The Link Between Thought Leadership and LinkedIn

The topic of thought leadership has been hot and heavy over the last year or two. Often discussed, speculated about and outright claimed by some, it is among the more misunderstood business concepts.

Many seem to think if they know something about anything, they can claim the “thought leader” position in a niche. Wrong.

You can be very knowledgeable about a subject, live in your mother’s basement with Dr Pepper and Cheez-Its and perhaps be a subject matter expert, but you are not a thought leader.

Thought leadership is not claimed. It is an acknowledgement from a niche community, usually afforded to a very small top tier of people in a given niche or category.

But what constitutes thought leadership? What qualities must a person have?

Thought Leadership Qualities

Shows Deep Knowledge

Most obvious is a deep knowledge of a market segment or topic, and developing a definite point of view regarding your market niche.

Recognized as Being on “Top of Your Game”

You have to be at the top of your game and recognized as such by your peers and others in your market niche. That means working hard at knowing not only what is currently going on, but what forces are coming to play in the near and long term in your niche, and having some thoughts on how to deal with those forces.

Uses Multiple Formats to Share Knowledge

You need to find, develop and make use of multiple formats to share your knowledge:

• Books/eBooks
• Articles
• Blogs
• Speaking
• Networking
• Serving on association committees

Displays Acknowledgment to Peers

You should recognize that you are not “alone at the top” and that you have peers. When those peers say something, be prepared to comment and acknowledge the contribution. If you disagree, don’t be mean about it, simply offer your view. If you use their thoughts or materials, give credit to them.

Exhibits a Sharing Mentality

You need to have a sharing attitude. If you tend towards lecturing or talking down to people, you are just a know-it-all, not a thought leader. Go back to mom’s basement with a fresh box of Cheez-Its and a Dr Pepper for a time out.

Where Does LinkedIn Come In?

LinkedIn is the perfect venue for small business people to share information and to differentiate themselves. You should share all manner of formats on LinkedIn:

• Videos
• White papers
• Comments in groups
• Webinars
• PowerPoints

Differentiation is the first step to thought leadership and too few companies do this, maintaining more of a “herd” mentality.

One of the major components of your differentiation strategy needs to be a strong LinkedIn presence. As I wrote in “It All Starts with Your LinkedIn Profile,” your profile has to start the process of attracting people to you - so you can share more.

Once you have successfully attracted people, you can then begin to use the platform to position yourself as a thought leader. Sharing the type of information listed in the bullet points above and making a conscious effort to break away from the pack, the “herd” mentality, will have you well on your way.

If you approach your use of LinkedIn through the perspective of thought leadership and you begin to exhibit thought leadership qualities there - you will find that others begin seeking you out as such.

Thought Leadership Photo via Shutterstock

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Yahoo Is Testing New Ads For Mobile Apps Similar To Facebook’s

Small business owners and independent developers trying to market their own apps may have a new way to reach a massive online customer base. Yahoo is hoping to emulate Facebook’s success in the mobile market. The online portal is testing new ads for mobile apps. These ads will enable people to click and install apps directly to their mobile phone or tablet.

The smaller number of clicks involved, the more likely it is that someone will buy your app, Yahoo believes. Therefore the company’s plan to have direct app installation links inside ads should encourage customers to buy. And this could result in a big sales boost for developers. Just consider the amount of mobile traffic Yahoo receives.

Right now, only a small select group of advertisers are being allowed to take part in the testing phase. But if successful, the program could be opened to small independent developers including small businesses with apps to sell. The program could allow these app developers to more easily connect with a larger mobile market.

A Yahoo spokesman told Adage:

“We’re testing in-stream ad opportunities with an initial group of advertisers who have mobile apps and who want to connect directly with audiences across Yahoo mobile apps and sites. These tests will begin to appear across all of our properties where in-stream ads run on iOS and Android devices.”

Facebook has a head start though when it comes to generating mobile revenue. More than half of the company’s fourth-quarter ad revenue came from mobile. Their debut into the mobile market in 2012 involved allowing people to buy advertising space in news feeds. As the user scrolls through their news feed, the ads would appear in between their usual posts and status updates.

These ads would have a link to the developer’s app in the App Store or Google Play. On Facebook, the ad also features thumbnail photos of any of your Facebook Friends who were also using that app. Finally, there is also an app store on Facebook itself.

Yahoo, on the other hand, apparently wants to take the opposite approach with an “app discovery service.” The ads will appear in Yahoo’s content feeds.

In Re/Code, Kara Swisher reports:

“According to numerous sources, comes a plan to turn part of the [Yahoo] homepage into a kind of app platform in a project called “Touchdown.” Apparently many months in the making, Yahoo apps - as well as third-party ones - would be published on the highly trafficked site.”

Image: Adage

10 Top Password and Cyber Security Tips for Every Small Business

More and more often we are hearing about large companies that have been infiltrated by hackers who have maneuvered around their security systems to access consumer information. Apple, Target, Michaels, Neiman Marcus -large companies with high tech security systems all exposed and hacked just in the last few months. As a small business you might be thinking, “this only happens to the big companies with LOTS of information”. You’re wrong. Small businesses are just as vulnerable so we’re sharing ten password and cyber security tips to follow to keep your information safe from attack.

While the major concern in each of the major security breaches noted above was the effect it had on the consumer, the cost of bad press and lowered consumer confidence each company experienced is something that they might never be able to recover from. For a small business with limited resources experiencing the same situation, this could simply put you out of business. Bill Carey, VP of Marketing at Roboform - a password management tool from Siber Systems - has shared 10 password and cyber security tips to use as a first line of defense to keeping your business safe.

1. Regularly update software to eliminate security weaknesses. Windows, Macs, and all browsers regularly provide free software updates; take advantage of this to close security loopholes!

2. When you’re done with using a website, log off and close your browser. This will prevent others from gaining access to your account.

3. Create passwords with combinations of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters.

4. Don’t use personal information in your password, such as your name, your partner’s name, your child’s name, your occupation, telephone number, birth date, etc.

5. Small businesses have to hold their employees accountable for their security. Employees must adopt safe security habits to keep their information and the company’s information protected. Consider putting a formal cyber-security policy into effect.

6. Make sure that you use a PIN or password on your mobile phone.

7. Use the ‘Keystroke’ method for making passwords. Choose a password and create a keyboard mapping system. One key to the left and one up would make the password “tinmen” change to “47gh2g”

8. Disable pictures on your email and read it in plain text. The sender will not be able to identify if you’ve opened the email.

9. Don’t keep a record or list of your passwords in unencrypted files on your computer or phone.

10. Have a disposable e-mail address. Only give your actual e-mail address out to who people who need it. This will avoid mass spam and keep your inbox clean.

If you are like many of us (me included!), you now have some work to do to make your passwords more secure. To make the task easier, use a password management tool, such as those from Roboform, LastPass, 1Password or PasswordBox. Each of these apps has a free version for you to try and they work across Windows / Mac / iOs / Android platforms to allow access from your computer or mobile devices - ensuring protection no matter where you login from.

Putting the best tips and tools in place to secure your business is a much simpler process than recovering from a security breach, so don’t wait until tomorrow to take action - tomorrow may be too late!

Security tech budgets rising, says new study

March 11, 2014

Information security budgets will increase in 2014, with 45 per cent of organisations planning to spend more this year and only 11 per cent cutting back, according to the latest Information Security Study from 451 Research.

But report author Daniel Kennedy warns that while security budgets and teams are growing - driven by “a near-constant drumbeat of breaches alongside ever-tightening regulation” - the security function “is still small, stuck in IT, and writing policies that half of the time are not being followed”.

The survey confirms that nearly half the 207 security managers interviewed think their information security policy is ineffective.

The study also finds that potentially box-ticking compliance is driving cyber security project priorities. “A whopping 38 percent of interviewed security managers noted that most project selection and approval was predicated on 'compliance deciding', more than double any other method of project selection,” Kennedy said. He calls this “an outsized role for compliance in security".

The two big technology trends this year will be mobile security and security information gathering - with 46 per cent of enterprises planning to spend more on mobile device management (MDM), the same number spending more on SIEM, while 40 per cent and 37 per cent are increasing their spend on identity management and event log management systems respectively.

Mobile device management - driven by the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend - is the top source of pain at 18 per cent of large enterprises. But MDM adoption is rising rapidly, from 46 per cent of organisations using it last year to 59 per cent this year.

On staffing levels, 451 Research says that while numbers are growing, “the 2014 security team is still fairly small in most enterprises and perhaps too under-staffed to do all the projects it is being asked to do”.

Commenting on these findings, Amanda Finch, general manager of the UK-based Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP), believes that security staffing is the most critical success factor.

 “The whole information security landscape is getting more complicated, so organisations are likely to need more people to cover the increasing number of different disciplines involved,” she told SCMagazineUK.com.

Finch added: “You need to understand your organisation and what you should be protecting, and what you should be protecting in-house and out of house. Having worked in this space for a long time, it doesn't get any easier. These are the latest round of challenges that we have to face but in essence it all has to go back to risk management.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Kennedy said that the “pronounced role of compliance” in security projects could be good or bad.

“Compliance-deciding can actually take a number of forms - some effective, and some less so,” he said. “For example, security managers tying what they believe should be done to a compliance requirement, and thus use it to secure funding, might be an effective use of compliance's increased power.

“Perhaps worse is compliance overstepping its mandate by not only interpreting regulatory requirements into project requirements but also trying to specify the exact technical and process implementations as well.”

Steve Durbin, global vice president of the Information Security Forum (ISF), is concerned at this dominant role of compliance.

He told SCMagazineUK.com via email: “I am on the record as not being a fan of compliance driving security programmes or security spend, very simply because it drives an audit mentality that often focuses on getting the right tick-in-the-box as opposed to taking a more business-based, holistic perspective on what is required in order to operate effectively in cyberspace.

“Furthermore, compliance, like regulation, lags behind and rarely has the ability to be forward looking - to be safe in cyber space we need to plan for the unexpected. A compliance-based approach does not lend itself easily to doing so. That being said, compliance is a very necessary evil in many sectors.”

Durbin believes that the rise in security spending is due to “extremely high-profile cases such as denial of service attacks on the banks last year and the more recent fallout from Target amongst others” as well as the ‘Snowden effect'.

But he said: “It is worth bearing in mind that security departments in general are still in catch-up mode after significant periods of under-investment and cost control. So whilst this is welcome, for me it is very much more about aligning the needs of security with the business and ensuring that business projects have security factored in to them from the beginning rather than having it added later on.”

* The Information Security Study is based on interviews with 207 information security professionals conducted between April and October 2013. A webinar on ‘The State of Enterprise Security in 2014, results from 451 Research's 16th annual end user security study' will be held on 19 March. Register via https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/578226960.

30+ Ways To Use YouTube Effectively

YouTube is one of the hidden gems in online marketing. It is a terrific way for small business owners to compete with the big brands. But creating effective (as in watchable) content and then promoting it can be intimidating.

Of particular interest to business owners who are wondering if the time creating and marketing with video is worth it is the YouTube Partner Program, created in 2007. It now has more than a million creators earning money from their videos. Thousands of channels are making six figures a year.

I grabbed a few statistics from YouTube directly to give you an idea of the opportunity there:

• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month.
• Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube,  almost an hour for every person on Earth, and 50% more than last year.
• 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
• 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the U.S.
• Mobile makes up almost 40% of YouTube’s global watch time.

The following 30+ ways to use YouTube effectively can help you make the leap into video marketing and harness it for your small business.

1. One of my favorite training spots is Lynda.com where expert instructors teach on a wide range of topics of interest to small business owners. It is a membership-based site, but worth it if you need to take yourself up a steep learning curve. Here’s the full Lynda site based on a search for YouTube courses with 4 courses made up of 109 tutorials.
2. If you don’t know where to begin, The Small Business Guide to YouTube is a good place to get started. Clicking on the “No” answers will give you links to informative content to answer your YouTube questions.
3. Using YouTube for Your Business provides you with an overview of ways you can use YouTube to improve your business.
4. Similarly, How to Use YouTube for Effective Marketing gives you ideas for using YouTube to market your business.
5. Ways to Incorporate Video into Your Business helps you find new platforms for adding video to your content.
6. This list of 34 Ways To Use YouTube For Business from Gigaom is from 2009, but still loads of great ideas.
7. Check out 4 Innovative Ways to Use Web Video for Small Businesses for some easy ideas to engage your customers in videos you can produce with little to no cost.
8. YouTube Channel Setup explains how to get started by setting up a customized YouTube channel where you can publish your videos.
9. This infographic found at Digital Sherpa points out the major building blocks for creating good video content.
10. Before you start recording, you should view this Video Marketing Slideshow, which gives you an outline of how to create successful videos that will be seen by others.
11. Keep your video looking as professional as your business with these 5 Tips to Making Professional Looking Video.
12. You should also check out Ten Tips for a GREAT Corporate Video. This video offers basic tips to help keep your audience interested in your visual content.
13. The DIY Marketers Guide to Marketing with Video gives you a list of some tools you can use to create successful videos.
14. If you are looking for stock videos to enhance your business video, you can find low-cost, royalty free ones at Videohive. Or if you want video, image, sound, illustration and special effects, you can find them all at pond5.
15. You can also find low-cost, royalty free videos at iStock, but you have to purchase credit packs to buy these.
16. Flixpress helps you to create professional intros to your videos online from templates. This service offers different plans ranging from free to a monthly fee for heavy users. The templates are priced based on their content (i.e. those containing people cost more), but there are several free basic templates.
17. If you would prefer to do a screencast instead of filming a video, 5 Free Tools for Creating a Screencast suggests great tools for making video content from your computer screenshots.
18. Look at How to Utilize Videoblogging for Business to learn about a more visual way of blogging for your business.
19. 10 YouTube Tips for Small Businesses provides you with good information on presenting your business at its best by suggesting ways to polish your content and channel.
20. Once your business invests resources in creating a video you want to have people watch it. Use these Simple YouTube Tips for New Traffic to build your viewers.
21. Ways to Make Your Videos Viral gives you great insight into what makes customers share your video with their friends.
22. At the same time, you can keep your expectations real by avoiding these 5 YouTube Marketing Mistakes.
23. An important part of using YouTube or any social marketing is to look at it from a long-term perspective. 4 Tips for Marketing Your Business on YouTube will give you things to think about when developing your YouTube marketing strategy.
24. Learn how other small businesses were able to make YouTube work for them by checking out these 3 YouTube Success Stories that I wrote for American Express OPEN Forum.
25. YouTube has its own Keyword Tool to help you find keywords for your video content. This is a great way to take a step toward helping the YouTube search engine (and by extension Google) find your video content.
26. You can find many tips to help SEO your YouTube Channel and increase your Web visibility with these YouTube Marketing Tips and Maximize YouTube’s Marketing Potential.
27. You can learn 5 Ways to Promote Your YouTube Video so you develop an audience and grow it.
28. Watch this YouTube Analytics Tutorial to see how to use YouTube analytics to find out if your videos are working for you. This is a great tool to find help identify what you may want to change or tweak about your YouTube video strategy.
29. Pixibility Inc. offers an entire YouTube channel devoted to YouTube marketing. They are advertising their YouTube marketing software but have many videos with helpful tips posted. I reviewed the service here on Small Business Trends.
30. Even if you aren’t quite ready to take the plunge into using YouTube to post videos for your business, you can still follow channels that contain content specifically for helping small businesses, such as the U. S. Small Business Administration Channel. This channel is dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with government information for small businesses.
31. No one has to attend the university to get great advice from the Harvard Business Review. This channel is filled with the latest videos on everything business.
32. Yes, the Google Business Channel focuses on using Google products to increase your business, but most of it can be done at little or no cost.
33. Create a video transcript by following Jan Bear’s post from her Market Your Book blog. You can also find the same explanations within YouTube’s support section. The transcript can help you get found in search engines, an added bonus for the effort.
34. Don’t forget that you can upload/embed your YouTube videos on your Facebook page. I recommend you simply click the Share button just below the YouTube video you are watching and click the Facebook icon. It opens your Facebook page status update if you are logged in. Add your comment and post.
35. Title your file name with keywords before you upload - or at least something better than letting your camera name it with a bunch of random numbers and letters.
36. Last tip: Always create a call to action at the end of your video. Splice in a slide that lists your website. The best post that I’ve seen on this comes from my friend Jay Baer on his Convince and Convert blog (compelling blog name, huh?), 4 Ways to Include Calls to Action on Video.

Video Photo via Shutterstock

It May Be Time For Your Business to Retire That Old Operating System

If you still use Windows XP in your business, Microsoft is planning four security updates for the 13-year-old operating system this week. XP and the new Internet Explorer have both been vulnerable to hacking in recent months. Microsoft says they also have a patch for Explorer to be released this week, too.

But the thing to think about is that Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP on April 8, 2014. So, aside from possibly one more update, if there’s a problem after that, you’re on your own.

Your computer won’t stop working after this date. On the contrary, it will continue as normal. But with no more security updates coming from Microsoft, it would be the same as leaving your front door open and going to bed. The hackers will just walk right in and potentially damage your operating system and files.

Small businesses are sometimes slow to change, especially after finding a tool that works well for them. Plus the costs of upgrading will put off businesses who are operating on a shoestring budget. But sometimes there is no choice but to make the necessary changes to keep your business efficient.

Below are some possible options.

Windows 7

Theoretically the next stage in the Windows ecosystem would be Vista. But since Vista is also an aging system, we haven’t dealt with it here. If you are going to spend money on upgrading your Windows system, you may as well upgrade to one of the more modern versions of Windows.

Otherwise, in a few years when Microsoft retires Vista, you’ll be right back to square one.

When you are upgrading from XP to Windows 7, it is a rather convoluted and lengthy process. In fact, Microsoft, on its website, recommends that you print out the upgrading guide to refer to. You need to test your PC to make sure it has the specs to handle a more powerful Windows. Before upgrading, you need to move all your files off the computer, as you will be completely wiping the hard-drive.

Another small glitch is that because Microsoft has now moved on to Windows 8, you cannot buy a normal installation package for Windows 7. Instead, you can only get an Original Equipment Manufacturer copy intended for pre-installation on a new personal computer for resale.

However, if you have a skilled IT person or friend, the Windows 7 software can still be installed. You just won’t get any help from Microsoft Technical Support. One other option is to check eBay for used retail versions of Windows 7.

Windows 8.1

Windows 8 had a bit of a rocky start. First, not everyone appreciated the radical departure from previous  Windows versions. Gone was the Start menu and in were the colorful tiles. The tiles were brought in to entice people to use Windows 8 on a tablet. But for desktop PC users, the tiles were controversial almost from the first.

For the current 8.1 version, Microsoft gives you the complete guide to upgrading from Windows XP. As with Windows 7, you will need to run a compatibility check to make sure that your computer is capable of handling a more powerful version of Windows. If so, you can buy Windows 8.1 from online stores such as Amazon, and from all electrical hardware stores.

You can even bring back the beloved Start menu and boot to the desktop (avoiding Microsoft’s newer tile interface) by installing the free Classic Shell. This will give you a version of Microsoft that might feel more familiar.

Linux

Of course, alternatives to Windows are also possible. For all the cost-conscious and cash-strapped businesses out there, it may be preferable to go with the completely free and open-source Linux platform.

Linux has always labored under the erroneous image that it is only for geeks who can code in their sleep. Nothing could be further from the truth. Big efforts have been made in the past few years to make Linux more accessible to all and a more viable alternative to Windows.

Being open-source, anyone can make their own version of Linux. This has resulted in literally countless versions of the Linux operating system out there. But the most common one of all is Ubuntu, which is extremely easy to install and use. You can even run it on a USB stick to try out first before taking the leap. You can download the very big installation file from the Ubuntu website. The file is in IMG (image) format, and can be opened and run by using a program such as Virtual Clone Drive.

Just be aware that a lot of Windows software will not have Linux versions, though this is improving. Also, there is no Microsoft Office for Linux (although one is rumored to be coming). How-To Geek provides some workarounds, but honestly, it would just be easier and cheaper to ditch MS Office and use the open-source Open-Office.

Chromebook

Google has been developing the Chrome operating system for the past 5 years. But it wasn’t until 2011 that the first Chromebooks started to appear. Chromebooks are quite simply laptops that connect to the Net and nothing more. You cannot store files on them, nor can you run software.

If you need to store files, then cloud storage is an option. (For obvious reasons, Google pushes Google Drive very heavily, and Chromebook buyers get extra free storage for at least a year, depending on what model you buy).

So a Chromebook is an option, if all you need to do is go online and if your files are all in the cloud.

Mac OSX

Last but not least, Mac OSX is an option. Now, this doesn’t mean buying a new Mac computer (not an option unless you have a huge hardware budget.)

But Apple’s current system, Mavericks, is free to download from the Mac App Store. And according to Apple’s own website, Mavericks can run on various older models, the oldest being the MacBook Pro or iMac from 2007. So if you really want to make the switch, you could pick up an older computer from, say, Craigslist or eBay. Then get onto the Mac App Store, and upgrade to Mavericks for free.

The big downside to switching to a Mac is that you will have to get new Mac versions of all your software which, unless you are a freeware fan, will cost you a lot extra. And some Windows software doesn’t have Mac versions.

It may be tempting to just try and plow on with XP, in the hope that things will be OK. But eventually your luck will run out. Without Microsoft to watch your back and plug all the security holes, eventually a hacker will find a way into your system. Then you will have a big problem.

So it’s best to bite the bullet, find the cash and upgrade now. You’ll be thankful later.

Operating System Photo via Shutterstock, Ubuntu Image: Wikipedia, Chromebook: Chromebook

Edward Snowden calls for encryption, surveillance reforms after NSA leaks

March 11, 2014

Exiled former CIA contractor Edward Snowden talked NSA surveillance and the powers of encryption at the South by South West conference in Texas on Monday.

Since first leaking sensitive NSA documents from last summer, Snowden has been holed up in Russia but was able to speak at the show by using Google Hangouts and seven proxies. Snowden's attorney Ben Wizner and ACLU technologist Chris Soghoian were also in attendance to help conduct the talk, as well as the Q&A session at the end.

In front of a 3,500-strong crowd, Snowden was particularly keen to stress that his actions had improved national security of the United States, rather than undermine it - as suggested by NSA director General Keith Alexander, while he strongly rejected accusations that his files may have found their way to intelligence agencies in Russia or China.

“That has never happened, and it is never going to happen,” he told attendees. “If suddenly the Chinese government knew everything the NSA was doing, we would notice the difference.”

He, too, was adamant that he change nothing about his situation, despite the revelations putting his life is danger, as well as preventing him from seeing his family in the U.S.

“Would I do this again? The answer is absolutely yes,” he said. “Regardless of what happens to me, this is something we had a right to know.”

“These things are improving national security, these are improving the communications not just of Americans, but everyone in the world,” Snowden added.

Calls for encryption communications

That led Snowden, who has applied for political asylum in as many as 20 countries, to stress the need for encryption, something that Soghoian and security guru Bruce Schneier championed for at B-Sides San Francisco and the RSA Conference respectively last month.

“We need to think about encryption not as this arcane black art but as a basic protection, the defence against the black arts in the digital realm,” Snowden said, before urging users to use Tor for anonymous browsing.

Soghoian agreed with this point by suggested that most ordinary folk are unlikely to embrace encryption by going full-disk encryption or SSL.

“Most people aren't going to go out and download an obscure encryption [tool],” said Soghoian. “They're going to use the tools they already have: Facebook, Google, Skype. When Google turned on [SSL for Gmail], they made passive surveillance of users' communications more difficult for agencies. We need services to be building security in. That doesn't mean that small developers can't play a role. What I want is for the next WhatsApp or Twitter to use encrypted end-to-end communications.”

NSA reforms welcomed by Snowden

There was criticism too for the likes of Google and Facebook, with speakers saying that they prioritise data collection for serving ads over data protection for users, while Snowden also urged for a reform to the way NSA collects data.

Back in January, U.S. President Obama promised an agency reform, which will, among other things, see the NSA collect data ‘two steps removed' from a phone number associated with a terrorist organisation.

Speaking at the conference, Snowden said that the agency spent too much effort harvesting communications en masse, and yet still they missed terrorists such as Tamerian Tsamaev, one of the brothers alleged to have bombed the Boston Marathon last year, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - the “underwear bomber” who tried to blow up a plane bound for Detroit in 2009.

“We are monitoring everyone's communications rather than suspects' communications,” he said. “If we hadn't spent so much on mass surveillance, if we had followed traditional patterns, we might have caught him.”

Towards the end of his talk (which can be seen here on YouTube), Snowden accepted praise from Internet pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who tweeted that he was “acting profoundly in the public interest”.

Others, though, were less enamoured with his presence at the cultural festival - where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Glenn Gleenwald also spoke via video link.

In an open letter to organisers, US Congressman Mike Pompeo of Kansas said that Snowden's “only apparent qualification is his willingness to steal from his own government and then flee to that beacon of first amendment freedoms, the Russia of Vladimir Putin".

Event organisers, however, defended the decision.

“I appreciate his interest in SXSW, but I've never uninvited a speaker, and so we wouldn't do this with Snowden,” SXSW interactive director Hugh Forrest told Forbes. “Our goal here is to be an open platform. I'd love to have the NSA giving a lecture.”

\'Ministry of Justice\' scam email attracts hundreds of calls

March 11, 2014

The Government's Action Fraud helpline has received hundreds of calls in just 24 hours from end users concerned about a new email phishing campaign that purports to come from the Ministry of Justice.

The scam email advises the recipient that they owe a £70 parking fine and encourages them to click on an attachment to see photographic evidence of the offence and pay the fine. The emails are spoofed to look like they come from the Justice Ministry at ‘justice.gov.uk'.

Action Fraud issued a warning about the campaign on 10 March. A spokesperson for the helpline told SCMagazineUK.com: “We've received a significant number of calls - in the region of 500 - on the matter since yesterday. This campaign is noteworthy because they are using a Government Department as cover. Claiming to hold photos is also a way of creating some intrigue to make a person open the attachment.”

Action Fraud was analysing the malware at the time of writing. “We can't clarify what it is yet but we do know it's not CryptoLocker or ransomware,” the official said. The emails have been sent to the City of London Police's National Fraud Intelligence Bureau for investigation.

The increasing sophistication of this and other phishing emails has led to a call for the Government to do more to raise people's awareness of the risk. Security expert Professor John Walker, from consultancy firm Integral Security Xssurance, said the latest scam should not be looked at in isolation, and urged the Government to run a national advertising campaign to inform end users.

He told SCMagazineUK.com: “We're saying to people to watch out for this particular email, but what about all the other emails you get about tax credits, about your bank? They're doing the right thing by saying we've found this one. But it's a bit like saying be careful this virus is in circulation, when there's thousands more viruses out there.

“What's frustrating is we're still not getting through to the public. We, the security community, are very good at telling ourselves about the problem, what we're not good at doing is communicating it to the general public. The Government should have a campaign out there - on billboards, on posters, on TV - to tell people just be aware of email, because it's costing the economy money. The Government needs to be proactive and actively help secure where the insecurity is occurring - and that's with the public, not with the security community.”

The realistic ‘Ministry of Justice' email comes from the address justice.alerts@public.gov.delivery.com and claims to be a parking charge ‘Reminder Notice', with details including references to a vehicle parked on a specific day and time, scale of the fine, additional charges if not paid within 28 days and liability to pay costs.

Users who receive the email are advised to delete it, then tell Action Fraud (call 0300 123 2040 or use their online fraud reporting tool). Anyone who has opened the attachment should use updated anti-virus software to clean it out.

Action Fraud, run by the National Fraud Authority, is the UK's central point of contact to report and find out about cyber fraud and theft. It partners with law enforcement and other agencies including City of London Police, Victim Support and Get Safe Online.

9 Tips for Successfully Vetting SaaS Products

What is one important thing to remember when vetting SaaS products used to improve my business?

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Make Sure to Use It

We went on a shopping spree of SaaS apps about six months into our startup. We bought many products that seemed like they would be helpful, but months later we realized we weren’t even using most of them and had to get rid of many to cut the fat. Those monthly SaaS fees add up and cut away budget space that could be used more wisely.
- Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes

2. Try Before You Buy

Trying before you buy is often a good practice. If you are paying, ensure it’s a month-to-month contract to really see how the new service is impacting your bottom line.
- Grant Gordon, Solomon Consulting Group

3. Integrate With Your Processes

Many SaaS solutions are valuable, but the real question is: Are they valuable to you? Understand how well this SaaS product integrates with your overall business processes. You’ll want to make sure the SaaS solution has the ability to integrate with your other enterprise systems that exist in the Cloud or behind your firewall. This integration is crucial to reaching the ROI goals of a SaaS solution.
- Brett Farmiloe, Internet Marketing Company

4. Reference Customers

Part of vetting SaaS products is to get feedback from other companies using them. Most people will give you the unbiased track record of the service from a customer perceptive when asked, and that is something you may not get from SaaS providers themselves.
- Phil Chen, Givit

5. Check the Export Options

Apps disappear and die, but my company needs to be able to continue functioning, which requires the ability to export data from one app and to import it into another. Whenever I’m considering putting my data into a new app, I want a guarantee that I can get my data back out of that system. The export function doesn’t necessarily have to be pretty, but I need to know it’s there and that it works.
- Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

6. Look at Several Options

Our policy is to always look at three alternatives for any SaaS product that costs more than $150 a month. You’ll discover variances in things such as contract requirement, customer support, cancellation policies and service commitments. We got ourselves in a bind with a VOIP provider. Had I done better research, we never would have chosen them.
- Ryan Buckley, Scripted, Inc.

7. Ignore Bells and Whistles

It’s easy to be wowed by a SaaS product that has 1,000 features. But if you only need 10 of those features, don’t let it cloud your judgement. When we tested out Zapier, I asked our team to provide cases for how it would affect our work flow. Once I saw exactly how it would benefit us, we made the decision to buy. Don’t look at what the software can do for other companies; consider what it will do for you.
- Kelsey Meyer, Influence & Co.

8. Evaluate Beforehand

The temptation for many business owners is to respond to the problem of the day and make knee-jerk decisions for whatever problem is right in front of them. My advice would be to step back, get your primary stakeholders together and assess your overall needs before deciding on anything. Make sure you find as few systems as possible to meet your needs, so your users have as few places to go to do their jobs as possible. For crying out loud, make sure that it’s mobile-friendly.
- Seth Talbott, Preferling

9. Measure the Cost of Building

Measure the cost of building a similar tool in house versus paying a monthly fee for using the software. Depending on how long you estimate you’ll use the software, building in house may be a more cost-efficient option.
- Josh Weiss, Bluegala

Are You a Rule Breaker?

There is no shortage of award programs honoring entrepreneurs, but most measure revenue or growth. While this is not a bad thing, entrepreneurs deserve to be recognized for other contributions.

They should be celebrated for things they don’t do:

- They don’t follow.
- They ignore conventional wisdom.
- They take the path less traveled.
- They do it the hard way.

They believe rules are meant to be broken. Did Steve Jobs follow the rules? Did Mark Zuckerberg? Did Elon Musk? Have you?

The Rule Breaker Awards honor and celebrate those entrepreneurs who have succeeded by doing it their way. Some have created whole new industries while others have revolutionized a field that has existed for hundreds of years.

Sponsored by Nextiva, Skype and Constant Contact, the awards salute those who never shirk from obstacles, don’t fear the unknown and persist - despite the odds. They salute the next business leaders.

Awards will be given to 15 entrepreneurs in the technology, retail, manufacturing, food/restaurant and service sectors. Nominations can be submitted digitally, and winners will be selected by popular vote and industry judges.

The Rule Breakers will be honored at a ceremony in New York in June 2014. At that event, one small business innovator will be chosen as the “Rule Breaker of the Year.”

Apply now to win the award and its prizes by March 31, 2014 at Rule Breaker Awards.

Barry Moltz is a host at the Rule Breaker Awards in New York City on June 10th. He can be found at BarryMoltz.com.

A Bluetooth Ring Could Improve Your Productivity Like Magic

A new Bluetooth ring being promoted in a recent Kickstarter campaign could be a major productivity tool. That includes for the small business owner on the go during those times when it’s not convenient or appropriate to pull out your smartphone.

By syncing with apps on your mobile device, Ring can perform a variety of distinct functions. And all these functions can be activated by a few swipes of your finger â€" like magic.

In a recent post on Mashable, Andario Strange writes:

“By recognizing finger gestures, Ring allows the wearer to write text messages by simply drawing in the air. The same dynamic allows the wearer to access apps by drawing designated shapes in the air. For example, drawing a music note could access your music player, while drawing an envelope shape would allow you to access your email.”

Ring can control appliances and other devices too.

In the promotional video below, a person writes “TV” in midair with their Ring finger and turns on the television in the room.

Ring can also send texts. After writing out a message in midair (as mentioned above), you can make a gesture to send the message, too.

Digital payments with a wave of your hand are another option with Ring. A few gestures in midair with your ring finger, including writing out how much you’re going to pay, will allow you to remit a payment using the device’s Bluetooth feature. Ring also has a vibration and LED display to alert you of incoming messages and alerts.

Gestures with your finger using Ring can activate a wide variety of functions. Up to 1,000 of these gestures can be made before the device requires recharging. Ring does have one glaring shortfall, however, Mashable reports:

“The only obvious shortcoming of the device at this point is that fact that it’s not waterproof. That could turn into a problem for those attempting to use Ring in mobile environments during bad weather, or even inside the home, say, if you forget you have Ring on when you go to wash your hands.”

The Kickstarter campaign for Ring, created by Logbar Inc., San Carlos, California has been highly successful. To date, the device has more than 3,900 backers and has raised more than $600,000 well over its $250,000 goal.

Images: Video Stills