Security Implications of Social Media

October 26, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

We usually focus on the positives that social media can bring about, but right now we are going to hop to the other side of the fence for a bit and discuss some of the dangers that can arise via social media. Not too long ago, I was called out at work for something that was posted on my Facebook. It wasn’t anything offensive, just one of my friends happened to go on my profile while I was logged in, and put an unsettling status about me, which made my friends think that I put it about myself. Sure, it was all fun and games to my social circle, but when things like this get brought up at your place of business, it makes one think about the effects that social media can have on one’s life, safety, security, perceived character, and well being.

Sure, social media is a great way to bring traffic to your site, brand your products and services, generate leads, and so on; but how safe is social media? Social media encompasses a wide spectrum, two out of three Americans use social technology, social sites are now the 4th most active online activity – ahead of email, and it accounts for about 10% of all time spent on the internet. Being that so many people in the world are involved in social media, what are some of the potential implications?

1. National Security: Currently the US Marines have banned social media for the next year. According to the Marines:“THESE INTERNET SITES IN GENERAL ARE A PROVEN HAVEN FOR MALICIOUS ACTORS AND CONTENT AND ARE PARTICULARLY HIGH RISK DUE TO INFORMATION EXPOSURE, USER GENERATED CONTENT AND TARGETING BY ADVERSARIES. THE VERY NATURE OF SNS CREATES A LARGER ATTACK AND EXPLOITATION WINDOW, EXPOSES UNNECESSARY INFORMATION TO ADVERSARIES AND PROVIDES AN EASY CONDUIT FOR INFORMATION LEAKAGE THAT PUTS OPSEC, COMSEC, PERSONNEL AND THE MCEN AT AN ELEVATED RISK OF COMPROMISE. EXAMPLES OF INTERNET SNS SITES INCLUDE FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, AND TWITTER.”

Imagine if there was a marine tweeting something like “hitting golf balls into the Adriatic sea.” Not only does he give away his location, but just the mere fact that he tweeted something puts his whole company under potential attack. Anyone can go online and track where anyone tweeted last from in the world.
2. Publicly Traded Companies: Twitter grew 1382% from January to February in 2009. Let’s face it, the world is on Twitter. If I was part of a publicly traded company I would be wary about what my employees are tweeting. Imagine the implications of an employee tweeting out of excitement after a new purchase, endeavor, or business acquisition. This can be considered an insider tip, and if one sees this tweet and purchases a good amount of stocks, SEC insider-trading implications may occur.
3. Personal Safety, Security, and Information: Social media has jeopardized the life of many individuals, not so much life and death, but prosperity and well being. You can potentially lose your job over comments said over Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. You can be caught cheating on your spouse through tagged and/or posted pictures, statuses, and other comments. Businesses now use social media to screen potential employees. Insurance companies also view social media to see what kind of lifestyles people are living before insuring them. There is a lot of personal information exposed on social media; you can be unfairly judged based on postings on social media that may or may not be taken out of context.

My message: Be careful and be conscientious and understand that everything you do online is potentially reviewed in the future. Big Brother? Maybe, but no one is forcing you to use the social media. Just be smart, enjoy the benefits of social media but be acutely aware of the consequences of perceived poor behavior or judgment.

Computer Virus, 6 Ways to Keep Your Computer Virus Free

October 23, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

1. Basic maintenance

 Don’t neglect to do the basic maintenance of your computer. The
three best components are anti-virus software, ant-spyware and fire

wall. Not using and keeping your software up to date will end in
a clear path to your personal information.

Hackers are busy at work everyday trying to find the weakness in your

system so that they may be able to steal your personal

information. Some would just simply like to create trouble and

destroy your hard drive.

2. Don’t open every attachments you get

Lots of the devastating worms and viruses of recent times were

distributed via email.  These viruses feed on the curiosity and also

the ignorance of a huge number of email users. People will get an

email from some fake name emal and just open what ever file is

attached . If you don’t know the sender, don’t open it, just delete

it. If the attachment is from someone you know, always scan it first

before downloading it.

3. Stay clear of pornographic and illegal software sites

You can pick up viruses and spyware quickly at these sites.
visit some pornographic web sites. and One wrong click on a subtle

little pop-up or security warning window (which you’ll run into often

on these type of sites) and you’ll have infested yourself with trojan

horses, spyware, dialers and other unfavorable software that could

leave your computer wide open to further attacks.

The same goes for web sites distributing software, serial codes and

cracks illegally (warez).
Simply put – keep out of the dark side of the web and the odds of

keeping your computer clean shifts decidedly in your favor.

4. Things you should do before you start surfing

Check your anti virus for updates. Regularly run your anti virus. If

at any time your anti virus locates a virus, you need to update your

antivirus.
disconnect from the Internet and do a full scan of your computer with

the updated anti virus. Always make sure your anti virus

is actively protecting your computer.
Clean your computer cache and your temporary files.

Clean your history, Update your adware remover, Run your adware

remover. Update your firewall and check the settings. Some hackers

can change the settings of your computer, putting you at risk.

5.  Watch out what you download

Spyware is embedded in a lot of software on the Internet – especially

those related to ripping, converting and playing music and videos.

That free MP3 player or DVD Ripper you just downloaded may have

installed a bunch of harmful spyware without you even knowing about

it.

6. Get Professionally written software

Most software is well written by qualified programmers.

Professionally written software will include all the instructions

that you need to obtain the best performance of the tool. If not, 

keep searching. Go to a site that you trust and read the comments

from other users about the tool you are buying.

Remember you are putting all your information at risk when you

connect to the Internet.

 

Enlyten MLM business Straight Dope

October 22, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

The enlyten MLM business website calls itself a consumer to consumer business, but that’s just a way of denying that they are an MLM. Even though enlyten hasn’t even launched, they are already in the news.
The launch of the enlyten MLM business will begin on July 31st, from Las Vegas. Celebrity spokesperson Shaquille O?Neal will be there. The company made headlines when Shaq announced this partnership via his twitter account. Presumable Shaq will promote the company?s melt away electrolyte strips.
The electrolyte strips the company sells got national press when the Syracuse men’s basketball team used them. Their trainer, Brad Pike, had them use the strips during their 6 overtime victory over Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.
Many athletes are praising the enlyten MLM business? electrolyte strips, because they are easier to carry than sports drinks while you are working out or racing. Many bloggers are saying they are very effective. The business also sells other kinds of strips, including melatonin, antioxidants, calorie burn, and appetite suppressant. They also sell energy strips.
It is not yet known what the enlyten MLM business will have for its compensation plan. The website does not go into any specifics about what the company will be like for distributors. If you are really that interested you will have to ask for more information right now. Maybe there will be more on the website after the official launch.
If you have an interest in the enlyten MLM business and its products, then by all means get the information and check it out. But if you do decide to join the company, you need to be aware that their training is only going to be a dip in the ocean compared to all the information available.
You need to get signed up for a more in depth marketing course. I prefer to take an online course from the comfort of my home. This way you will truly learn the skills necessary to make your enlyten MLM business stand out from the rest. The best business opportunity in the world is useless if you don?t have the ability to get people to hear and see your message.
You won’t regret getting more education. Because if you ever get bored or dissolutioned with the enyten MLM business, you can take your knowledge and apply it to a new company and a new product. You will have complete freedom over your business when you have the skills necessary to succeed.

Building Self Confidence: Know Your Net Worth

October 19, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Will I run my business successfully? Do I have the respect of my colleagues? What impression do I make on my clients? The self doubt that plagues entrepreneurs is as onerous a burden as the expectations that they have to live up to. Indeed, one feeds off the other. Building self confidence is extra important for entrepreneurs, who have very little other than their own resources to fall back on. So, how do you bring about that transformation in yourself, and how do you sustain it? These are some of the key questions we?re trying to answer.

Self confidence is simply an external manifestation of your perception of self worth. If you have faith in your abilities, it shows. Building self confidence will not only improve your outlook about yourself, you will also feel more positive about the world around you. Confident people make better entrepreneurs ? since they have an unshakeable faith that they can put things right, they are willing to risk being wrong at times. And that?s what entrepreneurship is all about, isn?t it?

If you?ve looked wistfully at all those beautiful, successful people who radiate an aura of confidence, despair not! Building self confidence is very much a ?learnable? process; our guess is that most of those people you admire have gone down that road earlier. Here are some pointers.

Set goals. You can?t go about building self confidence in a vacuum, that?s for sure. Try to define what confidence means to you; be as specific as possible, even assign a measure to it. For example, do you lack the confidence to make an impromptu speech in public, or handling a troublemaking employee? Putting your finger on it is half the battle won. Now, you can set specific performance goals and measure your achievement against them. As your performance improves, self confidence will soar.

Just chill. You may find this hard to swallow, but staying cool and unfrazzled is the first rung on the self confidence ladder. If you don?t let a sticky situation get on top of you, you?re already learning to handle uncertainty! Once you make your peace with that, you?ll be able to deal much better with any adverse consequences.

Don?t beat yourself blue. Modesty may be all the rage, but self criticism is another ball game altogether ? one that you are destined to lose! Don?t be harder on yourself than necessary and stay objective at all times. It?s much more productive to recognize your mistakes for what they were, learn from them and move on.

Forget the rest? the biggest impediment to building self confidence is to be dogged by worries of what the world thinks of you. We hate to disillusion you, but most of the time, other people are not thinking about you ? they are so busy thinking of themselves. And you know something, your lack self confidence is a lot less apparent to others than it is to yourself!

Recall the good. Even the most self assured people have their off days. When you?re feeling particularly low, make an effort to snap out of it. Think of things that gave you pleasure, like a game you won, or a business goal that you achieved. We?re not saying you have to rest on your laurels, but sometimes remembering past achievements will give you the self belief to tackle future ones.

Finally, base your self worth on realistic expectations, respect your abilities and persevere tirelessly. Building self confidence is a deliberate process, and experts at www.trans4mind.com or www.mindtools.com can help your initiation. You?ll feature on other people?s admiration lists in no time!


Points To Ponder While Going For A Custom Logo Design

October 16, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Every organization, whether small or large, go for designing a logo for its business. And in these days and age, with immense competition, it’s hard to get identified and build a strong brand image. Therefore, every business owner in this regard should give a reasonable amount of time for designing a branding element i.e. logo.

When you think it’s time to design a logo for your business, you should consider some important points to get an attractive and powerful logo as your brand identity. In this article you will find some useful tips to remember while you are up to designing a logo for your own business.

Your logo should be simple:

Simplicity is the key to success in every mode of life, and same is applied to the logo designing. Logos, which are designed simple, are comparatively more attractive and powerful. For instance, the logo of Coca-Cola or the logo of Nike, these logos are designed very simple but look very attractive to the eyes. Hence, avoid clutter, and acquire a logo that should be simple in appearance.

It should be Unique:

One of the most important considerations during logo design process is that, you need to make it unique and don’t let it to resemble with any famous logo. Otherwise you may suffer with trademark infringement and lawsuit.

Moreover, if you fail to design a unique emblem for your business, you will ultimately fail to create a unique brand image in the mind of your existing and potential customers. Thus, make sure that your logo will not become a look-alike of any other existing logo.

It should be scalable:

Scalability or resizeability should be a concern of priority during the brand identity creation process. You will certainly go for marketing and branding your business once your logo being designed. Therefore, make sure that it should be resized as small as to be fit on a pen and as big as to go with billboard.

It should look good in black and white:

Even in these days, when everything is online, you still need your logo to look good in black and white. Because you may need to get your logo printed on the marketing collateral in black and white format. For example, you will need to fax a letterhead to your client or customer. Therefore, don’t forget to get a black and white version of your logo from your designer.

It shouldn’t be cluttered with too many colors:

While color is the key factor in making your logo attractive, keep in mind that your logo should not be overwhelmed with too many different colors. It’s better to use not more than three colors to create a simple but distinct brand symbol.

It should be identifiable and recognizable:

After all, the most important custom logo design consideration is to make it identifiable and recognizable for your target audience. Logos are made for long term, and if you design a logo that cannot portray the right image of your business, you will eventually fail to brand your business or product. So, in the last, make sure that your branding tool should be identifiable and recognizable for public at large.

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