Posts for June 2013

Infographic: the £65,000 security breach

We seem to have covered IT security and data protection on this blog a lot recently. And there's good reason for that: suffering a data breach can cost your business a lot of time and a lot of money.

How much? Well, in the worst case it could cost smaller companies up to £65,000 to recover, according to this infographic based on research from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Interestingly, it's lost custom and business disruption that make up the majority of that loss. Businesses will tend to spend relatively little on actually responding to an incident, although if you have to bring in external suppliers or consultants to evaluate the damage and set things right then that can add up.

Here's the infographic, so you can see the cost of security breaches for yourself. Click it to view the full version:

Infographic by Via Resource. See full-size version.

• Five myths about hackers (and why they matter to your business)
• Five tactics to prevent data breaches
• Hackers: they're everywhere, every day

A new free tool to create your invoices

If you're a small company or freelancer looking for a really easy way to get invoices out to clients fast, you could do a lot worse than look to online accounting provider FreeAgent.

Although you have to pay for FreeAgent's main accounting software, the company now offers Invoice-o-Matic, a free online tool that creates decent-looking invoices for you.

Invoice-o-Matic is clearly designed as a hook to get you to start using the company's full-on accounting software. However, it's still very useful in its own right and certainly worth investigating if you currently do your invoices with Microsoft Word.

FreeAgent has posted this video showing Invoice-o-Matic in action:

Try Invoice-o-Matic for yourself >>

• Choosing accounting software
• Do you need a payroll system?
• Simple apps to help you keep good financial records

Friday tip: how to open Visio files without Visio

Every once in a while someone will send you an attachment you can't open on your computer, usually because you don't have the right software.

This often happens with Microsoft Visio files. Used to create diagrams and flowcharts, Visio is a complex piece of software that most people have no need for on a day-to-day basis.

At £279 for the Standard version of Visio, it's too expensive if you only need to open Visio files occasionally. But if you don't have a copy, what do you do when someone sends you a file in Visio format?

Here are two options:

1. Use the Visio viewer

This is the straightforward method, if all you don't need to make any changes to the Visio file.

Just download Microsoft's free Visio Viewer software, and run it to install the viewer on your computer.

This free software will let you open and view Visio files without Visio. However, you won't be able to make any changes.

2. Use other software to edit Visio files

It's traditionally been tricky for software developers to decode Visio files, which is why it's hard to open Visio files without Visio.

However, in recent years a couple of packages have added Visio support. They don't always work 100% (especially if your files contain complicated diagrams) but they're worth a go:

• LibreOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. It includes a package called Draw, which can open and save Visio files.
• LucidChart claims to be 'only online diagramming application that offers Microsoft Visio import and export.' You can try it free.

Failing that, ask the person who sent you the file to use their copy of Visio to save it in a different format. Visio can export to PDF files, which are ideal if you just need to review a diagram.

• How to open an ISO file
• Three ways to make your computer faster
• Enter repetitive data into Excel

Why PRISM means your hosting location matters

Millions of businesses rely on cloud technology each day, and recent revelations about PRISM have thrown data security back into the spotlight, demonstrating that where your data is physically located can really matter.

Where's the cloud?

Over the last five years or so more and more companies have started moving business data to the cloud. But while the benefits of the technology are clear, the implications are often not.

In truth, cloud technology can present some real challenges. Not enough companies are giving thought to the legal and physical implications of the cloud. I believe cloud providers have a responsibility to highlight these factors, of which location is one.

Location, location, location

It's widely accepted that companies should hold data in a secure facility (usually a building called a data centre, constructed specifically for the purpose). The location of that facility often get overlooked, but it matters.

For starters, some regions are prone to natural events such as earthquakes or floods. Others are beset by political instability and unrest.

The Euro crisis has hit confidence in some European countries which were previously considered rock-solid.

And then there's growing interference by governments - yes, we're back to PRISM again.

In light of these concerns, you're well-advised to investigate the setting of any potential cloud provider's facilities.

Where is right for you?

When evaluating the location of a cloud provider or hosting firm, these are the main factors to consider:

• Environmental risk. For instance, is the area prone to earthquakes or flooding?
• Political stability. Can you be confident the business environment won't change?
• An efficient legal system. If something goes wrong, you want a framework that makes it easy to seek redress.
• Low crime and corruption. You can be more confident about your data safety.
• Respect for confidentiality. After all, your business data is likely to be sensitive.

Staying competitive

Not only do you need to keep your data secure, but you also need to maintain a competitive edge.

Cloud services give you extra flexibility and make it easy for you to work on the move, but location plays a part in competitiveness too.

For instance, server response times can vary significantly depending on whether your servers are located relatively nearby (the same country or continent), or further afield (like the other side of the world).

This can have a very real influence on your website's search rankings, because load speed is one of the factors Google takes into account.

These are just some of the reasons your business should pay attention to the location of servers holding your data. Have you give it much thought?

Mateo Meier is founder of Artmotion, which offers hosting services located in Switzerland.

• Should you host in the cloud or on the premises?
• Q&A: the best web hosting for your business
• SLA: three letters to look for with your web hosting

Business tech bargain: Big Dell laptop, small price

Because they're too big to slip into a typical bag and carry around, 17" laptops aren't for everyone.

However, if you're keen to have a big screen and a keyboard with a numeric pad, and you want a machine you can move round the office and take out occasionally, a 17" model might be for you.

If you want to see how a laptop with a larger screen suits you, Dell's Inspiron 17 is currently available from just £335 including VAT and delivery.

See details and buy from Dell >>

That's a great price for a PC which has received decent reviews, and while the entry-level model isn't exactly over-powered, it still has enough oomph to run standard business software like Microsoft Office.

The Inspiron's real stand-out feature is its screen, which is crisp, clear and manages a resolution of 1,600 x 900 pixels. Most laptops in this price bracket make do with lower-resolution 1,366 x 768 screens.

In all, this is an excellent tech bargain if you're looking for a big laptop at a small price.

• See our previous tech bargains

Five myths about hackers (and why they matter to your business)

Most hackers look absolutely nothing like this

Security breaches and hacking attempts seem to be in the news all the time. And the stories tend to focus on the organisations that have been hacked, rather than dwelling on who's doing the hacking.

Perhaps as a result, there are lots of myths and misconceptions about hackers. Read on and we'll explode five of the most common.

Myth one: hackers don't target small businesses

Just because the newspapers only report when big companies get hacked doesn't mean that smaller firms are safe.

In fact, there's evidence to suggest hackers are increasingly targeting small firms, which may hold valuable data - like customer details or intellectual property - but don't have big resources to invest in security precautions.

For instance, one poor newsstand owner ended up around £14,000 out of pocket after his cash registers were hacked to send customers' credit card details to Russia.

Myth two: hackers are kids

Are some hackers kids just out to cause mischief and gain kudos online? Sure.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that the stereotype holds true for everyone who might try and break into your computer systems.

These days, hacking is big business. There's a big black market for stolen information like credit card details. Hackers are coordinated, organised and professional about what they do, because they can make money doing it.

Myth three: hackers use cutting edge techniques

Hackers don't steal information by sitting at their desk working out how to break through your firewalls, work out your encryption and read your data. Well, most of them don't.

These days they're more likely to put their efforts into creating a convincing phishing website to steal your log in details.

Why? Because it's easier and it works.

Myth four: hackers only target Microsoft Windows

Don't assume that because you use an Apple Mac, you're safe from hacking attempts.

While it's true that Microsoft Windows attracts most attention from hackers, that doesn't mean they aren't also finding ways to break into other platforms and devices.

In fact, with data spread across smart phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, CDs, portable hard drives and in the cloud, you could argue there are more targets than ever for hackers.

Myth five: you can only stop hackers with security software

Yes, you can block hacking attempts with a strong firewall, and fend off many threats with good security software from a company like McAfee or Symnatec.

But don't let good security software lull you into a false sense of security.

Hackers have long realised it's people who are the weakest links in any line of defence. We're all susceptible to social engineering, which is why hackers use flattery, confidence tricks and outright lies to trick you into revealing sensitive information or granting access to key systems.

There are some good examples of social engineering here.

• Would you lay out the welcome mat for hackers?
• How hackers target your passwords
• Hackers - they're everywhere, every day

Business tech bargain: external Blu-ray writer under £60

Even in these days of cloud storage and giant hard drives, removable discs have their uses. And if you need to cram a lot of data onto a single disc, you'll be wanting a recordable Blu-ray drive, like this tech bargain from Samsung.

It's an external Blu-ray recorder, which means you can just plug it into your computer via USB and start burning discs. There's no need to even connect a separate power cable, as this Blu-ray writer is powered from your computer's USB port.

It's made by reputable manufacturer Samsung and is currently available for £59.99 from both Amazon and Dabs.

See details and buy now from: Amazon  |  Dabs

Blu-ray discs are most often used to store high-definition video, and over the last few years they've begun to replace DVDs. However, just like DVDs, Blu-ray discs can also be used to store data. And because they offer a much higher capacity than DVDs and CDs, they're a good option for backing up and storing data.

Of course, Blu-ray discs created with this drive can only be read by other Blu-ray players. But you can also use it to burn data to standard DVDs and CDs.

• See our previous tech bargains

The start button makes a comeback

Have you tried Windows 8 yet? With its new interface designed for touch screen computers, it's caused some confusion among people who are used to the traditional Microsoft Windows dektop and start button.

The former is still there, albeit hidden behind a new whizzy start screen. But the ever-present start button, which has illuminated the way to key software since 1995? It's gone for good.

Or at least, so we thought. But as it turns out, Microsoft has performed a u-turn of sorts by announcing that a forthcoming update to Windows 8 will reinstate a start button.

It's not the same as the old faithful start menu, of course.

Instead of popping up a full menu listing applications, documents and useful destinations on your computer (like the Control Panel), the reinstated Windows 8 start button will simply send you back to that start screen, which looks a bit like this:

It feels like a fudge. Microsoft has suffered significant criticism for removing the start button, and reinstating it looks like an easy way for the tech giant to say 'we've listened and taken action', without really changing how Windows 8 works.

In some ways, the company is to be admired. The new start screen might well be the way forward, especially as touch screen laptops become more common.

But for now, if you're using Windows 8 and pining for the old-fashioned start button's functions, your best bet is to use third-party software to recreate it for yourself.

The new start button will be part of a free update to be released later this year.

• How to add a start menu to Windows 8
• Does your business need Windows 8?
• ISS it time to ditch Microsoft Windows?