Ulistic Projects Blog

November 16, 2018

What is PIPEDA and Why is it Important?

What is PIPEDA?

PIPEDA, which is short for Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, is a Canadian law protecting the rights and privacy of consumers in Canada. The law specifies how private organizations are supposed to collect, use and distribute data from consumers. Organizations covered by PIPEDA must obtain the consent of consumers when collecting, using and disseminating personal data.

Consumers, on the other hand, have the right to access any information held by a private organization and even challenge its accuracy. PIPEDA stipulates that data collected from consumers must only be used for the purpose for which it was collected. If an organization wishes to use the data for any other purpose, they need to obtain consent from the consumer once more.
Individuals are also assured that their information will be protected by the organizations that hold their data.

Where and How Does PIPEDA Apply?

PIPEDA directs organizations on the collection, use and disclosure of information collected from consumers in the course of commercial undertakings. As per PIPEDA Act, commercial activities refer to any transaction of a commercial character which may include selling, bartering and leasing of membership, donor or fundraising lists.

In provinces with privacy legislation similar to PIPEDA, some organizations/activities are exempt to this law. Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia have adopted privacy laws that are considered substantially similar to PIPEDA. Other provinces with similar legislation, although it is regarding personal health details, are New Brunswick, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Even in provinces with privacy legislation similar to PIPEDA, the federal law which is PIPEDA still applies to all international and interprovincial transactions and all federally regulated businesses such as banks, transport and telecommunication companies.

Rights of an Individual According to PIPEDA

According to PIPEDA, personal information refers to details on an identifiable person without the inclusion of name, title, telephone number and business address of an employee of a business/organization.
PIPEDA grants individuals the right to:

know the reasons why an organization collects, uses and distributes personal information;
expect organizations to collect, use or disclose information responsibly and not for any other purpose other than which the consumers consented;
expect the collected data to be accurate, complete and be updated at all times;
access personal information held by an organization without limitations and make corrections when necessary;
complain how an organization uses their personal information if they feel that an organization does not respect their privacy.

With the above rights, PIPEDA Canada can ensure that personal information is not distributed or disclosed to individuals who might put consumers at risk. By so doing, an individual is protected from identity theft and misuse of personal data.

PIPEDA has also stipulated the roles of organizations in safeguarding personal information. An organization is required to;

obtain consent from consumers before collecting, using or disclosing their data;
ensure that consumers have access to products or services even when they fail to disclose their personal information unless the information not needed in the transaction;
only collect information through lawful means;
create privacy policies with clarity, easy to understand and readily available.

Consumers Can Get Their Complaints Heard

PIPEDA Act does not give consumers a right to sue for any violations from organizations. PIPEDA stipulates that complaints are taken to Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada from where the allegations will be investigated and a report produced after the investigation.
The report from the commissioner is not binding to any of the parties; it is more like a recommendation. Besides creating a report, the commissioner has no power to order compliance, levy penalties or award damages. The organization under investigation does not have to take the recommendations from the commissioner.

After the complainant gets the report, they can then take it to the Federal Court of Canada. The organization complained about is not allowed by PIPEDA to take the matter to court seeing that the report is not a decision.
Under section 14, PIPEDA provides that a complainant have the right to apply for a hearing at the Federal Court of Canada. After the hearing, the court has the power to award damages and order the organization to change its practices.

PIPEDA Importance

All organizations have privacy policies, but it is only through PIPEDA that organizations ensure that these privacy policies work. Without PIPEDA, organizations will just have privacy policies to ensure they get the personal information they need for business.

Organizations have adopted different options for data protection and encryption to ensure that personal information stays safe. Personal information includes name, age, ID numbers, income, ethnic origin, social status, blood type, credit records, loan records, medical records and employee files among others.

November 15, 2018

7 Reasons Teachers Need Office 365

Teachers are always striving to provide the best education possible for their students while often operating within strict budget constraints. Office 365 provides an abundance of technology that is often free for educators. There are several reasons why teachers should use Office 365 in their classrooms.

1. Provides a Variety of Apps

Office 365 offers several different types of apps to help teachers provide their students with a variety of online educational experiences. Whether it’s teaching interactive lessons or individualized learning, the apps can meet several educational needs. Applications are downloaded using Click-to-Run technology that allows users to install apps quickly. A few of the apps that are available include the following:

Microsoft PowerPoint – Students not only learn how to use PowerPoint, but how to put together professional presentations that are informational and engaging.
Microsoft Word – Students will learn to use Microsoft Word more effectively by using the many projects and lesson plans that are offered.
Microsoft Excel – Teachers can learn to make spreadsheets and data analysis fun and engaging for their students. The apps include lessons for everything from analyzing inventory from a store they like to creating a recipe.
Microsoft Publisher – Educators can use Microsoft Publisher to create posters and cards using clip art. There are a variety of color schemes, text choices, and backgrounds to choose from.
Skype – Students can connect with students from other classrooms around the world to collaborate on projects. These types of collaboration will enable students to learn about different countries and cultures.

2. Offers Cloud-based Access and Storage

As a cloud-hosted app, Office 365 is stored and supported by Microsoft. This means teachers and schools don’t own it but subscribe to it. Storage is another excellent reason to start using Office 365. All the data that is used by both staff and students is stored safely in the cloud. Since there is unlimited storage, there is no need to worry about having enough space for data. Teachers and students will no longer have to worry about losing a thumb drive containing hours of hard work.

3. It’s Always Updated

Updating computers and programs can be technically difficult and time-consuming. Since Office 365 is stored in the cloud and supported by Microsoft, it’s always being updated. This means schools can rely on the latest technology and security always being in place. There’s no need for continual maintenance or dependence on an internal IT team.

4. Provides School-to-Work Transition Skills

One of the top priorities of education is preparing students to make a smooth transition from the classroom to the workforce. Students are now expected to possess baseline technology skills. Office 365 can provide students with several types of training tools including learning how to Skype, put together PowerPoint presentations, and learn how to create graphs and spreadsheets.

5. Supports Global Collaboration

Office 365 provides opportunities for both teachers and students to collaborate with others around the world. Teachers can share information with PowerPoint, Excel, or Word and still rely on formatting remaining consistent. Collaboration is done in real time whether it’s with a school across town or across the globe. Teachers can also use collaboration tools to offer tutoring and online classes.

6. Predictable Costs

One of the most attractive aspects of this service is that the Office 365 for Education is offered free for students and teachers that are currently attending an educational institution. There are basic services and applications that come with this particular offer. Teachers can expect to receive Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Yammer. There is also unlimited storage when five or more users have subscribed. A school may decide to pay for extra services, depending on each teacher’s individuals needs for the classroom.

7. Data Control and Security

Office 365 provides a high level of built-in security that can keep student and teacher data secure. There is both 24-hour monitoring and threat management security. Teachers can rely on consistent anti-spam and anti-malware protection. With a strong level of safety, schools won’t have to worry about student data being compromised.

Office 365 can help teachers easily organize their materials, put together interactive lessons plans, and create individualized learning plans for each of their students. Teachers and students can easily access all the great training and tools that are available at any time.

November 15, 2018

The Benefits of Layered Security and How It Can Improve Your Business

Professionals who specialize in cybersecurity realized long ago that there was no single way to protect a business from malicious attacks from hackers who were seeking to access their confidential information. While there are many different ways to protect your information, no one technique has ever been entirely successful. The key to providing the most effective cybersecurity protocols is to layer different types of security measures so that the gaps and loopholes between each one are significantly smaller, allowing hackers less time to do their dirty work.

Check out the video below to learn some quick ABCs to better cybersecurity.

The Increased Risk of Cyber Attacks

Billions of cyber attacks are blocked each year by cybersecurity professionals who have developed programs that use a layered system. Each layer of security is more intricate than the next, reducing a hacker’s ability to maneuver as they work their way through the levels of defense mechanisms. It’s estimated that a hacker can remain embedded in a network’s system for up to 100 days or more. This is 100 days too long, especially if they can maintain their access long enough to find their way around the roadblocks that have been put up by cybersecurity programs.

Why Layers Are So Beneficial

Layers are beneficial for many reasons. Just put each layer provides an additional level of defense so that with each extra layer of security that can be added, there is less and less access making it more challenging to find ways to infiltrate the system. While each layer in and of itself is not an adequate defense mechanism, layering them together improves each one’s efficiency until the last layer completely blocks out the hacker’s ability to gain entry. Instead of trying to rely on just one or two lines of defense, like access cards and two-step identification, multiple layers of security will lower your risk of a breach and make it easier to respond to legitimate inquiries and requests.

The Right Defense At the Right Time

With a layered defense approach, several things happen. First, threats that are detected early are eliminated so that they won’t pose a threat or be able to block authentic attempts to enter the system. The next thing to happen is that if an email enters the system and is picked up as a threat, but clarification is needed, it is sent to an area where it can be easily verified. This rapid capture and validate process means less downtime and allows your team to continue to be productive. It also eliminates the need for a person to have to go into the system to clear an item. The right defense at the right time within a layered cybersecurity program offers your company a chance to continue to work at full speed while your defense mechanisms are in place and taking care of business.

Improving Your Cyber Security’s Effectiveness

If you are trying to prevent financial loss and improve the overall value of your network, then layering your security protocols is your best whole line of defense. It will reduce the false positives that prevent your company from maintaining interaction with legitimate contacts, while at the same time helping you improve your visibility. By establishing a verified pathway that goes from the network to the server following a defined set of points that lie in between, any type of threat is detected much easier and eliminated without slowing down your system’s operation. The layered security concept creates an interwoven network of protection that prevents unwanted intruders from accessing (or even lingering for long periods of time) within your system.

If you need a cybersecurity program that is both effective and efficient, go for the layered approach. It provides multi-levels of defense that both identifies and eliminates threats on many different levels. With each added layer you compound your level of protection until you have a wall of security that is almost impenetrable. The increased risk of loss associated with cyber-attacks cannot be denied, so it’s vital that you use a security approach that takes many different types of threats into consideration and deals with each one quickly and efficiently.

November 14, 2018

Want The IRS To Pay For Your New Technology?

What would be the one thing better than getting your hands on the new hardware, software, or office furniture you’ve had your eye on? How about getting new technology as a tax write-off?

Awesome, right?

Especially since technology tends to be as expensive as it is necessary.

Register for our special on-demand training between now and the end of the year and get the inside scoop on what Section 179 is all about.

Click Here and what our training on demand.

November 14, 2018November 13, 2018

How Can Teachers Use Office 365 To Improve Student Engagement and Learning Outcomes?

Microsoft’s Office 365 for Educators has many tools that teachers can use to make their day easier and help their students learn more effectively. The program is also free for any educator and districts can also obtain a license for free Office 365 programs for faculty and student use.

Many of Office 365’s programs work cross-platform too, so students using tablets or Chromebooks can work together with students or a teacher or aide with a laptop or desktop computer.

How Will Office 365 Help Me Save Time as a Teacher?

Every year new standards and new curriculum makes planning lessons and fitting everything in the busy classroom day seem like almost impossible tasks. Office 365 has introduced some tools that help save time on paperwork and repetitive grading that can speed things up.

OneNote Class Notebook lets teachers put all of their lesson materials in one place, share them with the class when it’s time, grade homework, and set up group projects and timelines seamlessly.

Grading is included in OneNote Notebook Creator
Teachers control adding students, including new students joining the class.
Teachers can team-teach and collaborate across classes
Collaboration space includes student groups and assignment-based collaboration
Students all have private notebook space for grades and individual work.

Best of all, OneNote Class Notebook is accessible from mobile devices and desktops. You can add lessons, grade, and respond to students while on the go.

How Can Office 365 Support Online Teaching?

Microsoft’s Sway is also part of Office 365 for educators. The intuitive program lets teachers design lessons or collaborate with experts to create hands-on demonstrations.

Sway is also perfect for course modules or units which include visual, audio, and interactive materials. Teachers, assistants, and students can all work on and edit projects in sway. Everyone can see everyone else working. Sway even works for cross-curriculum or cross-platform teams (tablets, phones, laptops, desktops).

How Does Office 365 Keep Curriculum and Content Safe?

The days of stacks of torn, rain-stained handouts and lost homework packets may finally end thanks to Office 365’s OneDrive. Teachers can save any documents, folders, and video content they need to OneDrive where they can be accessed at any time. Even if your computer crashes, OneDrive will have a copy of your materials. You can access files in OneDrive any time while on the go with the Office 365 Educator password.

Can Office 365 Support Distance Learning and Video Conferencing?

Skype for Educators is part of Office 365, with a global teaching community that stands ready to help educators make the transition to real-time video conferencing for education. Skype for educators even supports virtual field trips. Imagine a field trip where no one gets lost, and everyone can see and experience everything — and even language barriers can be overcome with Skype Translator.

Can Office 365 Support a Flipped Classroom?

Office 365’s extensive tools and online educator community support and training can help teachers design all the content and curriculum they need to flip their classrooms and strengthen student learning. Collaboration is natural and intuitive throughout all the tools that Office 365 provides.

The last thing teachers need is added work and more new computer programs. Office 365 for Educators takes familiar Microsoft programs that teachers know and combines them with simple new tools and online classroom areas to build a suite of tools and materials for easier, faster, more effective teaching and learning.

November 14, 2018November 13, 2018

How to Use Designer in Microsoft PowerPoint

Many users have found that Office 365 PowerPoint is much easier to use than previous iterations of Microsoft PowerPoint. This application features tools like Designer that take advantage of Microsoft’s cloud technology and machine learning techniques for processing pictures and choosing a suitable layout for an image. Designer also makes it possible to change your content to make slides look more aesthetically appealing.

Here is some information about how to use Designer in Microsoft PowerPoint.

Get Design Ideas

The main advantage of PowerPoint Designer is that it provides you with design ideas to make beautiful slides. To use Designer, you should open up Microsoft PowerPoint. If you’re connected to the Internet, Designer will automatically provide you with suggestions when you add a graphic to your PowerPoint presentation.

You can ask for design ideas by navigating to Design > Design Ideas on the Microsoft PowerPoint ribbon. You can scroll through the Design Ideas pane to look at the suggestions. This pane is positioned on the window’s right side. You can either close the window or click on a design you like. When you click on a design, the slide will be changed according to the design. You have the option of choosing another idea from the Design Ideas pane. You can also press Ctrl+Z to undo a design change you chose.

The first time you use PowerPoint Designer, it will ask for your permission to provide you with design ideas. If you want to use PowerPoint Designer, click on Let’s go or Turn on. You need to turn on intelligent services so that Designer will provide you with design ideas every time you add photos to your PowerPoint.

To get design idea suggestions, you should use images in one of the following formats: .JPG, .BMP, .GIF, .PNG. You should also make sure that the size of the graphic is larger than 200 x 200 pixels. Otherwise, you may not get design ideas suggestions.

Professional Layouts

Designer in Microsoft PowerPoint is able to detect not just pictures but also charts and tables on a slide. Designer will provide you with a number of suggestions to arrange all of these graphics in an attractive, cohesive layout.

SmartArt Graphics

Designer is able to turn text like timelines, lists, processes into a SmartArt graphic that is readable. If you use bulleted lists, you will receive suggestions for an icon to be used for each bullet item. If you don’t want to use the suggested icon, you can stick with the original icon.

Illustrations

Designer looks for concepts and key terms that it has related illustrations for. It will show you these illustrations in different layouts. These illustrations come from the icons library in Office 365.

Turn Off PowerPoint Designer

If you decide that you don’t want to use PowerPoint Designer, you can do the following to turn this feature off:

Select Preferences on the PowerPoint menu
Select General under Authoring and Proofing Tools
Clear the check box marked “Automatically show me design ideas” in the General dialog box, which is under PowerPoint Designer.

PowerPoint Designer is a powerful tool if you want to make your slides and PowerPoints as aesthetically appealing as possible. For more information about how to use Designer in Microsoft PowerPoint, don’t hesitate to contact us.

November 13, 2018

How New My Health Record Safeguards Protect All

As you likely know, when there is a My Health Record in place, one can privately view their personal health information online. No matter where they are, they have access to that important information on any device connected to the Internet.

The beauty of this is that most Australians essentially carry their health history with them. What if one of your employees is injured on the job? His health record will allow quick and efficient treatment, an important benefit to both your employee and company.

Say it’s you who becomes ill while away on holiday. Even though you’ve never met the GP who treats you, that healthcare provider will have access to important information, including:

medical conditions with which you have been diagnosed
all medications you are taking
allergies you may have
pathology results, such as pertinent blood tests
personal notes about your health you want to health care providers to know, such as your advance care plan or custodial details

Can a doctor treat a patient without My Health Record? Sure, but why would anyone want that? My Health Record offers a physician the information he or she needs to create the best possible treatment plan and adds one more tool to their medical tool chest.

Imagine someone has a medical problem that impacts breathing. A treating physician would want and need that information before putting that person under anesthesia or giving them specific medications. If the patient is in no condition to relay that information, My Health Record does it for them.

All Australians Included

Unless a person opts out, they have My Health Record. The hope is to better interconnect Australia’s national health system in order to provide patients with safer, faster, and more accurate care. Even if someone is not sick a day in their life, My Health Record provides a convenient way to track health information over time.

Security is Vital

Though most Australians may fully understand the reasoning behind My Health Record, it can be a bit off-putting to think about other people having access to some of the most sensitive information available. That is why security measures are so vital. New security measures to the program have been designed to fully protect the privacy of all Australians and to give existing rules more teeth. In fact, protections such as firewalls, encryptions, secure login processes, and audit logging are just the beginning.

Further Tightening

In an attempt to close loopholes in the system, the federal government added these protections:

children cannot be represented by anyone who has restricted access, may pose a risk to a child, or may pose a risk to a person associated with a child
employers are prohibited from gaining access to the health records of current or potential employees
no private health insurance will be allowed access to health information, even if they claim to need it for research or public health purposes
law enforcement agencies can only access My Health Record with a court order or warrant
anyone can cancel their health record at any time and it will be permanently deleted from the system.

Tougher Penalties

New penalties for improperly accessing My Health Record increase the current imprisonment period of two years to five years. Maximum fines have risen from $126,000 to $315,000 for the unlawful access of records.

Why These Changes Matter

Properly managed, My Health Record can improve one’s healthcare experience and may even save lives. Improperly managed, the records can provide information to people who should not have access.

These changes ultimately benefit your business. The fact that you have no access to the medical records of employees or potential employees means that no one can accuse you of passing them over for a job or promotion due to a preexisting condition.

In addition, the new security measures can protect an employee from a dangerous ex-partner who might have tracked them down through their child’s healthcare records. The measures also protect employees from abuse from law enforcement.

All in all, these new security measures are good for business. They are set up in a way that protects both you and your employees.

OAIC’s Role

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is responsible for handling any personal information included in My Health Record by individual citizens, government agencies, some state and territory agencies, and the private sector. OAIC’s role is to investigate complaints files regarding the mishandling of health information found on My Health Record. Their functions and enforcement powers include:

investigating complaints
determining if anyone has broken the law
seeking civil penalties from the Courts
asking for an injunction to prohibit improper conduct

User Control

Australians who opt to maintain My Health Record may have more control than they realise. They can use settings to determine who can (and cannot) view their documents and can also determine which documents are available to healthcare providers.

Complaints

If anyone within your organisation believes that their My Health Record has been compromised, they should contact the Australian Digital Health Agency through the My Health Record helpline. The number is 1800 723 471.

While no system is perfect, My Health Record is meant to provide Australians with the most comprehensive summary of their heath possible, which may ultimately lead to better care by healthcare providers and better long term health.

November 13, 2018

Creating Video Marketing That Stands Out

It is hard to maintain a strong brand presence without video marketing. Whether local or national, brick and mortar or eCommerce, goods or services, video content is crucial to success in the current marketplace.

Here are some recent numbers from an Animoto study to put this into perspective:

Basic Stats

93% of marketers report that they reach new customers through the use of video content
73% of consumers say that social media content has made an impact on their buying decisions
45% of consumers say that video is their preferred form of social content, with image, link and text content coming in second, third and fourth, at 22%, 13% and 10% respectively
About a third of consumers will review a brand’s social media content before deciding whether to go to their website in the first place
45% of consumers report that their first encounter with a product or service is through video

So this clearly establishes a couple of things.

You need to pursue video content marketing through social media to maintain a strong brand presence in the modern age.
Everyone is doing it. So it’s going to be hard to stand out.

Video content is necessary, but all it accomplishes on its own is that it puts you in the running. Producing video content earns you a shot at getting seen, but it won’t guarantee that you are seen in a crowded marketplace. What does it matter that your videos are making thousands of impressions if nobody’s clicking play?

How do you produce the right kind of video content?

It’s all a process of narrowing-down. As in any data-driven marketing decision, you take your options, cut them in half, cut them in half again, and again, and again until you are getting the most effect for your efforts. You’ve probably taken a look at your analytics and found that certain kinds of content will perform better when posted at certain times of day and on certain days of the week. The same sort of thinking applies to the process of developing, producing and posting your video content.

This begins with…

Categories

The Animoto survey found that three types of video content comprised the vast majority of views:

How-to videos
Videos about sales and promotions
Top 5’s

One of these categories is probably on-brand with your product or service. If it’s not immediately apparent, you can try testing content in each category and gauge their performance. Sale-announcement videos are always a good idea, but you might find that your target audience prefers how-to’s to top 5’s, or vice-versa, and produce content accordingly.

Where Are You Posting?

The Animoto survey suggests that Facebook and Youtube lead the way for video views, but Instagram is the clear winner for sales-per-view. People are specifically on Instagram to discover something new, whether it’s a content producer or a new ice cream shop. This means that your viewers are already in the right frame of mind to discover whatever it is that you’re offering them. Users on Facebook and Youtube are generally looking for content that they’re already familiar with, favorite game streamers, keeping up with friends and family and so on.

This does not necessarily mean that you will have the most success with Instagram. Every brand attracts a different audience, and while more brands than not may enjoy more engagement on Instagram, you might have more success on Facebook if your demographic is a little older, or even Pinterest, which trails far behind the video leaders, but might be perfect if you’re after an arts-and-craft audience.

Calibrate And Refine

All of this data can set you off in the right direction, but getting the most out of any social media content is a process of constant calibration and refinement. Almost nobody gets lucky and hits the target dead-center on the first try. You might post a dozen videos and get fewer than one hundred views on each one. But one of them is going to be an outlier, one of them is going to have a few views more than the others. So you produce a dozen more in that direction, and, again, you have an outlier, one that produces twice as many engagements as the runner-up, and you keep following the outlier and following the outlier until you get a sense for exactly what catches the attention of your target viewer.

There’s no secret formula for producing attention-grabbing videos in a crowded marketplace, because every brand is different. But if you keep testing and adjusting your aim appropriately, you will discover exactly what your customers are looking for.

November 13, 2018November 12, 2018

How to Prevent Cyber Attacks on Employee Smartphones

Each year, security experts sound off alarms about cyber attacks aimed at smartphones. Each year, the number of attacks levied at smartphones increases significantly. Therefore, if you provide your employees with smartphones to use on the job, it is essential that you take precautions to prevent cyber attacks.

Here are a few tips that will help protect your organization against cyber attacks on employee smartphones.

What Are The Mobile Security Risks?

By 2021, cyber attacks could cost businesses a total of $6 trillion in damages. The Harvard Business Review reported that mobile devices are the weakest links when it comes to corporate security by far. Executives are struggling to deal with how ubiquitous smartphones are and the difficulties of securing networks, protecting data, and encouraging employees to care about security.

A bring-your-own-device policy is especially dangerous because employers are not able to control the use of these devices when it comes to non-work purposes. It is often very difficult to detect malicious attacks as soon as they occur.

According to a report released by FireEye M-Trends, the average hacker has access to a smartphone for about three months before they are caught. Cyber attacks can lead to damages of up to $10 million per year for a single business.

Ways to Prevent an Employee Smartphone Cyber Attack

Here are a few tips that you should keep in mind to protect your organization from employee smartphone cyber attacks.

1. Get rid of your BYOD policy: If you currently have a BYOD policy, you should strive to end this policy promptly and provide your employees with smartphones. Employer-owned smartphones are better when it comes to preventing cyber attacks because you can maintain complete control over how the smartphones are used. On the other hand, with BYOD devices, you can’t control how these devices are used outside of work.

2. Set a passcode: Be sure to set a passcode on all employer-owned devices. That way, if a smartphone is lost or stolen, the data on the device will be more difficult to gain access to. Believe it or not, carelessness is one of the largest security risks. In many cases, when data is stolen from a device, it’s because the device wasn’t protected with a password.

3. Download from trusted sources: Only allow your employees to download apps from trusted sources on employer smartphones. In fact, if possible, don’t allow your employees to download apps on smartphones at all. Instead, you should have apps that you know your employees will need deployed to the smartphones remotely. You should take the time to conduct research about the legitimacy of an app before downloading it on employee smartphones.

4. Secure and backup data: You should have the data on all employee smartphones backed up on a regular basis. Data that should be backed up includes documents, photos, and contacts. You can have these files backed up on a computer, the Cloud, or a storage card. That way, if a phone is lost, stolen, or damaged, you will be able to restore useful information.

5. Understand app permissions: Before you download an app on employee smartphones, you should have a good understanding of the app permissions. If you don’t pay close attention, you may grant an app access to sensitive information on the phone. It’s also possible that you may grant the app permission to perform intrusive actions on your phone. Therefore, it is essential that you check the privacy settings of an app before installation.

6. Wipe data: Before you recycle, resell, or donate an old company phone, you should wipe the data completely. Not only should you erase all the data off the phone, you should restore the phone to its factory settings.

7. Download a security app: You should download a trusted mobile security app on all employee smartphones and change the settings so that scans are conducted at least once a week. A mobile security app will check all downloads for spyware and malware. There are also some mobile security apps that will provide you with the location of a stolen or lost phone. These security apps will also redirect you from unsafe websites.

As you can see, there are many steps that you can take to protect employee smartphones from cyber criminals. For more information about how to prevent cyber attacks on employee smartphones, don’t hesitate to contact us.

November 13, 2018November 13, 2018