If any of your staff work remotely, you need to be on top of this

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Remote and hybrid working is now the norm for a lot of people.

But a recent survey has found that, despite it being more than two years since many of us were forced to work from home, too many businesses still don’t have the right cyber security measures in place for those away from the office.

The survey was originally intended to learn about spending plans from now into next year. However, the results highlighted just how few businesses have the right cyber security protections.

And it’s a worry.

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Some employees won’t stop using apps that could be a security risk

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It’s likely a lot of the applications and software tools you’re using now are different from the ones your business used before the pandemic.

That’s because we’ve all had to make big adjustments to the way we communicate and collaborate.

And to begin with, it may have been hit and miss. It’s possible in the first few weeks and months that your employees had to use whatever tools they had available to them.

Now that we’ve settled into permanent new ways of working, we can pick the software tools that best suit our businesses.

Unfortunately, your employees might not like your choice of which apps should be used within the company. And some of them may continue to use the ones they prefer, despite the security risk that comes with that.

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Microsoft’s taking a responsible leadership position on AI

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Microsoft’s decided to retire and rework an AI tool that could not only recognise our facial features, but also identify our mood.

Azure Face is an emotion recognition tool. These are highly criticised by experts who believe they violate human rights.

Microsoft has just published the updated version of its Responsible AI Standard.

It wants AI to be a positive force in the world, and says it recognised Azure Face has the potential to be misused.

It seems like it’s not goodbye for good for the AI facial recognition technology though. Although the public won’t be able to access it, Microsoft sees the value of controlled access for specific needs, such as assistance for the visually impaired.

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Ever wondered if your apps are spying on you? Now you can find out

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It’s no secret that some applications are a little too interested in us and what we’re doing.

We’ve all had this experience. You might be talking to a friend about a new product that you’d like to try. Or perhaps you’ve discussed somewhere you’d like to visit.

Then the next time you go online you see adverts for the exact things you were talking about.

It’s more than a coincidence, surely???

Until recently, we haven’t had a lot of control over what information our apps are gathering about us.

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Your business is losing hundreds of hours to spam every year

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Spam emails. Everyone hates them.

It’s not just the emotional pain of clearing spam from your inbox. Having to do that is a real productivity killer, too.

A recent report found that each one of your employees could be losing up to 80 hours each year, thanks to filtering and deleting spam emails.

That’s a LOT of lost productivity.

Anywhere between 45% and 85% of emails generated each day are spam emails. And worryingly, that also includes malicious emails and those hoping to infect you with malware.

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The business owner’s briefing: Reduce the burden on your brain

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When you own or manage a business, your cognitive load can be overwhelming.

Not only do you have your own work to think about, but your focus often has to be split between that and what your people need from you.

That can mean interruption after interruption; a mounting to-do list; and never quite achieving that work/life balance. Which was probably one of your main goals when you started your business.

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Now ‘Do Not Disturb’ means exactly that

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Imagine hours to get on with your most important tasks, without any interruptions from your team.

It’s the dream isn’t it?

A major update to Windows 11 will help you work with zero distractions. Our new video shows you how.

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At last! Google Chrome’s going to block disruptive notifications

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When you’re browsing it can feel like you’re being bombarded with things other people want you to see.

Not only do we have to click on permissions for cookies and tracking, but now a lot of websites ask for our permission to send us notifications.

And while many of these notifications are harmless – news updates, latest recipes, product releases – sometimes they can be outright spam.

It’s distracting, it’s making us less productive at work, and it’s just really annoying.

It’s called ‘notification spam’ and it’s becoming a problem. In fact, Google says it’s one of the top complaint reports from people using its Chrome browser.

So now the tech giant has decided to do more about it.

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Is your business making these cyber security mistakes?

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It feels like every day we’re being warned about a new threat to our cyber security, doesn’t it?

That’s for good reason. Last year, ransomware attacks alone affected 73% of UK businesses.

And the cost of cyber-crime is estimated to hit $10.5 trillion by 2025, according to the ‘2022 Cybersecurity Almanac’.

But we’re still seeing far too many businesses that aren’t taking this threat seriously.

It’s not only your data that you could lose if your company falls victim to a cyber-attack. The cost of remediation or mitigation can run into tens of thousands of £££.

And at the same time you’ll suffer an average of 21 days downtime after a cyber-attack. Imagine… 21 days without being able to use all your business technology as normal. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

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Most ransomware victims would pay up if attacked again

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Ransomware is one of the fastest growing cyber-crimes in the world. Last year, 37% of businesses were victim to an attack.

In case you didn’t know, a ransomware attack is where cyber criminals infiltrate your network (or device) and steal your data by encrypting it. The data is still there, but you can’t access it.

Then they demand you pay a large ransom fee for the encryption key.

If you don’t pay the demand (which can be tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds), they delete your data.

It’s not just the cost of the ransom fee to worry about. There’s the stress, reputational damage and downtime that goes with it. In 2021, the average downtime suffered after a ransomware attack was 22 days.

Official advice is not to pay any ransomware demands.

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