Time for a Security Check-Up

If the Equifax data breach has taught you nothing else, it should be that any company can be subject to a security compromise if they are not careful. According to news reports, Equifax was breached through a vulnerability that was disclosed and a patch made available 2 months prior to when their system was infiltrated. Given the extremely sensitive nature of the data that Equifax keeps on hundreds of millions of people, waiting at least two months to implement a patch on a vulnerability that serious can only be considered irresponsible at best. However, the relatively simple mistake that Equifax made (not paying attention to the disclosure of a security flaw) is something that many thousands of businesses repeat every single day. It is often only a matter of time before a security vulnerability is exploited for many businesses who do not do their due diligence when it comes to security.

To be sure, most small businesses have much simpler networks and technology systems than a large corporation like Equifax. However, this is no excuse to be lax on security. Many small businesses, especially any in the medical or financial fields, have a lot of information that can be extremely valuable to identity thieves. In addition, any company that works with businesses in the medical or financial industries, as well as those who service governmental agencies, are also vulnerable as their business could be used as a staging point to breach other businesses. Suffering a serious data breach can be fatal for many small businesses so it is certainly worth the effort to make sure that a business has adequate security in place to protect their valuable data, including customer information.

The problem is that most small business owners are not technology experts. How can someone who is very busy running their business and servicing their clients be expected to learn and implement relatively complicated technology security practices? Generally they must rely on either their technology staff or their outsourced technology service providers to do so. Even then, as the Equifax incident has shown, it is possible for technology professionals to fail in their tasks. So what is a small business owner to do? The answer is to have a second opinion on their technology security – i.e. a Security Check-Up.

If you currently have technology staff or an outsourced technology provider, it is in your best interest to review their technology procedures and then have another technology provider perform a security audit to ensure that adequate security precautions are in place. If you are like many small businesses who do not have any professional technology help, then hire a trustworthy technology professional to perform a Security Check-Up as soon as you can!

If you need help with evaluating the security precautions of your business, please feel free to contact me right away. I am currently lining up clients to perform Security Check-Ups for the last quarter of the year so make sure you are protected before a security breach impacts your business.

How to Thrive and Survive in The New World of Technology

office-space-printer-sceneThis will be the first in a series of articles. Look for more soon!

Part 1: You’re Not the Problem. Old Technology is.

There is no doubt that in the last 10 years, technology has moved faster than ever before. For many people and business owners, this rapid pace of technology development has left them feeling confused and overwhelmed. I am very familiar with the problems that my clients have faced in the last several years trying to keep up with all the new technology. I have identified several tips for users who are looking to thrive and survive in The New World of Technology.

Stop Blaming Yourself

The very first piece of advice I have for you is to stop thinking of yourself as technology “illiterate,” technology “stupid,” or any other such derisive term. Technology should make your life easier, not harder. If you are having difficultly using or understanding your technology, you are probably using the wrong technology! One key trait of New World Technology is increased simplicity user-friendliness. In this day and age there is no reason to continue using frustrating technology.

If you want to thrive and survive in The New World of Technology, you must shift your mindset. Instead of thinking that new technologies are “too smart” for you, understand that new technologies are actually easier to use than ever before. Even though all this new technology is more powerful than ever, a great deal of that power is because it is much easier to use. That ease-of-use has led to many more people  using technology than did in the past. If you continue to bury your head in the sand, you will be left behind and you will have no one to blame but yourself.

1990’s Technology? As If.

The year is 2015. You must stop thinking in terms of 1990’s technology. Yes, the Windows PC was the dominant technology for nearly 20 years. For many of us, we “grew up” with that technology so it isn’t surprising we base our world view of technology on this old standby. However, The New World of Technology is dominated by mobile devices and distributed data. If you think that you must sit down at a desk to work with a computer, you are stuck in the 90’s. The New World of Technology allows us to work with our technology and access our data from almost anywhere in the world. Instead of chaining us to our desks or even our offices, today’s technology allows us to be much more flexible with our lives. We can travel more to meet with clients and partners. We can work from home and still be connected with our coworkers. We can even be more free to take time off work because we know we can access data and respond quickly if something urgent comes up.

Getting away from a 1990’s technology mindset also goes hand-in-hand with the ease-of-use I was talking about earlier. A lot of people feel that they want to stick with the tried-and-true Windows PC metaphor because they think that learning new technologies will be hard. Once again, they base their view from their past experiences with technology. Yes, working with a Windows PC was frustrating experience! It still can be even today! But newer technologies are much easier to learn. The learning curves are much smaller. By trying to stick with familiar technologies, many people are doing themselves a disservice. They are inadvertently keeping their technology experience frustrating by not embracing The New World of Technology.

Free Your Mind

To sum up, if you want to thrive and survive in The New World of Technology, you need to stop blaming yourself and get away from old, confusing technology. I can offer many examples of people from old to young who have embraced New World technologies and no longer consider themselves technology “illiterate.” You could be next!

Once you come to grips that you can master newer technologies and let go of the past, come back to read the next article in this series, where I will offer additional tips and advice. As always, if you have any technology related questions, please do not hesitate to ask me anything!