Technology has evolved at a rapid pace over the previous decades, and the rate of change seems to rise every year. New technology can help you protect your home and your business, and it can help ensure your personal safety. Here are a few technologies that can help protect your assets.
Computer Security
Modern Windows systems are inherently more secure when compared to older systems, but they are still vulnerable to a variety of attacks. In addition, hackers have developed more sophisticated methods to steal credit card, banking and identity information. Those who run Windows and OS/X systems will need to ensure that they avoid potentially dangerous downloads, and they'll want to run virus and malware scans on a regular basis. We store more information on out computers than ever before, so take steps to keep it safe.
Biometric Identification
Movies have long portrayed a future where fingerprint and iris scanning would ensure building security, and technology is finally catching up. Basic fingerprint identification systems are now affordable for most businesses, and these systems can be hard to crack. Combined with keys or other security measures, these systems can keep your assets well protected. In addition, these systems can monitor activities, allowing you to watch out for employee theft and other potential problems.
Video Monitoring
In the past, video monitoring was expensive and yielded only mediocre results. Today, technology is much better, and new products are far more affordable than older products. Thanks to the low cost of video technology, camera systems can be installed virtually anywhere, and the software used to access information is far easier to use and, in some cases, free. So if you want to protect a Calgary steel fabrication business, Aero-Tech Specialty Welding & Fabrication Ltd, opting for video monitoring is the only solution for security. There are a number of turnkey systems on the market, and more adventurous people might want to consider a do-it-yourself approach.
The Cloud
The cloud paradigms are often touted as convenient and easy to use, but there most significant benefit might be their ability to keep you information secure. Cloud providers depend on providing top-notch security to ensure that their clients stay with them, and they use the latest technology available to provide superior protection. While they are not impervious to attack, they provide better security that most home and business users have access to.
We often focus on new forms of entertainment and new ways of being more productive, but high tech has had a significant impact on home, business and personal security as well. By keeping up with recent technological developments and using modern systems, everyone can achieve better security.
About The Author:
Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She also enjoys being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise as well as researching new topics to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure.
An FTP setup is very necessary for businesses to flourish. FTP refers to file transfer protocol. FTP is used to transfer pages from a server to the user’s browser. It is also used to transfer electronic mail across the internet. Files can be easily uploaded with the help of FTP. To get started you need to upload an FTP client on your computer and set up an account with a home page hosting service which offers FTP . The first step is to get connected after selecting a profile name and address.
Understanding the technology
FTP can help you to transfer files between in the internet and a couple of computers. Files can be easily copied using FTP technology.
- FTP is the short term for file transfer protocol.
- Both ASCII and Binary files can be transferred between computers easily.
- An FTP server is required on the target computer for FTP to be running.
- A user-name and password is required for FTP to run.
- University of California Berkely was the first to develop FTP.
- For a quality FTP server both security and bandwidth is very important.
- File transfers are made possible through internet protocol and transmission control protocol.
Aspects related to file transfer protocol
It is important to pay heed to certain important points if you want to use FTP effectively.
- You can use an FTP backup tool to save information. This measure needs to be adopted so that when your hard disk crashes it is easy to obtain the essential data.
- In order to sync FTP hire the services of a reputed company which has strong track records.
- The best feature of FTP is that it is independent from the operating system.
- FTP has undergone transformations since the day of its inception. SSL has been incorporated to encrypt file transfers.
Implications of FTP
FTP is mostly used in secured networks. In order to load files FTP software is required. If you already have a website setting up a files transfer protocol will make your life easier. You will be able to upload and download files from your server easily. AS large files are difficult to share, FTP hosting allows you to share large files with certain people. FTP hosting will allow you to store the files in accessible locations and share them with the people you want. With the large availability of hosting providers it is very important that you conduct a thorough research before reaching a final decision.
Selecting an FTP host
While selecting an FTP host you must evaluate certain criteria. The more storage place that it is offered to you the better it is. Usually focus must be laid on obtaining large storage price at affordable prices. The FTP hosting service must be highly functional. It should help you with file transfers. Dragging and dropping files must be easy. Sharing files via links and offering features for back up is very essential. You should be able to access the files from most devices and across different platforms. Make sure that the hosting service makes use of encryptions to transfer files.
Hosting services which provide FTP must be able to provide strong customer support. If you face any problem the hosting service should be able to come to your assistance at once. They should be able to clear your queries and address all your problems. Certain service providers host FTP in the cloud. You can enjoy unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage. Without ads your privacy is completely guarded as you opt for files transfer protocol.
About The Author:
Greg is a website owner who has referred to InexpensiveWebHosting.co to know more about FTP. He feels that with FTP his tasks have become easier.
Several companies are jumping onto the bandwagon of cloud computing with a dream of saving costs and making IT infrastructure scalable and flexible. Yes, cloud computing can offer several benefits but at the same time, it comes with inherent risks and challenges that companies need to understand before implementing.
Challenges
Cloud computing, being a shared resource, faces several security challenges. Let’s look at them.
- Data location: Under the traditional IT infrastructure, it was relatively easy to know and maintain the location of data. With cloud computing, data could be residing physically anywhere. If the exact location of the data is not agreed upon under service level agreement (SLA) with cloud service providers (CSP), it becomes difficult to know where it’s stored, specifically when CSP is outsourcing capabilities to third parties.
- Data breaches: When it comes to cloud security, there are several factors that can lead to data breach. If CSP doesn’t implement adequate physical, logical and personnel control, anybody can access the data. Another way of breaching data is through the usage of virtual machines to extract private cryptographic keys used by other virtual machines on the same server.
- Data loss: Data can be lost due to several reasons — natural disasters such as fire, flood or earthquake; a malicious hacker could delete the data out of spite; or encryption key could be lost when the entire set of data is encrypted. Recovering the lost data is a tedious task but it becomes impossible when the lost data is untraceable. Businesses may even get into trouble with regulatory bodies when the data they were supposed to store for years is lost without a trace.
- Account or service traffic hijacking: Breaching data becomes easy for an attacker if he/she gains access to account credentials. He or she can not only eavesdrop on companies’ activities and transactions but can also manipulate data and redirect the companies’ clients to illegitimate sites.
- Insecure interfaces and APIs: Interfaces are important for cloud provisioning, management, orchestration and monitoring; while APIs are integral to security and availability of general cloud services. If these elements are weak and insecure, the risk factor for organizations increases tremendously.
- Denial of service (DoS): When companies are dependent on the availability of IT infrastructure 24/7, DoS is a huge problem. And this problem becomes an expensive one when organizations are billed by CSPs based on computer cycles and disk space consumed as DoS consume huge amount of processing time.
- Malicious insiders: A malicious insider could be anyone, from current or former employee to a contractor or a business partner who gains access to network, system or data for nefarious reasons. This type of risk is particularly great when CSPs are solely responsible for security.
- Cloud abuse: Many times hackers use cloud to break an encryption key that’s too difficult to crack on a standard computer, launch DDoS attack, propagate malware and share pirated software.
- Insufficient due diligence: Unfortunately companies using cloud do not fully understand the contractual issues concerning liability and transparency. Also, if the company’s development team isn’t fully familiar with cloud technology, it can create operational and architectural issues.
- Vulnerabilities arising out of shared technology: CSPs share infrastructure, platforms and applications to offer scalable services. Consequently, any issue in the underlying components that make up the infrastructure can make all the organizations on the server vulnerable.
Solutions
There are several steps that CSP and companies can take to combat the threats stemming from cloud computing.
- Robust security: Traditional approach toward IT infrastructure is no longer adequate. CSPs need to implement layered model to ensure the privacy and appropriate access of data in shared, multitenant cloud. This task will specifically include: content protection at different layers in the cloud infrastructure, such as at the storage, hypervisor, virtual machine and database layers; and mechanisms to provide confidentiality and access control, including encryption, obfuscation and key management.
- Trust and assurance: Companies need to have confidence and trust in the cloud environment, including in physical data centers, hardware, software and resources employed by CSPs. On the other hand, CSPs need to establish an evidence-based trust architecture and control the cloud environment through adequate monitoring and reporting capabilities. CSPs should also be able to offer audit trails to help customers meet internal and external demands for provable security.
- Isolation: CSPs can ensure isolation for companies’ data even within a multitenant environment by implementing multiple virtual data centers, each with its own virtual LAN. To up the security measures, each of the virtual data centers can be configured into one or more trust clusters, separated by demilitarized zones and virtual firewalls.
- Confidentiality: To maintain the confidentiality of companies, CSPs can offer encryption and/or obfuscation. However, obfuscation in the cloud will require the use of new architecture and approaches to enable access to the original non-obfuscated data with maximum security controls.
- Access control: Identity management and provisioning platforms should be utilized to ensure that only authorized users can access relevant applications and data. These measures should be supported by compliance and audit, and log management to let the companies track the movements in their clouds.
- Control over credentials: Companies should prohibit their employees from sharing account credentials with other parties. They can also implement two-factor authentication techniques wherever possible.
- Monitoring and governance: CSPs should offer resources that allow companies to monitor the security and compliance of their data. Also, the resources should allow the companies to take appropriate actions whenever necessary on the basis of the security information received from CSPs.
- Cloud certified professionals: One of the smart moves that companies and CSPs can make is to hire professionals with cloud computing certification. As these employees are highly trained in the fields of cloud computing technology, architecture, security, governance and capacity, the threats to cloud security are minimized.
- Precise SLA: Companies and CSPs should have clearly defined SLAs as they serve as blueprint as well as warranty for cloud computing. An ideal SLA should codify the specific parameters and minimum levels required for each element of the service; remedies in case of failures while meeting the requirements; recognition of the ownership of data stored on the cloud; details of the system infrastructure and security standards to be maintained by both the parties; and the cost to continue and discontinue the service.
About the Author:
Krishna Kumar, an engineer by education, has experience of serving the IT industry for 13 years. Currently he is the CEO of Simplilearn Solutions and displaying his expertise in e-commerce, through innovative online learning portal, which was started with the aim to help professionals round the world in achieving their world recognized professional certification. He wants to share a little about cloud computing certification training.
Identity theft is a very real problem that can affect almost anyone today. Identity thieves do not operate just online, they employ a variety of techniques in order to steal information that can be used to access personal accounts, or to open new accounts. Avoiding identity theft requires vigilance and knowledge about the practice. Every person should know how to deal with common risks that could lead to identity theft.
Unsecured Wireless Routers
Identity thieves can use unsecured wireless routers to steal personal information. Software-like packet sniffers, and other applications can capture and decode data moving through the router from hundreds of feet away. The packets can reveal login and personal data, when banking or making purchases online. This can be prevented by protecting wireless routers with a strong password, or by using virtual private network software.
Impersonation
Identity thieves often impersonate utility workers, or city officials in order to gain access to a home. Thieves lie about needing to check an appliance, or other item in the house. They then use the time inside to collect personal information like bills, credit cards, or bank statements. It is important to verify the identity of anyone being let into the home. Additionally, strangers should never be left alone.
Malware
Malware can be installed quietly on a computer from an email or a malicious website. The malware can slowly gather keystrokes, passwords, and personal data for weeks and then send it to a remote server. Avoiding malware involves not clicking on suspicious links, and not opening emails from unknown senders. Suspicious websites should also be avoided.
The Identity of Children
Identity thieves are starting to target children in order to create false identities backed by some real information. Parents need to make sure no personal information about children is posted on social media networks. Paperwork and documents listing information about children should be stored securely or shredded in order to protect their identities.
Physical Theft and Burglary
The most common way thieves get personal information is by burglarizing a home and stealing documents. This can occur in less than two minutes. The solution is to contact a company like Banhams Close Security that can install strong locks, doors, and alarms to prevent burglaries. Securing the home, and increasing physical security around the property will deter most identity thieves.
It is important to protect even the smallest pieces of personal information. Identity thieves can work for weeks or longer trying to assemble data about a person from several different sources. Homeowners should add security to the house, shred all documents with personal information, and take every precaution when online.
About The Author:
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and recent graduate of the University of New Mexico. She lives in Los Lunas where she writes, spends her time outdoors, and tries all the new food she can. Contact her via Twitter @BrookeChaplan.
There are some hassles that can slow down the fastest ever computer, so if you want to enjoy the features of the technology, and then you should not stick to the security measures of the yesteryears, which are not compatible to the needs of your computer. Updated anti-virus program is what your system needs. Installing a basic antivirus is not enough to keep your system free from the hazards and threats of the hackers. You need to give much more to the PC. Plenty of antivirus software are available in the market can offer good protection; however, they are not adequate. Only a very few antivirus software can offer you complete protection like the Bitdefender Internet Security 2014.
Bitdefender- What can you get?
Bitdefender Antivirus is widely acknowledged and has won many awards for the efficiency. Bitdefender, who you can trust to the core, has three different services- Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, Bitdefender Internet Security, and Bitdefender Total Security. Of all these, the Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 is the software that is easy to use and getting recommendations by the users.
Bitdefender Internet Security Features
Let us take a look at some of the most striking features of Bitdefender Internet Security.
Auto-Pilot Mode
With the Auto Pilot mode the user do not need to interact much with this software, which is often required with other software. The Auto Pilot mode ensures that your computer gets the maximum security. No need to struggle with the pop up messages that spring up on the screen and irritate you!
User Friendly Interface
Moreover, you do not have to worry about the security messages and notifications. Whenever you feel that you are at leisure, you can find the user-friendly box, which lets you access the notifications. . You can easily know the security status of your computer through the color codes. Green, red and yellow colors are used to denote security status and the numeric indicator tells you about the pending tasks. The best thing about the notifications is that you would not be clogged up with notifications. Only four notifications are shown at a time based on the importance of the notice.
In total there are 8 panels, antivirus, anti-spam, parental control, wallet, firewall, update, and Safego. The greatest advantage is that the user has complete control over the display of the panels. You can choose the panels you want to view most in the startup.
Advance Photon Technology
Bitdefender offers security against all the threats one faces in the online world and this is possible because of the fastest scanning technology used by this software. The photon technology is discreet, fast, has a user friendly approach and does not slow down the system during scanning.
Two-way Firewall
The two-way firewall not only protects you from the unauthorized hackers, but also protects both you're incoming and outgoing connections from the intruders.
Cool Desktop Widget
You can use Bitdefender Internet Security desktop widget 2014 with Windows 8 and XP. The use of the widget is that you can know the status of the security in your system and also the events that are awaiting your response or action. A graphical interpretation of the software’s antivirus protection can be seen in the widget. The widget also shows the firewall capability of the software.
Besides these, some of the other advanced features are strong parental control, enhanced Cloud Antispam and Bitdefender Safepay options.
Pros
The advantages of the Bitdefender Antivirus include the easy installation, ease of use, strong management of passwords, auto pilot mode, social media monitoring, password encryption and apt for home and business use.
Cons
There are a few setbacks too. The advanced features cannot be used as easy as the other features. The drag and drop option is not available for the encoded files.
Wrap Up
Overall, the Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 is the best antivirus protection you can give to your system. In the AV-Test, it has come out as the best of all the antivirus software available in the market.
What role should your website play? Should it be informative or entertaining or serve as a shopping portal?
These are undoubtedly some most important factors you need to consider while creating a website, there are something more your web design company should focus on. Irrespective of the purpose of your website, providing user-friendly experience should be your prime concern when it comes to website designing. And to do so, the following are top 10 mistakes your web design company must avoid.
Failing to change visited links’ color:
It is important understand the past navigation as by knowing the past and present locations will help your visitors to decide where they want to go next. And links play an important role in navigation process. Changing the color of the links that the particular user has visited will help them to avoid revisit the same pages repeatedly.
Bad search:
If you are using overly literal search engines that are unable to deal with typos, hyphens, plurals and other variants in query terms, it will reduce usability of your website. Advanced search is often helpful, however, it is best to use simple search, presented as a simple box.
Low search engine visibility of page titles:
Search engine visibility is the most important factor for any online business. The humble page title will actually help you to attract new visitors. Make sure your page title is included within the HTML tag, ask your web design company to make them a clickable headline on search engine result pages. Use short titles as search engines show only the first 66 characters
PDF files for online reading:
While browsing, if you come across a PDF file, may look fancy, but it will only break your flow. And users don’t like it. It is hard to navigate the undifferentiated blob of PDF’s content and standard browser commands are of no use here.
Non-scannable text:
The sole purpose of a good website is to provide interactive experience to the visitors. But non-scannable text is intimidating. Make sure your web design company is writing for online readers, text that support scannability. Use subheads, highlighted keywords, bulleted lists, and short paragraphs. Also, follow the inverted pyramid structure for your content and use simple language and a simple writing style.
Violating design conventions:
One of the most important usability principles is consistency. Users know what to expect and what will happen, based on their previous experience. This provide them a feeling of being in control of the system. But when you break their expectations, they will start feeling insecure and leave at once.
Fixed Font Size:
CSS style sheets do have their own set of advantages, but they allow websites to disable a Web browser's button to “change font size”. Besides, they specify a fixed font size, which is usually tiny and significantly reduce readability of users over the age of 40.
Content/ design looking like an advertisement:
Web users no longer pay attention to advertisements that get in their navigation process. Thus, it is recommended to avoid designs or content that look like advertisements.
Opening new browser windows:
This is one of the most annoying experiences web users hate to come across. By doing this, you are only polluting your visitors’ screen with more windows., every time they click a link. There is already an option called “open in new window” in their browsers and users are already aware of it.
Not answering the questions of your users:
It is not only a bad manner, but also damage your brand image. You can lose sale if you fail to answer your users’ queries.
About The Author:
David Gomez is a pro-blogger, providing web designer services. He owns a web design company in New York. David loves experimenting with designing and graphics and has written several articles and blogs about the role of a well designed website in SEO.
Making use of event management software will simplify your work event management tasks by automating mundane activities. It will provide tools to manage simple events, multiple events, exhibitions, festivals etc. You can use it to easily connect with employees, participants, sponsors etc. However you can get the best benefits of this software by implementing it in a cloud instead of your physical PC systems. Here is a look at the top ten benefits of using cloud-based event software:
1. Access from Anywhere - Since the software operates from a cloud it can be accessed from anywhere thus eliminating the restriction of accessing it only from the system where it is stored. It is also be accessed by authorized employees from remote locations to report updates, input schedule etc.
2. Cost Effective – Cloud-based event software helps to avoid maintenance costs which can arise when it is stored in a system. This brings down electricity bills as you do not have to implement it in many PC systems, which also brings down cost of license purchase etc.
3. Faster Marketing – An online event page can be created and optimized with appropriate keywords so that it is easily picked up during search engine results. By posting information about the event in popular social media sites and other key internet resources with a link to your site, event marketing is completed faster. As a result information about the event is available for all those seeking it and it spreads quickly resulting in ticket sales.
4. Online Registration And Payment – Going online with registration and ticket payment enables the work to be carried out faster, thus saving time and money spent in printing tickets. Those who cannot go to your office to buy tickets can buy them online from their location through the event ticketing software which motivates purchase and brings about more sales.
5. Good Scalability – Cloud-based event software is scalable so as your work load expands you can increase work groups, projects, allot more system resources to the software and much more, without worrying about technical issues.
6. High Reliability – When event management software is stored in a cloud it is not affected by system crashes and natural disasters etc. Expenses incurred as a result of such losses is eliminated. Work can be continued in the face of system malfunctioning and other similar problems from anywhere.
7. Manage Repeat Events Easily – Cloud-based event software will store all data related to past events in the cloud. If you have to do a new event project that is similar to a previous event, just retrieve its details quickly from the cloud to use ideas, event framework, sponsor details, etc. for the new project. Doing the groundwork for the new project becomes faster.
8. Avoid Duplication – When you have event management software stored in different systems, there is duplication of data, which results in unnecessary utilization of important system resources. When the software is implemented in a cloud this can be eliminated, thus avoiding such system utilization and its associated expenses.
9. Access from Mobile Devices – The software can be accessed by employees while they are ‘on the go’ through Smartphones, tablets or Laptops. They can quickly communicate vital information, share updates and retrieve nay details they want for their marketing activities etc.
10. Higher Efficiency – Cloud-based event software brings about higher productivity, removes duplication, and reduces costs that result in better efficiency. This will bring your organization in the forefront for event management and fetch bigger projects.
By making use of cloud-based event software your event management is speed-ed up and you enjoy greater efficiency, which results in higher sales and helps you gain an edge over the competition.
Author Bio:-
Monik Makadiya works with iVvy, an innovative cloud software provider. Ivvy offers a suite of event management software solutions and has helped event managers worldwide to streamlines process, improve efficiency, boost participation in events. To know more, connect with Monik on Twitter at @painstakingMM.
