The first Thursday in May is World Password Day, dedicated to highlighting the importance of having secure passwords and making cyber security a priority.
With so many of us now working remotely due to the coronavirus, cyber security needs to be front of mind for all business owners and employees, especially those using their own devices for work purposes.
Here’s all you need to know about World Password Day and how to create a secure password to stay safe online.
Have you been a victim of cyber crime? If not, the chances are you will know someone who has – one-in-six adults have fallen foul of online fraudsters, according to a study from Experian, the global information services company.
The frequency and severity of cyber attacks rose again in 2019 as hackers successfully attacked major cities, governments, businesses, hospitals, and schools across the globe – in October alone 421,103,896, data records were confirmed to have been breached, with 111 incidents in which sensitive and financial information was compromised.
It’s been a few years since the Wannacry cyber hack hit thousands of organisations worldwide, including the NHS, and brought the reliance on the internet and technology into sharp focus. While the events were more about hackers holding large organisations to ransom, many individuals could be concerned about whether their personal data might be at risk as a result of the hack. And the hackers are showing no signs of slowing down.
But how well do you know the web?
Repetitive strain injuries (RSI) are among the most common workplace injuries – the TUC (Trade Union Congress) has stated half-a-million UK workers have reported symptoms that add up to a collective loss of 5.4 million working days each year.
Added to that, six workers will leave their job every day due to chronic RSI.
It’s estimated this costs UK industry anywhere between £5 billion and £10 billion every year.
How much do you trust your smartphone? It might sound like a daft question, but just take a minute or two to think about the sheer volume of sensitive information your phone holds – from banking app logins to business messages and emails – and think how much damage could be done if this information fell into the wrong hands.
So, to help make sure your data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, here’s how to keep your smartphone secure.
Social media has been around for the best part of 40 years – Usenet appeared in 1979 and is the first recorded network that enabled users to post news to newsgroups.
Although these Usenets and similar bulletin boards heralded the launch of the first, albeit very rudimentary, social networks, social media never really took off until almost 30 years later, following the roll out of Facebook in 2006.
So, what exactly is the state of social media in 2018?
If you work in an office, you’ll no doubt have your daily routine nailed down – maybe make a cuppa to take to your desk, fire up your computer, then check your emails to both ease yourself into, and set your priorities for, the working day ahead.
The chances are you’ll also work in an open plan office, where all colleagues can easily communicate with each other across the room – this is all part of the evolving office work-space, and things were very different as little as 20 years ago.
Let’s take a quick look at how we arrived at the modern day office, and what sort of working environment might lie ahead for office workers of the future…
Cloud computing is a technology that enables companies to manage data and files online, rather than on a computer’s hard drive, and has been a driving force behind the growth of flexible working across the UK.
And 2017 is expected to be the year when we reach the tipping point where flexible working becomes more common than working from an office, according to a report from Lancaster University’s Work Foundation.
So what is the future of flexible working? And how will cloud computing feature in this brave new world?
The internet of things (IoT) is the name given to all those devices that are connected and communicate with us, each other, and compatible apps over the internet.
The idea of the IoT has been around for decades, at least since 1989 when the first connected toaster (!) was mooted at that year’s Interop Internet networking show – a year later, at the 1990 Interop, a Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control Toaster was connected to the internet, and so the fledgling IoT was born.
And now pretty much every electrical device you can think of is connected, from televisions, to printers, to fridges – and we all know the endgame is that the machines will one day rise up and take over the world, but that’s another story…
Cyber crime is on the rise – recently released figures from both the police and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have revealed the extent of the problem faced not just by the authorities, but anyone with an online presence.