By Riva Richmond
original source

Your business has been hacked. It's bad news, but it doesn't have to cripple your operation.

Cyber-crooks increasingly are targeting small businesses to steal information such as passwords that lead to bank account balances and credit lines, customer data and sensitive product details. Hackers also may try to virtually hijack company computers or websites and use them to attack others online. They know most small businesses lack the security expertise, data protections and response tools that large companies have at their disposal.

Falling victim to a hack can be costly. Malicious or criminal data breaches on average cost victim companies $318 per compromised record in 2010, according to Traverse City, Mich.- based research firm Ponemon Institute.

But having a security recovery plan can make the process smoother and less expensive. Here are six critical steps to take if your business has been hacked:

1. Find out what happened.

To respond effectively, get a full picture of what happened, including how the hackers got in, which computers and accounts were compromised, which data was accessed or stolen and whether any other parties -- such as customers or business partners -- were affected.

This can be a difficult process involving costly security consultants, but you may be able to get less expensive help from companies you do business with, including your Internet service provider, security software company or website hosting firm. But the best route may be to contact your local, county or state police computer crimes unit and the FBI, which can do forensic analyses and provide valuable guidance.

2. Seek legal advice.

If you don't have a special cyber-insurance policy that will provide an experienced attorney, you may need to hire one to navigate the legal issues. For instance, when hackers gain access to the personal information of customers or employees, you likely have a legal obligation to notify them, says Todd B. Ruback, a Warren, N.J.-based privacy attorney who specializes in data breach response.

You may also be required to alert state authorities. Because there isn't a federal data-breach notification rule, companies that do business nationally may have to comply with as many as 46 different state laws. You also could face liability lawsuits from affected parties.

3. Communicate early and often.

Quick and honest communication with affected employees, customers and partners -- about what happened, what you're doing about the problem and what they need to do -- is often more than just a legal requirement. It may be necessary to salvage your business.

"A data breach can be fatal for a small business" if monetary losses, the cost of rebuilding or reputation damage is high, says Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, a public-private partnership based in Washington, D.C. "Maintaining trust in a crisis is the best way to hold onto your customers."

4. Eliminate the problem.

To limit the damage, you may need to take disruptive and costly steps, such as removing infected computers and shutting down your website while you clean up. Consider reformatting hacked computers and restoring data with clean backups, or simply buy new computers.

If hackers exploited a software flaw, apply a "patch" from the software maker that fixes the problem or implement a recommended workaround. If they stole passwords, secure your accounts and set new, complex passwords that will be hard to crack.

5. Rebuild.

Put in place the technology and policies to help fend off future attacks. Make sure your computer operating system and other software are current and, if possible, receiving automatic updates to fix bugs. Consider designating one computer for online banking only, meaning no Web surfing and no email that might expose you to malware designed for financial fraud.

6. Revisit your security plan.

Make sure your security defenses are running properly and that data is being backed up securely. Your IT manager should consider setting up activity "logging," or tracking, on all devices on your network so any future problems can be investigated more easily, says Brian Honan, principal consultant at Dublin, Ireland-based security firm BH Consulting.

Check with customers, partners and vendors to see what they're doing to protect your data. Consider buying a cyber-insurance policy if you don't already have one. Also, create a disaster recovery plan and train employees so everyone can respond quickly and calmly if faced with a hack or other crisis again.

By Jonathan Blum | November 21, 2011
original source

Given the growing mix of smartphones and tablets that do double-duty for business and personal use, these devices are among the most difficult company assets to manage and protect. When one of those tools goes missing, not only would the employee's personal information be at risk, but company email, messages, video assets and -- most worrisome -- client contact information, company log-ins and access codes all could be potentially exposed.

Small firms now find themselves having to keep tabs on a constantly-changing roster of employee-owned and managed devices. How should a small business track, manage and protect its smartphone inventory? One solution is to find a combination of software and gadgets that allows you to not only track company-affiliated mobile devices, but protect and manage the work information stored on those devices.

Here are some problems to anticipate and steps to take to head them off:

By Chris Moody
original source

You are a small business, therefore, you need an easy way to communicate with your customers and vice versa. Picking a phone system that you can rely on is a complicated, tricky business, and not really something you want to hassle with at the end of the day.

Ultimately, the choice comes down to two options. A traditional phone system relies on phone lines that are connected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), on circuits operated by Private Branch Exchange (PBX) equipment. Secondly, a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) provider transmits your voice over the Internet as data. Ultimately, you have to judge what's best for your company and, more importantly, what gets the job done most efficiently.

VoIP has a number of benefits over traditional, hard-line phone systems, and its statistics are impressive. Last year the FCC reported that use of VoIP increased 21%, to over 30 million VoIP subscribers in the U.S. alone.

But what are the real reasons behind its popularity? Here, I hope to target a few of the lesser-known reasons why VoIP can be useful for small businesses.

original source

Small businesses do not have the same options as large concerns in adopting new technologies and tools. They are restricted by low funds and resources. VoIP telephone systems are a sensible choice for small businesses as they reduce costs and offer many other features that are otherwise unaffordable for the business owner.

Small businesses pay almost four times more per employee, for traditional phone services, than large businesses. VoIP service providers recognize the emerging market in small scale businesses and offer packages specially tailored to that business size.

How can VoIP phone systems benefit small businesses?
There are many advantages of having a VoIP telephone system to facilitate communication inside as well as outside the workplace. VoIP phone systems are cost-effective, reliable, easily manageable and scalable. VoIP telephone systems benefit small businesses in many ways:

Reliability: VoIP phone systems have proven to be more dependable than analog telephones.
Reasonable cost: VoIP providers offer short-term contracts to business owners. The providers may charge a sign up cost, but that is quite reasonable.
Scalability: Businesses can start with a handful of IP phones and scale up gradually. The growth of the VoIP telephone system can be proportional to the growth in business.
Easy management: VoIP phone systems can collect detailed data on the telephonic activity of the business such as incoming numbers, time of call, receiving extensions and more. All this information can be collated in a spreadsheet and provided to top management to take business decisions.
Maintainable by in-house staff: The existing IT staff can easily maintain the VoIP phone system. VoIP telephone systems are easily integrated with software and do not need expert VoIP technicians for their maintenance.
Business-friendly features: VoIP phone systems offer useful features that can be adopted by small businesses to emulate the business processes of larger organizations. Features such as auto attendants, call queues, extensions, call transfers, and conferences make the business more credible in the eyes of the calling customer. VoIP telephone systems allow users to receive voice mail and fax over email. These features increase efficiency of the staff.

PriorityOne can help save your small business up to 50% per month, compared to a traditional phone system. Call today 866-578-5355.

original source

VoIP or internet phone is a not a new technology. However, there are different types of VoIP providers that offer their services to the internet phone subscribers. Today we will be having a look at all the different available options to see which one is the best for you. Let us go through all the different VoIP phone service types out there.

Free VoIP services

Free VoIP services fall into two different categories. The first ones are the free VoIP services that are offered by the chatting services of big messengers. This type of phone service needs you to have their software installed on both computers from which you want to communicate with each other. This service has been around for many years now and is commonly used by many people. However, you need to have a computer and the software to use it. The other category of VoIP service, which is offered free of cost is just named as a free VoIP service, but instead it is not difficult to determine that under the surface both of these free VoIP services are the same. These services try to attract the phone subscribers by their free offers but they have many different limitations, which make them less ideal to be used as regular phone services. They may be beneficial for a limited type of use but again they also don't deliver in terms of the quality that they promised to their subscribers. Another serious drawback is that the free VoIP services usually work in some countries and you won't be able to use them to make phone calls worldwide.

Dedicated VoIP services

There are different dedicated VoIP services out there. In order to understand what each of these VoIP providers will offer, we will have a look at each, one by one.