Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

January 28th marks Data Privacy Day, a day intended to raise awareness of the importance of data privacy and educate users and business owners of its benefits. Spearheaded by the National Cyber Security Alliance, there are plenty of lessons the NCSA has to share with businesses as this day puts their, and their clients’, privacy in the spotlight.

The NCSA, in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration, provides a few guidelines for businesses to follow in order to preserve privacy as far as company data and personal information are concerned.

Protecting Your Business

Nearly every business collects and utilizes personal information from its clients, employees, and vendors. Therefore, it is also the responsibility of the business to make sure that this data remains private and secure. In this digital age, businesses need to be transparent with their data privacy policies, as even the accusation of a data loss event or misusing their information in any way can be catastrophic. There should never be a time that a customer could accuse you of collecting more data than they consented to, without you having proof that they had been notified and provided their consent. A privacy policy should be available for you to provide to your clients.

However, this needs to be more than a policy. It needs to become a tangible part of your organization, and enforced as such. Not only should you frequently remind your employees of the importance of privacy and data security, it should become integral to your company culture. As the NCSA and the SBA say, you should “communicate clearly and often what privacy means to your organization,” as well as being sure to “educate employees about their role in privacy [and] security...”

Your diligence should extend not only to your internal employees but also to any external (or third party) resources you may use. You need to ensure any of your partners or vendors with access to your network and its sensitive data are taking your security as seriously as you are. Many businesses require all external resources to sign a network use agreement that holds them liable in the event their actions result in a breach of privacy.

Privacy in the Home

Data security does not just apply to work done within the walls of your offices, either. You need to cultivate an even greater awareness and respect for privacy at home or while traveling, as well. Any device that is used for work must be treated with the same security-minded processes that you and your employees would subscribe to in the office.

Remind members of your household that they need to be careful with their personal information as well. While they may not have a company to manage, there are still plenty of consequences to deal with if their data is breached. Therefore, the entire family needs to be mindful about what they share online, avoiding sharing too much and keeping personal details close to the chest. This is especially true if you have children and teens under your care and supervision, as they could face a lifetime of ramifications.

Additionally, Business Solutions & Software Group understands how important your privacy truly is. When you have built up and maintained a business, you want to protect it, and maintaining data privacy can help keep both it and you safe. We appreciate how big of a commitment it is to be entrusted with that responsibility, and we’d embrace the chance to live up to it with your data.

Please, lean on Business Solutions & Software Group for more assistance and advice. Call us today at (954) 575-3992.

The term “best practice” has been used by businesses for years to describe the optimal way of performing a particular task. However, before fully adopting them into business operations, it is important for these practices to be examined and deemed to be beneficial to an individual company’s circumstances. If they are not, a company risks much by adopting a misplaced best practice.

You might think you know all of the tricks that a mouse is capable of, but you would be wrong. Here are some of the niftiest uses possible for your mouse.

Servers are responsible for the distribution and storage of your business’s data infrastructure, as well as the deployment of important applications and data. However, if your organization is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of these server units, you’ll be tasked with having the knowledge of how to keep them in optimal shape. We’ll discuss some of the ways you can better take care of your server units, as well as the optimal solution: server hosting.

Procuring equipment is a necessary part of managing any business, but this is often easier said than done. Your organization works with multiple vendors, which could be both confusing and time-consuming. How does your business manage its vendors, and is there a way to make this easier and more efficient?

Ransomware remains a very real threat, and is arguably only getting worse. Attacks are now able to come more frequently, and there are opportunities for even relative amateurs to level an attack against some unfortunate victim. However, this is not to say that there is nothing you can do to keep your business from becoming another cautionary tale.

You might spend a significant amount of time thinking about your business’s security practices, but the same can’t be said for your organization’s employees. Unless you give them a reason to care about security, they likely won’t. The resulting apathy could eventually become serious problems that could hinder operations in the long run, or worse, expose your business to threats that could put your employees and your clients in danger.

Many of those who are responsible for a business could tell you that managing it isn’t an easy task--and when IT is involved, it can very quickly get a lot more complicated. Of course, those that say that are more than likely using an antiquated, break-fix approach. Those who utilize managed IT services, however, will likely have a much different opinion.

Did you know? Today is National Clean Out Your Computer Day! As technology buffs ourselves, we want to spread the word about this annual opportunity to clean out the technology that your business uses on a daily basis. Here are five great ways to make sure that your computers are being properly maintained.

Last year’s United States’ tax season when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was breached and hackers used 464,000 stolen Social Security numbers to successfully E-file 101,000 fraudulent tax returns using false PINs. This incident should cause taxpayers to ask the question, “What’s the government doing to protect my tax returns?”

Microsoft’s Blue Screen of Death has haunted every version of Windows since Windows NT, way back in 1993. In recent times, despite the BSOD’s emoticon makeover in Windows 8 and Windows 10, the notification isn’t any less frustrating to encounter. When experiencing the dreaded BSOD, the question on every user’s mind is, “How do I fix it?”

It’s no secret that the screens of devices like smartphones, laptops, desktop monitors, and tablets, can contribute to eye pain and what’s called “digital eye strain.” In fact, in some extraordinary cases of prolonged screen use, smartphone use has even led to temporary blindness.

There’s no questioning that smartphones have done wonders for the world of business. Yet, some workers aren’t willing to adopt smartphones, and prefer their unbreakable nostalgia-filled flip phones.

The Internet is a great tool to use for business, but it’s also full of threats that could undermine your security if you’re careless. The main issue with cyber security is that it’s extraordinarily difficult to cover all of your bases, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. We’ll go over, in detail, some of the many security best practices that you can implement to keep your sensitive information and account credentials safe from hackers.

It’s a typical work day. You’re going about your business, when you decide to take a short break and check Facebook. Maybe you see a post that you’d like to share, but you’d rather not have that post on your timeline. While you could just delete it later, there’s a new feature that lets you share a post to your news feed, without posting it on your timeline.

All businesses must be prepared to deal with any unforeseen circumstances that could disrupt operations and derail their goals. One often unforeseen method for doing this is keeping an extra workstation on-hand, just in case a worker needs to use it. By doing so, you can prevent downtime and improve the way your business handles maintenance.

Everyone knows that it’s beneficial to upgrade your company’s technology and use the latest and greatest solutions. As much we all enjoy using new technology and shiny gadgets, is there a point when upgrading goes too far?

Cybersecurity for business contains many complexities that are often difficult to keep track of. If your organization takes a proactive approach to understanding and implementing cybersecurity best practices, you can dramatically increase the security of your organization’s network.

We’ve all been in a situation where we’re watching our inbox waiting for someone to send an email back. However, you might be limiting your own success by making your emails be too long, too wordy, or even too brief. According to a study by Boomerang, there are several ways to make your emails more viewer-friendly, and it all starts by analyzing what you’re currently doing with your outbound communications.

To become a grammar expert takes years of education--a luxury that few modern workers have. Thankfully, there are tools available online that can make anybody a grammar expert. One such tool is Grammarly, a free Chrome extension and web-based app.