Business Blog

With the rise in cyber-attacks worldwide, you’ve likely received more than one notification from a company you work with informing you that your data has been compromised in a breach. While there are steps we can take as consumers to protect ourselves, sometimes we can’t control when a company that promised to protect our personal data gets hacked.

In 2023, Statista reported that 52% of all global organization breaches involved customers’ personal identifiable information (PII), making your personal data – addresses, numbers, names, birth dates, SSNs, etc. – the most commonly breached type of data. A recent example is ChangeHealthcare, breached in February of this year.…

Odds are that right now you’re doing a handful of tasks manually that you don’t need to, like sorting through an endless e-mail inbox. According to Microsoft, employees spend just under two hours daily on e-mail – that’s more than eight hours a week spent in your inbox instead of on more creative or strategic projects.

But many businesses and employees have found a way off the relentless merry-go-round of to-dos: automation. By using software to manage repetitive tasks (without human intervention), you can complete your to-do list faster, spending less time on menial tasks and more time doing the projects you enjoy.…

The rapid evolution of AI over the past year has been nothing short of revolutionary, particularly generative AI – technologies that generate text, images, video, 3-D models and even code – which saw a breakout year in 2023. In ChatGPT’s first month, it amassed 57 million users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to research from investment bank UBS.

Despite its popularity, there’s an undercurrent of uncertainty among some business leaders. SMB leaders are asking big questions: What’s the real deal with AI (beyond all the buzz)? How do I actually get it to work for my business?…

Working amid the ever-changing currents of technology and cyber security, businesses often find themselves entangled in a web of misinformation and outdated ideas. But failing to distinguish between myth and fact can put your business’s security at serious risk.

Based on expert research in the field, including CompTIA’s 2024 global State Of Cybersecurity report, we will debunk three common misconceptions that threaten to derail your success in 2024.

Myth 1: My cyber security is good enough!
Fact: Modern cyber security is about continuous improvement.

Respondents to CompTIA’s survey indicated that one of the most significant challenges to cyber security initiatives today is the belief that “current security is good enough” (39%).…

We’ve all suspected our devices are listening to us. How else could the clothing company you just told your sister about over brunch show up as a targeted ad on your Instagram feed? The tech community has largely denied listening without our permission.

In fact, in 2017, Facebook had to publicly deny that it listens to its users (that’s what they use location services and ad tracking for). But Cox Media Group (CMG), a multibillion-dollar media empire that owns and operates TV and radio stations worldwide, admitted it’s doing just that.

HOW ARE THEY DOING IT?

404 Media gathered published marketing information from CMG and determined that it uses AI to identify conversations via smart devices – collecting information about our spending behaviors, interests and how we spend our time – to deliver ads to us.…

In May, Google began rolling out passkeys, calling them “the beginning of the end of the password.” Passwords have been with us since the mid-1960s, decades before computers became mainstream. But with more sophisticated cybercrime attacks, dated password technology does us more harm than good.

According to a survey by AllAboutCookies, 84% of people still use unsafe passwords (like birthdays and pet names), and over half of survey respondents admitted having five or fewer passwords for all their accounts. Sure, we could do better. But these stats are also a testament to how annoying and ineffective passwords are. Google and other major players in the industry believe that passkeys are the “key” to a simpler – and safer – future.…

You’ve probably noticed the little elf helping you around retail stores this year. No, it’s not the teenager at the mall in red-and-white stockings and a felt green hat. It’s AI.

Log in to Amazon, and you’ll see suggested products like winter decorations, novels or toy recommendations for kids. Add that remote controlled car into your cart for your nephew, and you’ll get recommendations for batteries and gift wrapping, too. This is no accident – generative AI uses your past purchases and recent searches to curate this personalized display. At the end of your shopping affair, you can share your experience, which is data fodder for AI to learn and improve your next shopping venture.…

It’s 10 p.m. — do you know where your children are? Google probably does. Thanks to Google Maps’ Timeline feature, the tech company probably knows where your whole family has been – down to the GPS coordinates. The feature was first rolled out in 2015 on Android devices and two years later on Apple, but many people still don’t know how much information the app actually collects. Before you hit the road this holiday season, take a minute to review your privacy settings to see if the risk is worth the benefits.

What Google Map Timeline Can See

With Google Maps Timeline, you can go back to any day and see in detail where you were, when and for how long.…

If you ask a security professional, you get by the book advice about sharing passwords: “Don’t share passwords.” But we know, in reality, that doesn’t work. Your office might be sharing a single password for apps like SurveyMonkey right now to save cash on buying additional users, and some social media accounts don’t even give you the option to have multiple log-ins. Sharing passwords in your office is sometimes necessary for collaboration, and the best way to do this is by using a password manager. Affordable (some platforms even offer free versions), layered with security and simple to use, password managers are the safest and easiest way to store and share your company’s private passwords.…