Do the words “Anthony Weiner” mean anything?

Posted by admin on July 16, 2011 | No Comments

If you are an organizational leader that is concerned about employees wasting time online using non-work-related web sites like Facebook or Twitter – OR WORSE, using company resources to access pornography, gambling sites, hate groups or more – then read on.

While it’s not uncommon for employees to waste a bit of work time on relatively harmless activities, such as shopping or visiting a favorite sports site, times have changed; employers are learning the hard way that employee use or abuse of a company’s Internet system can lead to significant liability and time wasted if not monitored.

For example, one business owner (who will remain nameless) shared that they received a panicked phone call from the office while traveling. The police had shown up and arrested one of their staff for soliciting a minor online. Since he was doing this during work hours from the office, that’s where the police showed up to arrest him – clearly a PR nightmare. And stories like this are happening EVERYWHERE.

Then there’s the wasted time. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are addictive. If your employees are constantly “plugged in” to those sites, they won’t be nearly as productive at work as they should be.

Protecting your company requires two simple steps at a minimum. The first is to have a written company policy that details what employees can and can’t do with company resources or during company hours. Next, you’ll want to have a content filtering system in place that will enforce your policy by automatically “policing” your company e-mail and Internet usage, blocking sites and content you don’t want your employees to access without hindering their ability to work online.

Hackers Are Now Targeting Macs

Posted by admin on July 10, 2011 | No Comments

Until recently, Macintosh computer users have long enjoyed relative freedom from hacker attacks; however, researchers at Symantec Corporation say online criminals are now setting their sights on Mac users.

Online porn hunters are the latest target. Visitors to certain web sites are led to believe they can download a free video player when in fact they are installing malicious code onto their Macs.

Once the users authorize the transaction, the hackers can redirect the users future browsing to fraudulent web sites and possibly steal the user’s information or passwords. Sometimes they simply send ads for other pornographic web sites. This results in thousands of dollars in income for the criminals.

While you may think that Macs are essentially more secure than PCs because they are built better, security experts would argue differently. They believe that the Mac is actually no more secure than a PC. In fact, they note that the relatively low number of viruses, exploits and other cyber attacks directed at Mac users is due to Apple’s relatively small share of the computer market.

“I don’t think that the Mac OS is more secure than Windows — I think it is safer than Windows because there are less people trying to attack it. There is a big difference,” Natalie Lambert, a senior analyst at Forrester Research recently shared with MacNewsWorld.

With that said, the fact remains that for every single attack on a Mac, there are at least 100 attacks on Windows-based systems.

So what should you do if you own a Mac? Use the same safe online surfing practices as PC users, keep your anti-virus software up-to-date, never open strange e-mails from unknown sources, and only verify user names and passwords by phone with your bank or other financial institutions.