March, 2013

When you are fleeing a lion, it is not necessary to be faster than the lion, you just need to be faster than anyone else the lion is chasing. Technology evolves too quickly for the average professional to be 100% secure, but you can put up barriers that make you harder to hack than the next person, and that might just keep you smoothly sailing on the tidal wave of technology.

For this month's newsletter, we'd like to share some thoughts on internet security (and how NOT to be the slowest gazelle on the savannah).

Small businesses often go about their days without the help of full-fledged information technology departments. Challenges are dealt with on an ad hoc basis, as problems arise, and individual employees are left to their own devices when it comes to securing company computers and important internal information.  

 

But there are many steps you, and your employees, can take to secure your data, even without the help of the IT geeks. The following are a few suggestions for creating a more secure technological environment for your business or organization... Read more  

Any information security consultant will tell you that to protect your digital data you need to know what data you have. This is called a data inventory and it is a key part of corporate efforts to secure their technology environments. But individuals can, and should, do periodic data inventory assessments, too.

 

Surprisingly, personal data inventories often reveal that your greatest point of exposure is not on your computer at all, despite it having a 2 gigabyte hard drive. The biggest hole in personal information security is often in your pocket... Read more 

Your city manager or staff is likely already aware of and has thought about the matter of information security. It is a growing concern within the government management ranks, and panels on information security take place at many professional conferences.  

 

But elected leaders also need to have a general sense of their city's information security practices so that council budget priorities can appropriately align with the needs of the municipality. A good first step is to examine the oversight and reporting structure for information security... Read more 

One of the latest developments in online security, designed especially for those of us who tend to ignore online security, is called Two-Step Verification.  

 

At the most basic level, Two-Step Verification, also sometimes called Two-Factor Authentication, engages your cell phone to limit who can access your account. It's easy, free and highly effective.  

 

In a day and age when we almost all have our phones with us at all times, this is a great way to beef up online security... Read more

Between drumming up new business, completing the work you have in house and managing the people who work for you, there is not much time left in the day to plan a marketing strategy or create your latest blog entry, let alone evaluate your information security needs. But a secure computing enterprise is important to the long-term health of your organization, and setting up a security governance structure can help ensure information security gets the attention it needs... Read more  

Sincerely,
 
Ryder Todd Smith
President
Tripepi Smith & Associates, Inc.

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About Tripepi Smith
& Associates, Inc.

Tripepi Smith provides marketing, technology and public affairs solutions

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