Tag: Threat

Protect Your Business From Legal Threats

Two focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. When you’re in business of any kind there are potential legal threats looming around every corner. As you such you must protect yourself from them. The following contributed post is entitled, Protect Your Business From Legal Threats.

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This is something that all businesses need to think about and business owners need to be aware of, and yet a lot don’t actually manage to remember that. If you are keen for your business to do well and to be protected in general, one of the main issues there is making sure that you keep it safe from legal threats. But how can you do that? As it happens, there are a lot of ways to achieve this. Let’s take a look at just some of them right now that you might want to be aware of.

Pic Credit – CCO License

Copyright & Trademark Your Intellectual Property

One of the most common kinds of legal threat is when people try to steal your intellectual property. The main thing that you need to do here is to ensure that you are protecting that property in the eyes of the law as fully as you can. Using a combination of copyrighting, trademarking and so on, you are going to find that it is perfectly possible to keep people from stealing your stuff – or you can pursue them in the courts if they do. So this is a vital thing that you need to make sure you are thinking about.

Keep Your People Safe

You might also be concerned about threats from your employees or ex-employees, perhaps in the form of being sued for causing them harm in the workplace. This is one of the main reasons you need to make sure that you are looking after the workplace and that you are doing all you can to keep it as safe to work in as possible. The last thing you want is an asbestos lawsuit coming your way, so make sure that you do all you can to avoid this kind of incident occurring in the workplace in the first place.

Write Up Contracts

There are many times when you can avoid legal issues by simply writing up contracts that are then enforced by the law. A good example is when you are hiring a freelancer to work for you for a short time. It is very normal in these instances to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which will prohibit that worker from being able to share sensitive information about your business to competitors and the wider world in general. So clearly, that is a really important thing to be aware of here.

Pic Credit – CCO License

There are other instances when a contract is vital too, such as when you employ someone. You definitely need to make sure that you are signing a contract with them there, because you will need to lay out everything that the both of you need to know about the relationship between you. So make sure that you are doing that, in order to avoid any potential future legal issues that might otherwise arise.

Those are just some of the main ways to protect your business from legal threats across the board, so be sure to do exactly that. You will be glad you did.

3 Threats That Could Bring Your Business To Its Knees

Two of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. As a business owner, you want to always be conscious of threats to your operations and to be proactive about them. The following contributed post is entitled, 3 Threats That Could Bring Your Business To Its Knees.

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When it comes to running a company, it certainly can be a risky business! In fact, there are often all sorts of threats that loom over your business, that could quickly bring everything you have worked so hard and so long for, crashing to the ground. Fortunately, proper planning can significantly minimize the risk that such threats pose to your company. A topic you can read more about below.

Compliance Risk

Compliance is how well your business meets the laws and guidelines set out by the countries and sectors that it operates in. For example, in many places, companies will be expected to protect customer data, protect employees’ health and safety, and protect service users by acting within strict guidelines and operating codes.

Additionally, if your business fails to meet such codes, you make yourself vulnerable to many risks. The first of these is the fine and punitive action professional organizations, governments, and private citizens can take against you. While the second is that by intentionally or accidentally not complying, you can jeopardize the reputation of your business. Something that can lead to a lack of customer trust and so negatively impacts on success.

Therefore, always familiarize yourself with the codes relating to your business. You must also demonstrate that you are doing all in your power to meet them while also keeping the necessary documentation. Of course, if you are unsure or unclear on any official rules or guidelines, consulting a legal specialist in the areas in which your business operates is best.

Physical risk

Another type of threat you must plan for when running a business is physical risk. There many of these that need to be considered depending on your location, including flooding and earthquakes. Then there is fire, which is not so location-dependent and is a threat that can wipe out your assets and pose a genuine threat to the life of your employees and clients.

The good news is that there are several actions you can take to minimize the risk of a fire occurring and the risk of it causing damage and injury. One such step is to ensure that any buildings you own or lease are constructed with fire safety in mind. Something that may mean using resources such as fire curtains in large open plan spaces. The reason being that they block space off, preventing a fire from spreading and making it much safer.

Security risk

Finally, when it comes to threats to your business, you must carefully consider any security risks. This means dealing with both real-life perils such as burglary, and vandalism, and cybersecurity issues.

To that end, you must give as much attention (if not more) to your online security as you do the protection of your buildings. Something that means you will need to consider tactics such as two-factor authentication for users, and robust cybersecurity policy and training. Also, finding data storage providers that use the most up to date cybersecurity systems possible is essential here too.

The Top Cyberthreats That Could bring Down Your Business In 2019

Three of the focuses of my blog are Financial Literacy/Money, Business/Entrepreneurship and Technology. No matter what type of business you are running, a key consideration is cybersecurity as there are a lot of elements at work that are looking to infiltrate and take down everyone’s operations. It’s important to be aware of these threats. The following contributed post is entitled, The Top Cyberthreats That Could bring Down Your Business In 2019.

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Cyber threats are continually evolving. In the past, companies had to worry about things like DDoS attacking and phishing, but in 2019, things are changing again, and there are new threats on the horizon. Businesses need to be careful. Not only can interruptions to their IT infrastructure cause issues operationally, but the regulatory environment is becoming increasingly unfriendly. Companies that admit data breaches risk significant fines and years of sunken profitability.

Check out the top cyberthreat of 2019 that could bring down your company.

AI-Based Attacks

DoD – Defense.gov

With artificial intelligence becoming open source and widespread, it won’t be long before hackers start using it to infiltrate companies and trick them into handing over data. AI-based attacks could automatically sweep company communications and create new emails that appear to be legitimate but which aren’t.

Cyptomining Malware

Cryptocurrencies require a lot of processing power to “mine.” Miners need to use hundreds of processors to crunch the data in the hope of discovering a new and valuable coin. The temptation, however, is to get somebody else to do it for them.

This is where crypto malware comes in. Crypto malware gets installed on another person’s machine without them knowing, and then starts performing calculations that benefit the miner. It’s not a direct attack in the traditional sense of the word, but it can undermine a business’s compute capacity as well as cost it more in terms of energy. The mining means that the companies processors are active, diverting them from other business-relevant tasks.

Botnet Attacks

InrsITe points out that companies need to do more to protect their data. But without adequate protection, it’s likely that many will fall prey to the predations of hackers. More than 70 percent of companies operating today will see a botnet attack that involves machine learning or artificial intelligence. Not all will be affected (because many will be protected by good software), but many will suffer and lose profitability as a result.

State-Sponsored Attacks

With the business world becoming so important, we often forget about the role of the state – a human organization which seems more redundant every year. States still hold all the weapons and still jostle for power. It’s likely that 2019 will see public institutions attacking private companies associated with particular rival governments. Granted, this probably won’t affect the average small business, but it may be an issue at larger firms.

Password Logging

Pexels

The majority of businesses still rely on single-factor password authentication to grant colleagues access to their networks and data. In short, all most companies do to protect themselves is require that when an employee gets to the office, they log in with their name and passcode.

Unfortunately, this form of security is hopelessly outdated in 2019. It’s often easy for hackers to install keyloggers on work machines remotely and then wait until the employee taps in their password. Once they have it, nothing is stopping them from accessing all the company’s data.

Two-factor authentication gets around this. With two-factor, the hacker must prove that they are an employee via a second method (such as tapping in a code that comes through to their phone).

How Advanced Are Online Threats Becoming

A key of my blog is Technology. With our world becoming increasingly more digital, there are also an increasing number of online threats. With so much business being conducted online, having solid cybersecurity is a must. The following contributed post is entitled, How Advanced Are Online Threats Becoming.

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Being hacked when you’re online is something we all worry about, in the back of our minds. We don’t like leaving our credit details on retail websites, if we can help it, and we all regularly check to make sure our firewalls are turned on. It’s a habit we become accustomed to, the more and more we use our computers to connect to the world wide web, and it’s something we should all clue ourselves up on.

And that’s because cyber threats are becoming more and more common, and there’s a lot of scammers out there who know just how to disguise themselves to earn your trust. They can even use the numbers in your phone to pose as someone you know nowadays.

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There’s Gaps in the Connection

A lot of websites use third party companies these days, to make sure they keep costs down in their own businesses by not running their own IT support desks or their own retail portal. They use another company’s previously established support network or paywall, and that can lead to a hink in your secure browsing. After all, the more people involved in any searches you tap in, or any purchases you make, the more chances there are of your information getting out.

Websites who have to redirect you to reach certain pages, or websites who don’t allow you to use secure payment methods such as Paypal or Worldpay, are very likely data sink targets. Hackers will keep an eye out for websites that need further connections to enable their profits, and exploit these connections to get to you. They can change them out to make sure you connect to them instead, or it might just be a flimsy line that could allow a few worms in. You never know who’s on the other side of the screen, after all.

AI Could Be a Way In

The Siris and Alexas of the world have a lot to answer for. They can be one of the most helpful appliances you own, but they can also be targets for people looking to access your secrets. And it’s not just malicious outside threats that can access you and your family’s most private data: it could be the companies themselves as well.

So if you do have an artificial intelligence system in your home, they need to be connected to the wifi to work. And there’s a good chance you have quite a few recordings on them you would never want anyone outside of your own four walls to hear. And it’s these stored recordings, which have to be removed manually, that both hackers and shady executives alike could be after. It’s a misuse of the trust the consumer places in the company – you bring this kind of tech into your home to make life more convenient, and these are the results we’re seeing.

That was a quick look into the world of online threats, so make sure you’re always up to date on what could be out there.