Even in the most mundane positions, employees can have access to company networks that will allow them to steal your data. Smart business owners will try to protect themselves from employee theft, whether from current hires or recently terminated ones.
The following tips can help your business effectively deal with situations in which current or former employees are stealing data.
The attack on the @AP Twitter account, which led to a stock market "flash crash" Tuesday, was the latest in a series of hacks called "spear-phishing."
A number of Associated Press employees received an email that appeared to be from a co-worker, but in fact was generated by hackers to fool them into clicking on a malicious link within the email, Slate reports.
As a host of major organizations join the ever-growing list of spear-phishing victims, small businesses will want to be on alert for similar attacks. Here's what you need to know:
The Federal Trade Commission has released new guidelines about e-commerce and online advertising disclosures. Small business owners will want to pay close attention.
The new guidelines take the FTC's "Dot Com Disclosures" pamphlet, originally issued in 2000, and kicks it up a notch. The revamped and renamed ".com Disclosures" guide accounts for changes in technology, including the increasing use of smartphones in the online marketplace.
The guidelines aim to push consumer awareness and protection. In general, advertisements should not be unfair and deceptive. They should also not be misleading. Advertisers must always have evidence to back up any claim they are making in the advertisement.
Beer drinkers have filed a lawsuit against none other than the "king of beers," Budweiser and its parent company Anheuser-Busch.
The claim? Drinkers are accusing the company of watering down beers like Budweiser and Michelob and mislabeling the bottles. Consumers think the bottles contain less than the 5% or less alcohol by volume listed on most beer labels.
To back up their claims, plaintiffs say former employees at the brewery have provided information indicating that beers were watered down. But does that warrant legal action?
For casual observers, it's been fun watching the Twitter hacking that's happened to several businesses over the past few days.
First, hackers got into Burger King's Twitter account to say the company had been sold to McDonald's. (Not true.) Then someone used the Jeep account to say that business had been sold to Cadillac. (Also not true.) A day later, it appeared that similar hackers had gotten into the MTV and BET Twitter accounts, although that was later confirmed to be a PR stunt.
Of course, it's all fun and games when it happens to someone else. But how can you protect your business' Twitter account from online hackers? Here are some tips:
Brian Patel knows how to use a sword when it comes to self-defense. The New Bedford, Massachusetts, convenience store clerk reached for his weapon when a would-be robber pulled a knife on him Tuesday.
The assailant probably thought he had the upper hand with an eight-inch blade. But Patel wasn't ruffled; he knew his three-foot-long sword would scare the man.
And scare it did, as the knife-wielder ran away. But is Patel going to be in trouble for using a sword to thwart an attempted store robbery?
Identity theft is probably a concern for many of your customers. And while in some instances it happens because of careless or foolish Internet usage, for many people the problem starts with a business' security breach. In that case, the problem may lead to business liability.
No matter what kind of company you have, if you store client or customer information online then you could be putting people's data at risk.
Even worse than customer dissatisfaction, a security breach could leave you legally liable. Here are a few ways that can happen, and what you can do:
Beware of that "Notification of Consumer Complaint" email you may receive, purportedly from the Federal Trade Commission. It may not really be one of your customers complaining, but rather an elaborate email scam.
The FTC is warning small business owners that someone is sending out an email with the subject line, in all caps, reading: "NOTIFICATION OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT."
The federal agency wants you to know that this email is not from them. The FTC warns small businesses that the email falsely states that a complaint has been filed with the agency against your business. Furthermore, the FTC warns you not to click on any of the links or attachments.
PayPal is planning "aggressive changes" to its user terms and conditions, along with its overall fraud management operations, reports CNNMoney. But will these changes be good for your small business?
So far, there's little information out about these policy changes. However, according to PayPal's senior director of communications, they will signify a "fundamental shift" in the way the company has been doing business.
Here's why many business owners have high hopes for the PayPal policy change:
'Tis the season for holiday shopping, merriment, and crime.
If you've gone through a holiday shopping season before, you may know that this is the peak season for shoplifting and theft. But while most small business owners can't afford high-tech security surveillance systems, you should know that some of the most effective ways to prevent shoplifting are free.
Here are the five best ways to stop shoplifting without spending an extra dime:
