Business Marketing Show

Over the last few years small business has dramatically increased its reliance on technology. Unfortunately, as the reliance on technology has grown exponentially, there has been little or no improvement in the security precautions business owners take to protect their IT infrastructure and the commercially sensitive and valuable information stored on that infrastructure.

In this episode we detail some simple steps you can take to dramatically increase the security of your IT infrastructure, cloud services and online assets. By taking these simple steps you’ll significantly reduce security risks in your IT equipment.

Listen to this week’s show and learn:

• Simple DIY action steps you can take to boost your security including some powerful free tools
• Common mistakes many business owners mistake around computer security that is akin to leaving their front door open and a pile of cash on the kitchen table

Highlights, Notes and Action Items from this episode:

Making $5 million a year unboxing kids toys on Youtube

Excellent Ted talk on computer security and some of the risks you’re exposed to on a daily basis and probably don’t even know it!

Your action list from this episode:

1. Don’t use same password on everything especially core services such as your primary email address, internet banking and Dropbox. Change your passwords so they are all unique and use a strong password!
2. Using a password manager such as 1Password or Lastpass will make managing passwords and the task of using different passwords much easier.
3. Use 2 factor authentication (aka multifactor authentication and 2 step authentication) on critical services such as internet banking, Gmail, Dropbox, password managers and other important services.
4. Lock your computer when you’re away from it and have the screensaver kick in after short period of time with automatic locking. This is especially important if you’re working in public or shared spaces
5. Change the default password settings on devices such as wifi routers, network printers, network cameras and any other device plugged into your computer network at home or at the office
6. Give staff their own accounts to use for online services instead using yours
7. If you’re using unencrypted public WIFI, for example at a cafe or hotel, make sure you’re using a VPN service such as Tunnelbear which will ensure your traffic is secured and encrypted. (Public wifi networks are extremely insecure)
8. Make sure your home and office wifi is encrypted – encryption means you need a passphrase to access the network. The passphrase is actually the encryption key.
9. Use OpenDNS servers which will protect you from many sites on the internet that have been compromised or have malicious code on them. OpenDNS will also reduce some of the risk around using public networks or public WIFI
10. When you’re logging into a website or submitting sensitive info on a website make sure the site is using HTTPS so the info is encrypted. You’ll usually see this in the browser bar of the page.

Listening options:

Click here to listen on iTunes or click the Play button below to play from your web browser.