The two faces of Facebook.....

On the one face, Facebook is a bright shiny object, for each of us, it enables us to connect with old friends, share experiences, talk about our lives and make new friends. For businesses, Facebook with over 350 million users and a 50% usage rate of all Social Networking sites (Myspace 15%, Youtube 15%, Twitter 1.1%) it's no wonder businesses want to be presenting their brand on their own Facebook fanpage and rightly so. If you are a business and not on Facebook, you are missing an opportunity.

On the other face, Facebook is an accident waiting to happen. The number of phishing scams that have proliferated within Facebook in the last year is staggering, the most well known being the Kneber botnet. Hackers have been able to steal user passwords without users being logged in and send messages to a users friend list, the friend is trusting and clicks on a video, ad or link and is immediately infected. If this is done at home, it's personal time, if it's done at work, it's business time. From professional experience, I have cleaned up at least 5 cases in the last 3 months. So what does a business do?

1)Block Facebook from users and only allow staff who are working on the companies Facebook Fanpage to access Facebook. Same with Twitter, MySpace, etc. Granted you will have some disgruntled employees, but at least they are still working versus infected and not.

2)Provide knowledge to employees about how to secure their Facebook profile and what to watch for. If users access the company network from home and their home computer becomes infected, that is another way into the company network.

Here is a good article for taking advantage of Facebook Privacy settings, and if you do get infected, Combofix is the best tool I have found to clean your system, here is a link to my blogpost Spyware encounters of the worst kind .

Don't get me wrong, Facebook is useful, but there are always two sides to any story or in this case two faces and as with anything, being more educated about a subject helps you make a better informed decision.... Read more ...

Cloud Computing in plain english

What is Cloud Computing?

Using a simple story of a growing florist business, this video explains the basics of cloud computing: how it works and why it makes sense for businesses and individuals.

-The difference between on-site computing and cloud computing
-The financial benefits of cloud computing
-What makes cloud computing secure and efficient
-How cloud computing impacts consumers

Cloud Computing made easy... Read more ...

Securing and managing your personal and business passwords......

I am always telling people that I am not a security risk because I can't remember anything (not entirely true). But remembering passwords is a challenge, especially since I am in the IT industry and have over 100 passwords.

So how do I manage all these passwords? I use a password manager called Roboform. Roboform allows me to have one master password and store all my existing passwords in a secure password database. Roboform then remembers all my passwords so I don't have to...Works for me.....

For Personal passwords, I can activate Roboform (off my PC or USB Memory Stick) go to my banking websites, Amazon, eBay, Paypal, etc. confirm the website I want to Roboform to enter the password for and my username and password for that website is automatically entered.

For Business, I am in IT and have many server and application passwords for my business and customers business servers and applications. Storing them on Roboform saves me tons of time and I can take them on the road on my USB and support customers from anywhere.

Try Roboform for free...

RoboForm's Key Features

• So Easy - You remember one password, RoboForm remembers the rest.
• Saves Time - With ONE CLICK RoboForm goes to a website and logs you in automatically.
• Saves More Time - RoboForm also fills long registration and checkout forms with one click.
• Secures Your Information - Stores passwords on YOUR computer, protects them with AES encryption.
• Strengthens Passwords - Generates random passwords that hackers cannot guess.
• Fights Phishing - Fills passwords only on matching web sites.
• Defeats Keyloggers - Does not require using keyboard to type passwords.
• Simple to Use - Just download RoboForm and learn as you go.

Try Roboform for free... Read more ...

FreeConferenceCalling, the efficient, cost-effective way to host conference calls

The on-demand conference call service is available to use anytime for up to 500 simultaneous callers and yes, every conference call is actually free and accessible from any type of phone, from anywhere – repeatedly. There are no fees or gimmicks whatsoever. Only domestic long-distance rates may apply as determined by each caller’s long-distance carrier. If the caller has nationwide long-distance plan, is using a cell phone or most popular VOIP services, the conference call will likely cost them nothing.

With free call recording (to mp3), a web management console and call reporting the service is an amazing value.



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Managing Outlook to maximize your productivity

This book is about a process that many of us have little to no control over and need help with...managing alot of email AND the obligations that come with it. Michael Linenberger makes a very detailed and thoughtful analysis of these problems and teaches an effective solution to managing them.

A great book to help you leverage Outlook to increase your productivity.


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