the success of ideas and how you, as a small business owner, can use these strategies to get your ideas to ‘stick’.

Check out my full video review here, or watch below:



Aly Saxe of Iris: PR Today Calls for Efficiency, Scalability and Accountability

It’s every business’ dream to get featured in national publications, popular websites and even television. But getting the attention of important outlets takes a great deal of effort to connect and interact with influential people that can make it happen. In today’s over saturated world of tweets, texts and email overload, it also takes a systematic approach to pull it all together efficiently…and repeatedly.

PR professional Aly Saxe, founder of the PR management platform Iris, discusses the challenges of modern public relations in the face of rising competition to get clients on the front page, and faster rising customer expectations to make it there.

* * * * *

modern public relationsSmall Business Trends: Can you tell us a little bit about your personal background?

Aly Saxe: My background is on the public relations agency side. I worked for a couple different agencies in their technology groups before starting my own B2B technology-focused agency in 2007. Started it in Phoenix, Arizona, and somehow managed to grow through those years into Silicon Valley areas, like Boulder, Dallas, Austin, a little bit more in Southern California. Also the Phoenix market, where we’re based.

Then in about 2011, as a small business owner, things got to be pretty painful with our processes and management and reporting, and that’s when Iris was born.

Small Business Trends: Iris is a cloud-based public relations management system. With the growth of social and the latest technologies, the noise that’s getting generated, it must be very difficult for companies to get the kind of attention that they need. Is that why you put together Iris?

Aly Saxe: That’s one of the big reasons. PR has definitely changed. There’s more urgency than ever for companies to be noticed. Especially small companies that are competing with large brands that have huge, or even unlimited, marketing budgets. Not to mention the news media landscape, as you know, Brent, has changed a lot.

Iris was created to really help on two fronts. One is to help PR teams within companies - small and large or agencies.  Iris helps companies manage everything that they’re doing. The pace of our day to day is so much faster than it’s ever been in keeping track of all the pitching we’re doing, all of the reports, all of the results that are coming in, the different campaigns we’re working on. It’s a lot to manage.

Small Business Trends: How does a system like yours that’s focused on public relations and promotions differ from marketing automation?

Aly Saxe: Marketing automation is an interesting comparison, because it is a somewhat newer category. It’s also a bit of a misleading category, because it’s meant to automate marketing processes but what a lot of those systems do is actually create a lot more work for the marketing department to manage those systems.

I would actually compare Iris more to CRM (customer relationship management). Not necessarily in functionality, but in the idea that it takes what a person would do with a Rolodex, spreadsheets and some notepads and actually build some process around that through a very smart tool.

Small Business Trends: How does this kind of system help your clients build the kind of relationships that they’re going to need to in order to get the word out?

Aly Saxe: It all comes down to influencers and relationships with those influencers. So whether they are a social evangelist, a blogger, a traditional reporter, an analyst, they’re all influencers that are important to the PR person, clients or company. The difference between now and five years ago is there are about ten times more now that we have to build relationships with versus previously.

The way that Iris helps is all of your interactions with those influencers are automatically captured in the software. So if your boss or your client were to say to you, ‘Hey, have you talked to so and so from Small Biz Trends recently? I’d really like to chat with them about what we have coming up.’ Instead of having to wrack your brain, go back to your email, go look in spreadsheets, find your notes and determine when the last time you spoke to them was, you could just pop into Iris and see your entire history with that person.

So there’s a huge benefit to having all of that relationship history in one place. Not just for you, but for your team as a whole.

Small Business Trends: Do small businesses understand that PR is more science than art and needs these kind of processes/systems?

Aly Saxe: I think they are savvier. They’re sophisticated in that regard. But I think that they’re also expecting their PR agencies or their PR teams to step up, and they’re kind of wondering why we haven’t.

I think that there is certainly a misunderstanding about the PR process, and there’s always expectation management, which PR people deal with a lot. But I think that we can curb those pains by showing the small business owners not only are we sophisticated, not only is there a science and a method to this madness, but here are the tools we use to help manage that method.

I think it can only help us prove that we’re not just out there waving our hands and producing a New York Times piece. There’s a lot of work that actually goes into that.

To that point, that was also part of the impetus of creating Iris. I would have clients come to my agency and say, ‘Well, what’s it going to take to get written up in The New York Times?’ And I kept giving them the qualitative answer,’Well, it’s going to take a really interesting news hook, or a trending story, or a great customer case study.’

The client didn’t want to hear it. It took me a long time to figure out that what the client wanted was a number. They wanted to know how many interactions do you have to have with The New York Times over what amount of time? Is it three months, six months, a year before they’re going to pay attention to us?

Once I figured out that they were asking a more sophisticated question, that’s when I started thinking about Iris and how I can deliver that answer?

And then I had to answer the question, how do I even determine that? One day I had a client that said, ‘What’s it going to take to get in The New York Times?’ This is a true story. I found four of my existing clients that had been in The New York Times recently, and I looked at what it took to get them in The New York Times. From how many months of pitching, how many pitches, how many news items we had to deliver and how many interviews before The New York Times wrote about them.

It took me an entire day, and that’s thousands of dollars in my agency’s world to deliver the answer to that client. Once I did, the client never asked again, and that’s when the light bulb went off.

Small Business Trends: Wow. That’s a cool story. It will only become more and more of a necessity to be able to answer that quickly just from a standpoint of knowing what it’s going to take and being able to deliver that quickly. Then help them execute it.

Aly Saxe: Exactly. I think the data is going to become more and more important. Again, you see other industries utilizing data to set benchmarks, to improve performance, to win business, to set industry standards. I think that in the PR industry, we’re going to start catching up to that and using data like this to do the exact same thing. I think most small business owners are looking for that data from their PR partners.

Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more about Iris?

Aly Saxe: The website is MyIrisPR.com.

This interview on systematic modern public relations strategy is part of the One on One interview series with thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This transcript has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click on the player above. 



Snapchat hack - a lesson almost learnt

Security stress testing needs to happen at the development stage says Grayson Milbourne, Director of Security Intelligence at Webroot, who looks at the lessons learned from Snapchat

A good thing about tech start-ups is how quickly they are able to learn from their mistakes.  Just weeks ago Snapchat, a popular photo messaging application founded by two Stanford University students, was hacked and details of more than four million user accounts were leaked online. Hackers claimed their motivation was to raise awareness of the vulnerabilities of the app. In response, two weeks later the company introduced a new way of verifying user accounts, in a bid to prevent hackers from recreating their stunt. While this was certainly a step in the right direction, this new feature has already been breached by a security researcher, thus highlighting an important lesson around app security for all start-ups.

It remains true that most start-up companies have a modest start. They are understaffed and with small budgets, but have a really great idea. Their main focus is to use the limited staff and resources available to do everything possible to make their dream a reality. Unfortunately, this most often means that proper security testing of their application falls to the side as a non-critical task. This is a serious problem, as most app vulnerabilities are best addressed at the development stage. Once an app is in operation, it becomes very difficult to mitigate lack of appropriate security measures, as we've just learnt from Snapchat.

Often, a lot of the vulnerabilities lay in the types of permissions requested by an app, which are decided during the development stage. The trouble with the permission systems is that many permissions are rather broad in scope - for example almost every app nowadays requires access to the Internet. In the case of Snapchat specifically, the app doesn't have an unusual number of permissions, but the way data is accessed and transmitted is what makes it so insecure. There are also other considerations - start-ups who design apps for iOS rarely come across this type of problem because Apple has a very thorough app review process, which includes code review for potential flaws. While great for security, it seriously slows the release of new iOS apps. Android on the other hand, has no formal review process, which is good for fast releases but less secure, as the responsibility for the security of apps falls on developers.

Although today's computer science degrees already put a strong emphasis on security in programming, humans are still prone to error despite their best attempts at designing and writing secure applications. Although start-ups are generally on a very tight budget, in today's security environment, stress testing new applications for security flaws needs to be part of the development cycle. It doesn't need to be expensive, as there are a number of tools available which analyse code looking for common vulnerabilities, but it does require a change in approach. Start-ups need to start putting security at the heart of their operation - or be prepared to face the consequences that cost Snapchat so dearly.



Your Marketing Problems Are Solved

marketing problems cartoon

Sometimes you underestimate what a cartoon is going to require when you first get an idea. The basic premise here was that someone combines parts of a lot of different social media into something that’s obviously not going to work, but they assume it covers all the bases.

But when you get into it and you start piecing it together, you realize you can’t put the + right before the emoticon because then they combine confusingly. And there’s no good way to work LinkedIn in that’s not awkward. And you need a place for the characters to use this Franken-word that’s commonly used, but that’s obviously not going to work.

When it’s all done, hopefully you’ve got a good cartoon. But mostly you’re just glad to have gotten it done.

P.S. Don’t forget to #Like+Pin:) this!



Yahoo reveals hackers tried to raid email accounts

Yahoo has urged customers to change their email passwords after confirming that hackers tried to gain access to Yahoo Mail accounts.

In a statIn a statement issued late on Thursday, the company detailed that hackers had used “malicious computer software” in a “coordinated effort to gain unauthorised access to Yahoo Mail" accounts, but stopped short of revealing when the attack had taken place. The attackers supposedly tried to get names and email addresses from victims' sent emails.

“Based on our current findings, the list of usernames and passwords that were used to execute the attack was likely collected from a third-party database compromise. We have no evidence that they were obtained directly from Yahoo's systems,” the company said on its Tumblr page.

“We regret this has happened and want to assure our users that we take the security of their data very seriously”. Yahoo is now working with US federal law enforcement to “find and prosecute the perpetrators responsible for this attack”.

This is the latest embarrassment for Yahoo. Marissa Mayer's company faced heavy criticism after mocking the brief Gmail outage last week, something the company later said “reflected bad judgement”.

The company revealed that a malware attack hit Yahoo's advertising servers earlier this month, an incident which could have affected hundreds of thousands of users.

Fujitsu UK's chief security officer David Robinson said that this latest attack should serve as a reminder to businesses that not only is the cyber threat real, but that it is increasingly coming from sophisticated criminals.

“Many businesses, and consumers, are still failing to see the reality of the situation we are now facing. The effort required to combat breaches is industrial. Companies are no longer fighting against individuals, but a sophisticated criminal industry, designed solely to access their data. This is why we describe organisations in two groups, those who have been hacked, and those who will be.” 

Ashish Patel, regional director at Stonesoft, a McAfee Group company, concurred with Robinson and said that Yahoo needs to look at the data shared with third-parties. 

“This latest attempt to hack Yahoo highlights the growing responsibility of businesses to do far more to protect users' data. If it is indeed the result of a third-party database compromise, Yahoo needs to have greater insight into the security systems of the third parties it is sharing data with to avoid a repeat performance and ensure it remains a trusted brand.

“Any organisation can be at risk to a cyber-threat, with information both an asset to be protected and a weapon to be used. Because of this, security teams within all industries need to assess their current protection, deploy appropriate measures and remain vigilant.”



Linksys Introduces Surveillance Cameras for SMB Premises Security

linksys surveillance

After re-entering the SMB market back in November of 2013, Linksys has launched more products for the small business market.

If you are concerned with or in charge of security in your business, the new Linksys products are designed for you.   These Linksys products include four surveillance camera models, including indoor and outdoor models.  Depending on the model, the camera features include night vision, weatherproofing, vandal-proof housing and zoom, pan and tilt features.  

Most of us have seen a  television show about how surveillance cameras may not actually record â€" or else the recordings are quickly written over, making them not quite as useful later in the event of a loss or crime.  Linksys deals with this issue via a new network video recorder.  The recorder can do remote and live monitoring, along with playback and recording.  Up to 8 terabytes of storage can be handled. You can also record up to eight video feeds simultaneously.

The suggested MSRP price of the cameras starts at $449.99 and goes up to $699.99, depending on the features.

The video recorder will be available starting in February at an MSRP of $799.99.

Linksys will be selling the products through dealers and distributors, and provides a locator on its small business site to find a distributor.

Linksys is headquartered in Irvine, California. It was founded in the late 1980′s and is currently owned by Belkin, which bought the brand from Cisco back in early 2013.

Today Linksys provides connectivity products including routers, switches and WiFi cameras.  The company’s surveillance products are an extension of its mission to assist businesses with security, both digital and on-premises, in a scalable manner suited to growth oriented small businesses.



One Startup That Focuses on Channel Development for IT Companies

By the year 2010, Clark Richter, the founder of Fossa LLC, had spent over 15 years in sales management and marketing roles at IT companies like Check Point Software, Citrix Systems and Websense.

He found it frustrating that there were very few reliable, comprehensive and updated information sources focusing on the IT channel partner market. Professionals like him had to depend on multiple tools and information databases coupled with extensive primary research to zero in on the right channel partner.

Traditional databases were out-dated, used out-dated classification systems and profiled companies incorporated years ago with perhaps different business models. The IT industry had transformed significantly over the past two decades but these databases hadn’t kept up with the changes in the industry. Sales intelligence tools at that point had good data on end users but there was a gap in the market for data specifically on channel companies (i.e. resellers, service providers, system integrators, etc.)

Although emerging vendors such as Rain King and DiscoverOrg did provide up-to-date and relevant contact lists and profiles for IT companies, their focus was on IT buyers at Fortune 2000 companies. On the other hand, broader databases like InsideView, NetProspex, and Jigsaw/Salesforce were crowd-sourced, with a lot of contacts but very few details.

The Birth of Fossa

So, to plug these gaps in the market and to make the life of sales and marketing professionals like him easier, Clark worked toward building a comprehensive and up-to-date database of IT channel companies with relevant terminology and vendor relationships.

After working on it for two years, he resigned from his job and launched Channel Navigator in February 2012. A demo is provided in the video below:

Clark founded Fossa LLC with an aim to save customers time and money in executing their channel strategy by providing up-to-date, relevant business profiles, and contacts for IT channel companies. Its database covers 25,000 companies, 80% of which have less than 20 employees.

A majority of its customers are channel sales and marketing organizations that subscribe to its database and online tools. Some of its customers are early stage companies that do not have a channel team yet but want the data. Companies selling SMB solutions, security, cloud services and solutions targeted at managed service providers are its top IT industry target segments.

Specialization in the channel and a smaller or niche target segment allows Fossa to provide superior quality data. Its databases are researched and updated manually after verifying the contacts and company information. Since it deals with only 25,000 companies rather than 40 million, is easier to verify and update the data and be more precise.

Participation in trade shows and Clark’s relationships in the channel helped in gaining initial traction. Currently, the company has close to 35 active customers, including Alcatel-Lucent, McAfee, Discoverorg, VAR Staffing, Shuttle and Meru Networks. It was on track to achieve revenue of $100,000 in 2013.

The IT channel space is constantly changing - vendor relationships, employee turnover and industry buzz words evolve constantly. Therefore exists a constant need for updated information that will enrich a company’s CRM and help make the sales process more efficient.

Research firm Gartner, in its latest IT spending outlook, projects worldwide IT spending to grow 3.1% from 2013 to reach $3.8 trillion in 2014. Companies like Fossa LLC can help IT vendors tap efficiently into this $3.8 trillion market.

Tuning In Photo via Shutterstock



Why Google Is Taking a $9.5 Billion Hit on Selling Motorola to Lenovo

Less than 2 years ago, Google caused a lot of puzzled looks when it bought Motorola, the mobile device hardware manufacturer. It didn’t seem like an obvious fit.

And the even more head-scratching news is that Google is now selling Motorola to Lenovo for almost $10 billion less than what it paid. Google purchased Motorola in 2012 for $12.5 billion and is now selling it for $2.91 billion.

But as you look closer, it may be a better deal for Google than it seems â€" and a good deal for Lenovo.

As part of the deal, Google will retain ownership of Motorola Mobility’s patent portfolio. Lenovo will be granted a license to these patents and other intellectual property still owned by Google after the sale.

Why It’s Good for Lenovo

Lenovo will get 2,000 patent assets and the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio, said Google and Lenovo in a joint statement.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility expands Lenovo’s mobile profile. The company will now own the Motorola Moto G, Moto X, and Ultra DROID series of smartphones. Lenovo will also take control of Motorola’s “product roadmap” in the future.

By acquiring Motorola Mobility, Lenovo enters the North and Latin American smartphone markets wit a strong brand. Both companies claim Motorola Mobility is the third largest company in those markets already. Lenovo hopes Motorola will help the company establish itself in the Western European smartphone market too.

In a prepared statement, Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said:

“The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones.”

Why It’s Good for Google

For Google this means a boost in the number of phones using the company’s Android operating system on the market. Google CEO Larry Page says selling Motorola to Lenovo allows his company to focus on developing the Android mobile operating system. And as Quartz observes:

“It might seem like Google is taking a $10 billion bath on the sale of Motorola to Lenovo. But Motorola has already helped Google save what could amount to billions of dollars on its taxes, which softens the blow. And there’s another way to look at this: Google has created a competitor to Samsung that is headed by an ex-Googler (for now) that will now go to a company, Lenovo, that has proved itself quite capable of succeeding in the low-margin hardware business.”

Image: Wikipedia



10 Best WordPress Plugins for eCommerce

The WordPress platform makes it easy to set up an online store, either as your primary business or to complement your physical small business. In addition to thousands of templates, there is a massive library of plugins designed to simplify and automate your online sales.

Below are ten of the best WordPress plugins for eCommerce that you can use to enhance your website and create a smooth, hassle-free online shopping experience for your customers.

WP e-Commerce

A popular and long-standing plugin that was one of the first eCommerce options offered by WordPress, WP e-Commerce comes with a wide variety of functions and features. The fully-featured free download works great out of the box and comes with flexible coupon codes, discounts and free shipping options, cross-page promotion, a New Products widget single-page checkout, integration with popular e-commerce payment and third-party platforms and much more.

You can also purchase add-ons and upgrades to customize this plugin and add even more functionality, like extra payment gateways, slider carousels and additional shipping options.

WooCommerce

A fully functional free plugin with a vast library of premium upgrades available, WooCommerce is easy to use for both vendors and customers. Free features for this plugin include complex coupon campaigns, product and inventory management, order management, sales reports, a customer account area, control over shipping and tax charges and more.

Jigoshop

With detailed reporting, widgets and shortcodes, one-page checkout, inventory tracking, product imports/exports, related product displays and more, Jigoshop has everything you need to run an eCommerce store. It’s free, with a nice library of free extensions, and you can also purchase premium themes and extensions for added functionality.

eShop

More than half a million people have downloaded the free eShop plugin, an easy-to-install shopping cart that is fully compatible with WordPress and can create product pages from WordPress pages, posts or custom posts. Features include customer accounts, multiple options for products, selling downloadable content, sales data, sales tax, stock control, discount options and more.

Quick Shop

A super-simple, “fast and dirty” eCommerce plugin with a surprising level of functionality, Quick Shop comes with built-in support for PayPal and email, and uses WordPress sidebar widgets to continuously show shoppers what’s in their carts. With this plugin, you can add products instantly with a TinyMCE button, create drop-down lists with product options and more.

Cart66

This plugin offers a professional, paid version at $25 per month and a slimmer, free version called Cart66 Lite. Billing itself as the only WordPress eCommerce solution with PCI compliance built in, the Cart66 professional version includes everything you need to run a clean, richly featured WordPress store with no additional plugins or add-ons.

With the free version, you get basic eCommerce features that include promotions, tax and shipping charge control, order management, support for multiple currencies, customizable reports and more. You can use either version to sell products from any page or post on your WordPress site.

Shopp

This popular premium plugin works out of the box with any WordPress theme and comes packed with features. Shopp is built to work with WordPress and includes things like short codes, dashboard widgets for quick views of sales and product histories and theme widgets that let you easily drop products and elements into pages.

Additional features include standard eCommerce tools plus multiple product/variation images, multi-category inventory management, promotional tools, native and plugin support for a wide variety of payment gateways, email notifications, a shipping calculator and more.

Ecwid

A free, full-featured shopping cart, Ecwid is incredibly user-friendly and can be set up in five minutes or less. You can add this plugin to your WordPress site or your Facebook page, and even set it up for use on mobile devices - and the mirror function lets you manage the cart on many sites from one central dashboard.

In addition to free plans with all the standard eCommerce features, Ecwid offers premium plans starting at $15 a month that come with volume discounts, coupon codes, inventory management and more.

Easy Digital Downloads

If your eCommerce store sells digital content like eBooks, audio, video or images, Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress solution. It’s also the cheapest at the low price of free.

Features of this simple, powerful plugin include discount codes, sales reports, user purchase history, file download logs, a wide selection of payment gateways and more. There are also nearly 200 extensions to improve the functionality of your download storefront.

WPdeposit

Offering a unique alternative to traditional eCommerce plugins, WPdeposit lets you set up a credit system, similar to stock image marketplaces like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto. With WPdeposit, shoppers buy prepaid credits, which they can use to make purchases on your site.

The plugin supports multiple gateways, with the option to add your own. Widgets and shortcodes show users their balances on your site, and add-ons let users subscribe to or advertise on your site in exchange for credits.

eCommerce Photo via Shutterstock



F-Secure and Nokia join forces to fight mobile malware

The surge in mobile malware is driving F-Secure to pool resources with Nokia's software development division.

The steady rise of mobile malware - against the backdrop of the six-year-old hardware industry of smartphones and tablet computers - has led security vendor F-Secure and the software architecture division of Nokia to pool their respective resources.

The rise in mobile malware has been documented by Alcatel Lucent's Kindsight Security Labs research division, which reports that there were 11.6 million mobile devices worldwide infected by malware at any given point during the fourth quarter of last year. The report also notes that actual mobile device malware infections rose by a solid 20 per cent during 2013.

The link-up between F-Secure - whose security business drives the security services of many ISPs worldwide - and Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) will help mobile handset and tablet vendors develop integrated anti-malware and security software for products.

Whilst smartphones and tablets now have a wide range of security software - as is the case with desktop machines - malware can still attack at the BIOS or firmware stages, and so compromise the platform before the machine's security software kicks in.

Both firms have not revealed their exact plans for the link-up, but some form of on-device firmware security - similar to that seen on Intel processors, seems likely.

Alcatel-Lucent's Kindsight report, meanwhile, documents the massive scale of mobile malware infections, noting that 60 per cent of all mobile infections originated from the Google Play Android app store last year.

Interestingly, the report also found that 40 per cent of Android infections were side-loaded from a connected host Windows laptop.

Kevin McNamee, Kindsight Security Labs' director said that criminals traditionally go after low hanging fruit.

“Not only is Android the largest smartphone market, unlike the iPhone and Blackberry, it allows apps to be loaded from third party sites. This provides cybercriminals with an un-policed mechanism to distribute their malware which can easily evade detection by device-based anti-virus," he said.

Kindsight's analysis says that 2013 was the year that saw mobile spyware turn infected smartphones and tablets into cyber-espionage devices. These infected devices, says the report, allow hackers to remotely track location, download contact lists and personal information, intercept and send messages, record conversation and take pictures.

Matt Graham, a technical consultant with Manchester-based Apadmi told SCMagazineUK.com that the linkup between F-Secure and Nokia's software arm - as well as the Alcatel-Lucent report - clearly indicates that Android users need to take care when installing apps and connecting their devices to a PC.

"A user is always in full control of which apps are installed on their phone and should be vigilant," he said, advising that users should only install apps from the official app store for their device, as well as examine the permissions an app is asking for, whilst installing the software.

In addition, Graham advises not connecting an Android device to a Windows PC with the device in development mode, nor should they connect their mobile to a public charging station.

Etay Maor, fraud prevention manager with IBM's Trusteer Web security operation, said that mobile malware authors are in a unique position where they do not need to reinvent the wheel in terms of attack patterns and techniques.

"While we have yet to witness a mobile equivalent to a PV Man-in-the-browser malware, cybercriminals are already adapting techniques that proved profitable from the world of online fraud," he said.

Michael Sutton, VP of security research with cloud security specialist Zscaler said though that mobile malware is still in its infancy in terms of sophistication and volume, when compared to their desktop equivalents.

"Part of that is driven by time, with PC malware having been around for decades, but a more important reason has to do to with the App Store ecosystem. The vast majority of mobile malware exists on the Android platform, due to it's more open nature.”



Serious RCE flaw discovered in Wiki architecture

A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the open source software architecture that drives Wikipedia and numerous other `Wiki' information services.

A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the open source software architecture that drives Wikipedia and numerous other `Wiki' information services, including Intellipedia - the US Intelligence Community Wiki systems - and internal systems used by Intel and Novell.

The potentially serious flaw lies in the MediaWiki project Web platform, which runs many thousands of public and private sector wiki-based systems, including the infamous Wikileaks service.

According to Check Point, whose research team discovered the issue, the vulnerability makes a Wiki system open to remote code execution (RCE), meaning an attacker can gain complete control of the vulnerable Web server.

News of the discovered has been welcomed by the security community, with Quocirca director and analyst Bob Tarzey telling SCMagazineUK.com that there are plenty of reasons why cyber criminals and hacktivists might want to undermine Wikipedia or other wiki-based platforms.

"Nation states might like to have had a crack at Wikileaks at its height too. This news reminds us of two things: firstly that any platform can be vulnerable, and secondly, that the security industry can keep ahead of the attackers and pre-empt possible attacks by discovering vulnerabilities like this," he said.

Check Point says it alerted the WikiMedia Foundation about the vulnerability as soon it was discovered, and after verification, the Foundation issued an update and patch to the software.

Dorit Dor, the firm's vice president of products, says that, if the vulnerability had not been uncovered, an attacker would have been able to control the Wikipedia.org web server or any other ‘wiki' site running on MediaWiki - and potentially serve up malware to site visitors.

“It only takes a single vulnerability on a widely adopted platform [like this] for a hacker to infiltrate and wreak widespread damage,” she said.

"We're pleased that the MediaWiki platform is now protected against attacks on this vulnerability, which would have posed great security risk for millions of daily ‘wiki' site users,” she added.

This is believed to be the only the third RCE vulnerability found in the MediaWiki platform since 2006, when parsing functions were added to the software platform.

Commenting on the security flaw, Professor John Walker, a Visiting Professor with the Nottingham-Trent University Faculty of Engineering, said that businesses are increasingly being driven to deliver the latest and greatest technologies to their customers.

"However, once again, we see the complex and advanced code in these systems falling to the world of hacking," he said, adding that the common trend - which hackers and cyber criminals exploit for gain - includes vulnerabilities, exposures, and unauthorised incursions into the heart of the systems involved.

Professor Walker - who is also CTO of IT security consultancy Integral Security Xssurance - added that, now that the patch has been issued, the underlying issue will soon be forgotten.

"Taken in isolation, there regular reports of insecurity issues may seem insignificant. But taken as a whole the implications are clear: it is time to change our approach to security.”



Microsoft Changes Name of SkyDrive to OneDrive

Microsoft has announced the name change of its cloud service from SkyDrive to OneDrive. Ryan Gavin, General Manager of Consumer Apps & Services, made the announcement recently on the new OneDrive Blog.

“Why OneDrive? We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life.”

Everybody knows though why it’s OneDrive. The company was forced to alter the name of its cloud storage service after a trademark case with UK television broadcaster BSkyB. Up until a few years ago, BSkyB was in the cloud storage business themselves, and they sued Microsoft over the SkyDrive name (in particular, the “sky” part of the name), claiming trademark infringement.

BSkyB won that case and Microsoft decided to rebrand the service, rather than go through lengthy legal appeals. A special arrangement with BSkyB involving Microsoft’s XBox One may have factored into their considerations too. UK owners of XBox One can access Sky’s channels via the game’s console, and there may be further tie-ins planned for the future.

It’s not clear whether there will be any significant service changes coming with the name change. Microsoft also hasn’t announced exactly when the name change will occur.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has run afoul of trademark infringement challenges. Its Windows 8 system was originally called Metro, and had to be rebranded after a dispute by the German company Metro AG. And who knows? Maybe OneDrive will have to be changed again if anyone objects to the use of the word “one.” Gizmodo has made a list of possible companies who may object to Microsoft’s rebranding.

BSkyB has also not been afraid to defend its trademark before in another case. Back in 2012, Livescribe was forced to change the name of their Sky Wifi Smartpen after the broadcasting company complained.

Since OneDrive is not yet available, you can register your interest on the OneDrive webpage, and you will be notified when all systems are go. In the meantime, SkyDrive will continue to work as usual.



US DOJ to investigate Target data breach

The US Department of Justice launches investigation into Target breach. Could other retailers be hit by the same kind of attack?

The US Department of Justice has announced that it is actively investigating the Target Corporation data breach saga, two months after details on the attack first emerged.

US Attorney General Eric Holder revealed that his Justice Department is investigating the hack and said that it will look to find the perpetrators - as well as any individuals and groups -- who exploit that data via credit card fraud.

In a statement issued to the US Senate, Holder said: "While we generally do not discuss specific matters under investigation, I can confirm the department is investigating the breach involving the US retailer, Target."

Target has been drip-feeding details to the media of how the criminals attacked its system and the picture of how cyber criminals staged their attack is now coming into focus.

Independent security researcher Brian Krebs says that the attackers were helped by "a poorly secured feature built into a widely-used IT management software product that was running on the retailer's internal network," leveraging a Microsoft Windows share function and a software package from BMC Software in order to exfiltrate the data to their own computers.

The researcher says he has asked BMC Software, the company that produces Performance Assurance for Microsoft Servers, why its admin level privilege feature operates as it does, but has not yet had a reply. He also cites Dell Secureworks' Counter Threat Unit as investigating the security breach methodology along similar lines.

"According to a trusted source who uses mostly open-source data to keep tabs on the software and hardware used in various retail environments, BMC's software is in use at many major retail and grocery chains across the country, including Kroger, Safeway, Home Depot, Sam's Club and The Vons Companies, among many others," says the Krebs in his analysis.

Krebs remains ambivalent on the blame game in his report, but the underlying message suggests that any retailer using the company's IT management suite should now be checking the security and integrity of their EFTPOS systems and related system software.

As previously reported, Target - the second largest retailer in the US - was hit by a data breach late last year, with the company confirming on December 19 that up to 40 million sets of card credentials had been leaked.

Eight days later the retailer admitted that encrypted customer PIN codes were included in the credential data files, and on January 10 revealed that up to 70 million extra customer records - names, postal addresses, phone numbers and/or email addresses - had also been stolen.

Security experts now rate the breach as the second-largest in the world - just behind the Heartland Payment Systems attack of 2009, which involved 130 million sets of credit and debit card credentials.



Angry Birds website hacked after latest NSA revelations

Video game developer Rovio has confirmed that hackers defaced the website of Angry Birds, its popular smartphone game.

Following on from leaks revealing that the GCHQ obtained data from Angry Birds, Rovio confirmed that hackers defaced the video game's website on Wednesday. The website temporarily showed an image entitled ‘Spying Birds' and this included the NSA logo.

Rovio said that it did not “collaborate or collude” with any government spy agency.

“We do not collaborate, collude, or share data with spy agencies anywhere in the world,” said Rovio Entertainment CEO Mikael Hed in a statement. “As the alleged surveillance might be happening through third party advertising networks, the most important conversation to be had is how to ensure user privacy is protected while preventing the negative impact on the whole advertising industry and the countless mobile apps that rely on ad networks.”

“In order to protect our end users, we will, like all other companies using third party advertising networks, have to re-evaluate working with these networks if they are being used for spying purposes.”

It appears that cyber criminals carried out a DNS (Domain Name System) attack - where the website's name servers are swapped with another under the attackers' control -- and this is said to bear some resemblance to the Syrian Electronic Army's attacks on The New York Times last year.

However, the group itself has denied responsibility but says that it heard about the breach from an anonymous third-party.

"A friend hacked and defaced @Angrybirds website after reports confirms its spying on people,” the group posted on Twitter, adding a link to a saved image of the defaced website.

“The attack was by 'Anti-NSA' Hacker. He sent an email to our official email with the link of the hacked website."

This attack comes days after the New York Times, ProPublica and The Guardian posted copies of the latest documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden. In the documents, the former CIA contractor suggests that both the NSA and GCHQ have worked together since 2007 to devise ways to access information from smartphone and tablet apps.

A secret GCHQ report, also recently published, revealed that both agencies had engineered a way of harvesting user data if they installed Angry Birds on an Android device. This data apparently included the owner's age, sex, location and even information on when they were listening to music or making a call.

 “It is not a surprise to hear that the NSA gathers information from Angry Birds. The information provided by these apps has already proven lucrative to both advertisers and developers so it stands to reason that it is also valuable to intelligence agencies, Vicente Diaz, Senior Malware Analyst at Kaspersky Lab, told SCMagazineUK.com.

Edward Parsons, senior manager for information protection and business resilience at KPMG UK, hopes that these latest revelations prompt mobile users to improve their security.

“Smartphone applications offer a vast range of benefits to users and provide a platform for innovative service delivery. In the rush to market, security can come second, offering the opportunity for both nations and organised crime groups to collect sensitive information on smartphone users and their activities, as well as providing avenues to exploit vulnerabilities in app software and the smartphones which run it," he told SCMagazineUK.com. 

"A poorly configured smartphone may be the best espionage tool ever created with camera, microphone, GPS and Internet connection.

“Smartphone users need to exercise care in downloading and installing apps, including limiting the access they grant. Users can protect themselves by carefully considering the terms and conditions when purchasing apps, though this is easier said than done, the reality is that they are often complex and opaque, and frequently ignored as the latest and greatest app is installed in haste.”



Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest For $500 Prize

brother contest image 2014_2

There’s a contest going on at our sister site BizSugar.com that we’re excited to tell you about. Now you can showcase your creativity and promote your business all at the same time. And you’ll get a chance to win one of three great prizes.

Brother, manufacturers of printers and related business products, has a free Web tool that can help you use your creativity to design the perfect attention-grabbing, business and marketing materials for your company.

All it takes is Internet access and a bit of imagination. You’ll be printing up your new designs and turning the heads of customers.

Now, here’s the really exciting part!

We’d like you to try the Brother CreativeCenter â€" a totally free web-based design portal â€" to add some oomph to your business cards, calendars, posters, brochures and mailers. And we’re offering a whopper of an incentive.

Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest on BizSugar and not only create beautiful promotional material about your business and show it off to the world, but you’ll also have the chance to win one of three prize packages worth over $500 each.

Read the contest rules.

Then use the Brother CreativeCenter online tool to create a document, then load it to the BizSugar site using the contest entry form.

It’s that easy!

Winners will be chosen by the BizSugar Moderator team and staff.

We ran a similar contest last year around this time, so you can see the submissions from 2013 as well as this year’s content submissions.

Get started NOW!



Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest For $500 Prize

brother contest image 2014_2

There’s a contest going on at our sister site BizSugar.com that we’re excited to tell you about. Now you can showcase your creativity and promote your business all at the same time. And you’ll get a chance to win one of three great prizes.

Brother, manufacturers of printers and related business products, has a free Web tool that can help you use your creativity to design the perfect attention-grabbing, business and marketing materials for your company.

All it takes is Internet access and a bit of imagination. You’ll be printing up your new designs and turning the heads of customers.

Now, here’s the really exciting part!

We’d like you to try the Brother CreativeCenter â€" a totally free web-based design portal â€" to add some oomph to your business cards, calendars, posters, brochures and mailers. And we’re offering a whopper of an incentive.

Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest on BizSugar and not only create beautiful promotional material about your business and show it off to the world, but you’ll also have the chance to win one of three prize packages worth over $500 each.

Read the contest rules.

Then use the Brother CreativeCenter online tool to create a document, then load it to the BizSugar site using the contest entry form.

It’s that easy!

Winners will be chosen by the BizSugar Moderator team and staff.

We ran a similar contest last year around this time, so you can see the submissions from 2013 as well as this year’s content submissions.

Get started NOW!



Google selling Motorola phone business to Lenovo

Google is selling Motorola's smartphone business to Lenovo for $2.9 billion, a price that makes Google's biggest acquisition look like its most expensive mistake.

The deal announced today will rid Google of a financial headache that has plagued the internet company since buying Motorola Mobility for $12.4 billion in 2012. Motorola has lost nearly $2 billion since Google took over, while trimming its workforce from 20,000 to 3,800.

Google had previously recovered some of the money that it spent on Motorola by selling the company's set-top operations last year to Arris Group Inc. for $2.35 billion. Google is also keeping most of the patents that came with the Motorola purchase.

It's unclear if Google will have to absorb a charge to account for the difference between what it paid for Motorola Mobility and what it is getting back. The Mountain View, California, company may address the issue later this week when it announces its fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes.

Mostinvestors viewed Motorola as an unnecessary drain on Google's profit, a perspective that was reflected by Wall Street's reaction to the sale. Google's stock gained $28.08, or 2.5 per cent, to $1,135 in extended trading.

While Google is backpedalling, Lenovo Group is gearing up for a major expansion. Already the world's largest maker of personal computers, Lenovo now appears determined to become a bigger player in smartphones as more people rely on them instead of laptop and desktop computers to go online.

Lenovo already is among the smartphone leaders in its home country of China, but it has been looking for ways to expand its presence in other markets, especially the US and Latin America. The company had been rumoured to be among the prospective buyers for BlackBerry when that troubled smartphone maker was mulling a sale last year.

This marks Lenovo's second high-profile deal this month. The company announced plans last week to buy a major piece of IBM's computer server business! for $2.3 billion.

Buying Motorola will enable Lenovo to join Apple as the only major technology companies with global product lines in PCs, smartphones and tablets, putting Lenovo in a better position to become a one-stop shop for companies to buy all their devices from the same vendor, said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett.

"This makes Lenovo a company to watch," Gillett said in an email. "The personal device manufacturer business is consolidating and manufacturers must compete in all three device markets, plus emerging wearable categories, or get left out of the next market shift."

After it takes over, Lenovo plans to retain a Motorola management team led by Dennis Woodside. Google had reassigned Woodside, one of its top executive, to run Motorola Mobility in hopes he could engineer a turnaround. Under Woodside, Motorola released two new smartphones last year, the Moto X and Moto G. The phones attracted lots of headlines, but didn't sell as well as anticipated, analysts say.

Lenovo executives also said they aren't planning to lay off any more Motorola employees and that the subsidiary would remain based in its current headquarters in Libertyville, Illinois.

"We buy this business, we buy this team as our treasure," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said during a conference call.

Google is retaining most of Motorola's portfolio of mobile patents, providing the company with legal protection for its widely used Android software for smartphones and tablet computers. Gaining control of Motorola's patents was the main reason Google CEO Larry Page decided to pay so much for Motorola Mobility at a time the smartphone maker was already losing money and market share.

Most analysts thought Page had paid too much money for Motorola and questioned why Google wanted to own a smartphone maker at the risk of alienating other mobile device makers that rely on Android.

Selling Motorola's smartphone operations will "enable Google to devote our energy to driving inno! vation ac! ross the Android ecosystem," Page said in a statement.

Lenovo is picking up about 2,000 Motorola patents in addition to the phone manufacturing operations.



Dip Into a New Pool of Talent by Employing Seniors

Are you racking your brains looking for a way to hire employees on a tight budget? Perhaps you’ve even put out want ads for jobs but haven’t found any candidates with the right experience and attitude.

Maybe the problem is that you’re overlooking a huge pool of potential employees: Seniors. (Seriously, we need to come up with a better name for this generation of Americans.)

A study (PDF) from the University of Michigan found that these days, more “mature” Americans are taking “partial retirement.” Already 20 percent of workers aged 65 to 67 and 15 percent of those aged 60 to 62 are partially retired.

Partial retirement itself is a relatively new trend. In 1960, the study reports, only about 5 percent of workers in the 65 to 67 age range were partially retired and among people age 60 to 62, the concept was virtually nonexistent.

What’s Behind the Growth of Partial Retirement?

The study points to several factors. During tough economic times, older workers are more likely to be laid off or choose to exit the work force. However, many either can’t afford to take full retirement, or don’t want to because they enjoy working. As a result, more and more workers over 60 are taking what the study calls “bridge jobs” - lower-paying jobs intended to tide them over until full retirement as opposed to continuing in, or searching for, “career jobs.”

The growth of partial retirement is good news for small business owners, as it’s creating a new pool of potential workers who have lots of experience but are willing to work for less.

The Pros and Cons of Employing Seniors

Below are some of the issues mentioned in a survey (PDF) of hiring managers by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Pro: Seniors Tend to Be Good With People

Often, they want to keep working because they enjoy socializing and don’t want to be isolated at home. This makes them natural “relators” who are likely to be patient and friendly. This type of person can be great as a retail employee, customer service rep, greeter (think Wal-Mart) or in another type of role that involves lots of hand-holding.

Pro: Seniors Have Valuable Experience You Couldn’t Afford to Hire Full-Time

I recently needed new carpet in my home and was trying to match old carpet installed 10 years ago. A senior (partially retired) salesman at the company I worked with was able to identify the brand and find a near-perfect match in a matter of minutes due to his decades of industry knowledge. He was also more efficient than many younger, less experienced people might have been.

Pro: Seniors Can Share Their Knowledge with Junior Employees

Having a senior mentor train younger employees is a great way to bring them up to speed on your industry.

Pro: Seniors Possess Useful Networks

Seniors who have spent a long time in the workforce typically have networks of contacts that can be useful to your business.

Pro: Seniors Have More Dedication

Because their children are grown and they may be widows or widowers, seniors are likely to have more dedication to your business than employees who are juggling marriage, children and family life with the demands of their jobs.

Con: Possibly Less Tech Savvy

Seniors are likely to be less tech-savvy than younger generations who’ve grown up with technology. That said, they are typically very willing to learn, and with a majority of people over 65 now online according to Pew data, they have at least some familiarity with social media, email and other essential tools.

Con: Potential Physical Limitations

Seniors will most likely have physical limitations that younger employees won’t. So if the job requires a lot of walking, standing, lifting or other physical labor, it’s probably not ideal for an older individual. The good news is, as part-timers, they won’t need to be on your company’s health insurance so their health issues won’t raise your rates.

How Can You Find Qualified Seniors?

Tap into senior-related resources in your community, let your connections know you’re looking for senior employees, or advertise on senior job boards such as Senior Job Bank or Workforce 50.

Employee Photo via Shutterstock