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Here are the articles and blogs which caught our attention in October.
What have we missed. What did you read which caught you eye?
Tags: bcc, Clive Thomson, cyber crime, cybercrime, Debrett's, email culture, email etiquette, email overload, Michael Einstein, Ponemon
Who is the weakest link in the fight against cyber crime? It is us the user. Click here to listen to how we leak data ever day through careless use of email. Without thinking we have either opened or sent an email which opens the door to cyber crime be it hacking, stealing our identity (phishing) and giving away confidential data.
There are many ways we can manage our email behaviour to reduce the risk to ourselves and our organisation of a breach of confidentiality and improve email related security. Here are our top five tips.
Email cyber crime
Education is the key to reducing the risk of an email predicated cyber attack. For a free five minute review of your email security behaviour and how you can improve it either call Mesmo Consultancy on 01202 434340 or email us now to book an appointment.
Tags: bcc, cyber crime, email cyber crime, email security, Mesmo Consultancy
According to recent research from Centrify (providers of identity management services) forgetting your password is more annoying than spam email.
The cost of cyber crime has doubled in the past four years according to recent research from Ponemon. Strong passwords is one way to prevent prying eyes but 
just how easy is it to construct one? Also is it good to keep changing your password?
Back in 2010 Microsoft found that changing security words often cost billions of pounds as people wasted time constructing and memorising them and then forgetting them and worse leaving them unsecured.
Centrify now estimate that poor password management costs around £130,500 per year for a business of about 500 users. How they arrive at that figure is not clear. What is clear is that we really are not good at the basics of identity management. The top five mistakes being:
1. Always use the same password whenever possible.
2. Rotate through a variety of similar passwords.
3. Keep a written password in a master book of passwords.
4. Use personal information in a password.
5. Avoid using complicated symbols or combining upper and lower case.
Security management behaviour can easily be improved although it often takes a cyber attack (personal or corporate) as a wake up call. User education is key to reducing cyber crime. Here are our five top tips.
1. Avoid the traps identified above.
2. Second, use strong passwords which are really very easy to construct and remember. Take a phrase and then build a password from the first letter of each word and turn some into capitals and numerics, for example make your ‘i’ and ‘1’ and add a couple of symbols.
3. For those with multiple accounts consider using some form of password management software such as LastPass or Keepass.
4. Where you have a choice adopt devices which have more than just password protection for example finger and retina recognition.
5. Be vigilant about those emails which grab your attention telling you your accounts has been hacked. Delete them without even opening them as they are almost certainly from spammers attempting some form of identity theft.
Email is often the open backdoor for a cyber attack. For more about how we help our clients to reduce the risk of email cyber crime through email best practice contact us now.
Tags: Centrify, cyber crime, email best practice, email cyber crime, KeePass, LastPass, Password Management, Ponemon, Spam, Strong Password
An eclectic bunch this month. Here are our top seven (from August) to help you improve personal and business productivity and manage the risk of cyber crime. Some of which we email you about in August.
1. Ten pieces of IT jargon we love to hate.
Our favorite of the batch. It comes with a video and will make you laugh. Next time either an email is ignored or proposal rejected, check how many of these phrases it contains. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Email bankruptcy to stop wasting time
2. Understand your body clock to time your workouts.
Recent research suggest late afternoon optimum. But what if we cannot take time off then?
3. Declare email bankruptcy to avoid vacation email overload.
Is this a viable option when you come back to a mountain of email after being out of the office whether on leave or business? Yes for many time poor business people.
4. Six ways to beat the email holiday blues.
A guest post by Dr Seeley for Zoe Amear.
5. Here’s a radical way to end vacation email overload.
Daimler have developed an application to stop sending emails to people on leave. It automatically pings back a response to the sender asking them to re-send the email after the recipient returns. Novel and perhaps all part of the EU’s plans to reduce the working day to 48 hours.
6. Are universities failing computer science graduates?
Fifteen percent of computer science graduates are still out of work six months after graduating yet industry is crying out for skilled computer staff. What is causing the gap?
7. (Spanish )Holiday booking scam
Looks like using even the most trusty hotel booking sites you still need to be extra vigilant.
Tags: cyber crime, Daimler, Email Bankruptcy, holiday email overload, improve personal productivity, IT Jargon, Zoe Amear
Training is always the first item to be cut during an economic downturn. If Mesmo Consultancy’s order books (for email best practice training) are a barometer of the state of economy, then as others are experiencing there is a distinctive feel good factor in business. We have had our busiest six months since 2011. Working with organisations of all sizes and from all sectors we are still seeing considerable scope for ways to improve personal and business performance and productivity.
Here is our pick of the top five articles and blogs from the past few weeks on ways to improve personal and business performance from reducing email overload to proof reading apps.
1. The one work problem that plagues us all – and some cleaver ways to fix it
Suffering from email and social media disruption, feeling you have no time to stand still? This is our top pick.
Top time wasters
2. Cyber crime – top tips to reduce the risks of an attack on your business and yourself
A cyber attack not only dents your reputation but can also absorbs valuable time and resources on the damage limitation exercise.
3. Is the art of using pen and notebook dying?
Sometimes reaching for a pen and paper is the quickest way to take notes. No waiting either for the technology to boot-up or hassle if it runs out of juice.
4. The rise of humans: how to outsmart the digital deluge
How long does it take to get back to real productive work after you stoop to peek at either email or social media post? Sufficient time to run five miles in Roger Banister style. To be precise 23 minutes according to research from Microsoft) The moral as we have said many times before – limit all those distractions and stay in the present for at least 2o minutes.
5. Five speed reading apps for iOS to help you conquer your reading list
Many top executives have amazing speed reading skills. In today’s age of information overload speed reading is an essential survival skill for all of us regardless of our position in the organisational food chain.
Tags: cyber crime, email best practice, email overload, Email training, improve personal productivity, notebook stories, pen and paper