Career development is what drives many employees within their professions but achieving this isn’t always as easy or straightforward as we all hoped. A highly competitive job market, teams with an impending recession has caused many business owners to place promotions and pay rises on hold.
This is why it’s imperative to stand out from the crowd and do whatever it takes to impress managers. One way of doing so is by undertaking accredited CPD training. These courses can provide invaluable information and skills that may not be able to be learnt on the job, and this article discusses its benefits and how it can help aid with career progressions.
Independently Verified
The internet is a fountain of knowledge, unfortunately, not everything is up-to-date or correct and some can even be a scam. By choosing a CPD accredited course, provides peace of mind as all of these have been independently verified.
This means the student knows they are getting the right facts, alongside value for their money. These courses are constantly updated to be in line with new findings, technology, trends and compliance.
Boosts The CV
With the job market being so competitive, it’s more important than ever to get ahead of the game and impress recruiters and employers.
When a candidate states they have undertaken professionally accredited training courses, not only does it show off their wide knowledge range, but also a willingness to learn and initiative.
Candidates who undertook their initial training a long period ago can fall victim to recruiters assuming they are not using the most modern methods, these courses can prove otherwise.
It can even improve salary prospects and can increase the chances of obtaining a higher wage bracket.
Aids Career Change
There is no limit to what age an employee can change their career, but the longer they take to make this decision, the harder it can be to make the change.
Even candidates who are looking for entry-level roles can find these jobs too competitive and it can lead to having to put these career changes on hold.
However, CPD training can help to score that all-important interview. Candidates with no previous experience or formal qualifications in the field are often overlooked and their application is rarely considered to progress further in the recruitment stages.
By stating in a CV or covering letter the eagerness to learn, the interest in the field and the knowledge already obtained from their own initiative, candidates can really help themselves stand out and progress.
Impresses The Boss
When wishing to process within a current company, one of the best ways an employee can make sure they are considered for further development is to show initiative, interest and a willingness to succeed.
Employees who openly state CPD courses they are taking or have completed will always score points with bosses, as they can see their staff members care just as much about the business as they do.
This new-found knowledge can also be used to help other colleagues and to refine practices and processes in the organisation. Showing off training and managerial skills that can lead to the all-important promotion.
Boosts Confidence
One major reason for employees to hold themselves back from career progression is lack of confidence.
Lack of faith in oneself will often lead to staff not putting themselves forward for new roles and becoming complacent and comfortable in their current role.
By undertaking training courses that are accredited and have been verified of a professional standard, students can quickly gain some confidence with new knowledge, while also reiterating what they already do know.
This can then be applied in the workplace, with the added benefit of access to experts in the subject matter of the course, they can always reach out for clarification and even find solutions to work-related problems.
Many of these courses even provide real-life examples and scenarios, meaning if similar occurrences happen in the workplace, they are already equipped to handle this.
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Finding reliable and high-paying clients in any industry is tough. Most of us have paid our dues in the freelance world; we’ve worked for free (or for close to it) and have handled difficult customers for less pay than we’d like. Sometimes we hear of professionals in the exact same field, doing the same job at the same level of skill or proficiency — yet they make twice what we do. What gives? What separates us from the high-paying, low-maintenance clients that everyone else seems to be able to find?
The difference, more often than not, lies in our approach to sales and marketing. Finding the right clients for your business requires a willingness to ask for the right rates unapologetically and the ability to prove that your service is worth it. How do we do that? Read on for some of the best ways to find premium clients online.
1. Qualify your clients
Your online marketing should tailor itself towards the right high-paying clients from start to finish. Aside from thoughtful and unique branding choices, your advertisements and sales funnels should be catered towards clients that have the ability to pay for your rates. How do you qualify the right client? A great way to do it is to have clients fill out an application with industry-specific questions. For instance, if you run an online personal training business, asking clients about time availability and goals will help you identify whether or not a potential client will work out for your business.
2. Define a nice
Let’s go back to the example of the personal training business. We know that an online training business will most certainly be catered towards the 25-45 age range. Older clients won’t want to deal with apps and video conferencing and younger clients generally won’t have the disposable income to pay for a service like yours. So we target middle to upper-class middle aged adults who don’t have the time to attend workout classes or train one-on-one. These clients will have the funds to invest in online courses.
3. Ask the right questions
The worst thing you can do is to ask too many questions and overload your client with a ton of information. Rather than try to make everything happen at once, try asking questions that lead to your client discovering whether or not your service is a good fit for them.
4. Always follow-up
You should give them enough time between your initial conversation and follow-up for them to process the new information they’ve received. Once enough time has passed (at least three days) you can send a follow-up email or phone call. The goal here is to make yourself visible to your client again, not force a sale.
If you begin to implement these tactics, you will be well on your way to finding high-paying clients that are a joy to work with on a consistent basis. Just make sure that your service is as premium as the clients you’re looking for.
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In light of COVID-19, many businesses are making the switch to remote working. Or if you are just starting up a new business, then this could be how you need to work from the get-go. Remote working is the way of the future, with ever-increasing advancements in technology, it seems that everything is going online.
There are lots of advantages to remote working. For one, you will have fewer overheads. Secondly, you and your staff should have a better work-life balance, and thirdly, you can employ the best possible people regardless of their location.
However, there are also some risks to consider. How can you be sure that your staff are doing what they said they would? And how can you foster a supportive working environment if you never see each other in person?
Here is some advice for building a remote company that runs smoothly:
Use the Right Tools
Your employees are going to need access to all the important documents required to perform their job effectively, from home. There are many software options available to you in order to implement this.
You may need to consider remote conferencing software, such as Zoom, and project management software that allows you to assign tasks and create workspaces, such as Notion. You may also need a password manager and encryption. If you share logins, then this could be particularly important.
Choosing the right software, to begin with, is important so that everyone only has to learn one system. So do your research and figure out what’s right for you.
Determine Your Communication Plan
The biggest thing a remote business is missing is in-person communication, which is why a communication plan is so important. When will you communicate and how? Perhaps have a catch-up skype call every Friday, or messaging tools. Keeping a line of communication is essential.
You may decide to meet in person every so often, especially when hiring new employees. For some businesses and people, this is important. If you do, just make sure that you adhere to social distancing measures and that you keep the space clean with disinfecting sprays, hand gel, sanitizing wipes and more. It would be effective to have sanitizers and sprays across each workspace in the office, and you can order in bulk from Brooklyn Equipment’s line of sprays if you want to keep them stocked up. That way, everyone can feel safe and secure.
Choose the right remote workers
For remote working to be successful, you need the right workers. You will probably have a lot to choose from and need to be stringent in your decisions. Read CVs thoroughly and speak to people on a video call to get to know them better. Ask for references too if necessary. It is not just about having the experience and skills, they need the right mindset, be self-motivated, and they need to be a good fit for your company.
Find creative ways to connect
Remote working makes it difficult for people to feel part of the team, which can be important for retention of good employees. Hold group video calls, have a cloud collaboration, and get creative. Consider remote challenges and activities for them to participate in such as fancy dress over video call or a Friday quiz or shared lunch.
Set Clear Goals
Goal setting is always important, but especially for remote workers. Determine what your expectations are, and when deadlines should be met so that you can keep people accountable. You should also have frequent performance reviews and set tangible, clear and achievable goals. This will also help keep your staff happy as they can see themselves progressing.
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The virus pandemic of 2020 is severely disrupting the economy and the large and small businesses that drive it. Poor practices such as ignoring safe distancing, insufficient sanitation, and not mandating mask-wearing open the door to infection of customers and staff and threaten the viability of a business.
Similarly, poor practices that allow a business to incur technical debt open the door to cybersecurity exploits that can bankrupt a business financially or through loss of trust and reputation in the eyes of its customers. Leaders of small and medium size businesses (SMBs) often think their size lets them operate under the radar, as less attractive targets to bad guys. But, actually, their lack of robust security strategy and resources make them easier to penetrate. And, sadly, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) reports that 60 percent of small companies are unable to sustain their business more than six months following a cyberattack.
Years of experience working and advising businesses domestically and internationally has shown that business leaders find it difficult to recognize tech debt and how it exposes cyber vulnerability. As technology has evolved over time from main frame to client server to the Internet and now the cloud, the impact of a new Tech Debt 2.0 has grown stealthier and more sinister. This is especially true for SMBs that lack the resources to apply to cybersecurity. CEOs and CFOs managing technology may not recognize tech debt building up in their SMBs—because it is not revealed in monthly variance reports or other accounting controls. Someone in their organization, without explicit or implicit authority or oversight, may be making decisions adding to the Tech Debt 2.0 load and increasing exposure to cyberattacks. Let’s look at how that might happen and how to prevent it.
Old and Obsolete Infrastructure:
Azeotrope, an aerospace firm in the Southeast, realized they were compromised when a number of clients complained of receiving invoices from Azeotrope that contained confidential information about their client’s orders and projects. Months of investigation by a cyber consulting firm finally determined the source of the vulnerability to Azotrope’s network: a combination printer/fax machine in their testing and QA area that engineers regularly used to fax lunch orders to a local Chinese restaurant. Because the device was connected to the company’s network for printing purposes, it provided network access using out-of-date insecure facsimile protocols. This gave the bad actors access to the company’s customer accounts and valuable data.
“Fax is an ancient technology; the protocols we use today haven’t been changed for the past 30 years,” notes Yaniv Balmas of Check Point Software, a leading provider of cyber threat intelligence. “Fax data is sent with no cryptographic protections; anyone who can tap a phone line can instantly intercept all data transmitted across it. Fax is always sent unauthenticated. There are absolutely no protections over fax.” Balmas advises: “If you can’t stop using fax, segregate the printers, put them on a separate network.”
The Tech-away:Identify and remove obsolete components from your network. Not just equipment with obvious vulnerabilities like fax, but all equipment no longer supported and updated by the manufacturer for cybersecurity risk.
A Stitch in Time . . .
Patches are often created after a software or hardware company has experienced a data breach or recognized a vulnerability that might allow one. The patch is issued to ensure other businesses’ data remains safe. Applying a patch as quickly as possible lessens the risk of your business becoming affected. But it is each business’s responsibility to know a patch has been issued and to apply it promptly. That is patch management—a relatively straightforward process, 10 or 20 years ago. Today, however, the vast proliferation of software and hardware components in our business environment have made patch management a complex, time- and resource- consuming necessity, critical to the cybersecurity of a business’s network. Failure to effectively manage patching is a main cause of accumulating excessive Tech Debt 2.0 and security penetration.
NETGEAR, a highly respected manufacturer of network equipment in data centers, offices, and the homes of hundreds of thousands of people working from home now, and, possibly, far into the future, recently sent an email alert to its customers. An excerpt is below. How would your CFO or CIO handle this?
Hello.
We have become aware of vulnerabilities involving certain NETGEAR products and have issued a security advisory.
We have released hotfixes addressing some of the vulnerabilities for certain impacted models and continue to work on hotfixes for the remaining vulnerabilities and models, which we will release on a rolling basis as they become available. We strongly recommend that you download the latest firmware containing the hotfixes as instructed in the security advisory. We plan to release firmware updates that fix all vulnerabilities for all affected products that are within the security support period.
Until a hotfix or firmware fix is available for your product, we strongly recommend turning off Remote Management in your product. Please follow the steps below to turn off Remote Management immediately. . .
The Tech-away: Take steps to reduce the burden and complexity of patch management. Adopt software and hardware that automatically detect and apply patches. Look for opportunities to shed responsibility for patch management through outsourcing cybersecurity responsibility or utilizing cloud services that provide monitoring and patch management services. Tech Debt accrued through failure to manage patching effectively can fatally compromise your network and business.
People, Policies and Processes
Of greater consequence than obsolescence and patch management to Tech Debt 2.0 and cybersecurity are the people, policies, and processes that make up the culture and collective mindset of a business organization. Properly patched, up-to-date infrastructure is not going to stand in the way of the accounts payable clerk or chief marketing officer who clicks on the attachment to an email from some bad actor posing as a trusted vendor or prospective customer. Equally dangerous is the computer operator who props open the data center door to make it easier to allow the guy who says he’s the A/C maintenance engineer get in and out. Or the CEO who shares her password with her husband and children so they can access her mail and messaging accounts.
Establishing a data security mindset from the bottom to the very top of an organization is a basic essential to safeguarding a business from cyberattacks. Policies and processes must instill in all the company’s people an always-on awareness of their responsibility to protect the physical and digital assets of the enterprise. That mindset needs to be reinforced frequently and backed up by actions that demonstrate commitment and consequence behind company policies and processes.
The Tech-away: Formulate and clearly communicate policies and processes governing any actions that involve cybersecurity. Visibly demonstrate across the organization the commitment to security.
Make cybersecurity awareness a visible priority for every person in the organization.
About the Author
Michael C. Fillios is the founder and CEO of the IT Ally Institute, a nonprofit organization providing small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) access to knowledge, research, and practical tools to improve their tech bottom line. A senior global business and technology executive with more than 25 years of experience in IT, finance, operations management, and change leadership, he lives in Mason, Ohio. His new book is Tech Debt 2.0™: How to Future Proof Your Small Business and Improve Your Tech Bottom Line. Learn more at www.itallyinstitute.org.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/pexels-pixabay-60504.jpg8001200Sharon Kastorianohttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngSharon Kastoriano2020-09-01 09:00:172020-09-01 07:44:09How Technical Debt Opens the Door to Cyber Attacks—and Steps to Protect Your Small Business
No matter what career you set your mind to, you’ll have to create a set of professional development goals, so that you stay on top of your game. It’s also important to invest time and energy into your professional development, since they focus on your functional expertise, accomplish tasks in your current job, and prepare you for the next step in your career.
Here are 7 goals that you need to set for professional development today:
1. Start With An End Goal
You heard right! Start with the end!
“To start with an end goal means to think about the future,” says Joan Smith, a business coach at NextCoursework and Write My X. “In other words, work backwards. As you work backwards, you’ll find your answers easily. Figure out what it will take to get to each goal, the skills and experience needed, and any other required training or certification.”
Here are questions to consider when thinking about your end goal:
Where do you want to be in a few years?
What will your title be in a few years?
What kind of company do you wish to work for?
What new skills will you have, by the time you’re hired for a company?
What will your achievements be?
2. Remember Why You’re Here
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed, to the point where you question how you’ve picked a profession to begin with? Don’t worry – we’ve all been there at some point.
In fact, part of your professional development goals should be to make sure that you don’t get burned out of what you’re doing. Instead, take some time for yourself to quietly reflect on why you’ve chosen your profession in the first place. Also, think about the people that you’re affecting with your profession. Once you reflect on these things, you’ll get a clear understanding of why you’re here, and then come to appreciate it more.
3. Be SMART
Try the acronym SMART to figure out your objectives, and learn to reach them:
Specific: Your goal must be clear and specific, and it’s what you want to accomplish. Also, think about why that goal is important, who is involved, where needs to be done to complete the task, and what resources you need for it.
Measurable: A goal should be trackable from beginning to end.
Achievable: The goal has to be realistic, to ensure success.
Relevant: Your goal must matter to you, and also align with your other goals and long-term plans.
Time-bound: Your goal needs a deadline to maintain accountability.
4. Strategize Each Goal
It’s important to have strategies for each of your goals – not just one of them. First, break down your goals into smaller tasks to give yourself achievable milestones as you progress.
Afterwards, ask your HR department if there’s a budget for learning and development. If so, sign up for a course, and learn as much as possible. Finally, when you take a certification exam, make sure you study prior to testing.
5. Establish Relationships
Relationships matter in many industries, including retail, real estate, customer service – the list goes on. No matter your profession, you have to cultivate relationships with your customers, so that you can be a shining star in your community, and positively affect people’s lives with what you have to offer.
6. Check In With Yourself Often
“It’s important to check in on yourself every so often, when developing your professional goals,” says Hayden Wilkinson, a writer at Britstudent and Australia2Write. “In other words, set up a time weekly or monthly to track your progress, and see how you’re doing. If necessary, you can have a friend or family member check in on you to see how you’re doing every week or month, so that you’re giving your best all the time, every time, in your profession.”
7. Make Time
When it comes to setting goals, you still need to make time for them. Regardless of your objective or profession, you have to be consistent with your goal-setting. Even if you have to substitute an activity (i.e. watching TV) for focusing on your goals, then do so.
Conclusion
Once you set up some of these professional development goals, you be certain that you’ll improve always, and that you’ve kept track of your accomplishments.
Don’t just wait for your company to offer you on-the-job training. You can start setting your professional development goals today!
About the Author
Vanessa Kearney is a writer and editor at Write my research proposal and Phdkingdom.com. She is also a contributing writer for Research Paper Help. As a professional writer, she is not only passionate about writing on various topics, she also strives to create something unique and exciting for her readers and subscribers.
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Business Programs
Why Are Accredited CPD Training Courses Integral for Professional Development?
/in Professional Development/by StrategyDrivenThis is why it’s imperative to stand out from the crowd and do whatever it takes to impress managers. One way of doing so is by undertaking accredited CPD training. These courses can provide invaluable information and skills that may not be able to be learnt on the job, and this article discusses its benefits and how it can help aid with career progressions.
Independently Verified
The internet is a fountain of knowledge, unfortunately, not everything is up-to-date or correct and some can even be a scam. By choosing a CPD accredited course, provides peace of mind as all of these have been independently verified.
This means the student knows they are getting the right facts, alongside value for their money. These courses are constantly updated to be in line with new findings, technology, trends and compliance.
Boosts The CV
With the job market being so competitive, it’s more important than ever to get ahead of the game and impress recruiters and employers.
When a candidate states they have undertaken professionally accredited training courses, not only does it show off their wide knowledge range, but also a willingness to learn and initiative.
Candidates who undertook their initial training a long period ago can fall victim to recruiters assuming they are not using the most modern methods, these courses can prove otherwise.
It can even improve salary prospects and can increase the chances of obtaining a higher wage bracket.
Aids Career Change
There is no limit to what age an employee can change their career, but the longer they take to make this decision, the harder it can be to make the change.
Even candidates who are looking for entry-level roles can find these jobs too competitive and it can lead to having to put these career changes on hold.
However, CPD training can help to score that all-important interview. Candidates with no previous experience or formal qualifications in the field are often overlooked and their application is rarely considered to progress further in the recruitment stages.
By stating in a CV or covering letter the eagerness to learn, the interest in the field and the knowledge already obtained from their own initiative, candidates can really help themselves stand out and progress.
Impresses The Boss
When wishing to process within a current company, one of the best ways an employee can make sure they are considered for further development is to show initiative, interest and a willingness to succeed.
Employees who openly state CPD courses they are taking or have completed will always score points with bosses, as they can see their staff members care just as much about the business as they do.
This new-found knowledge can also be used to help other colleagues and to refine practices and processes in the organisation. Showing off training and managerial skills that can lead to the all-important promotion.
Boosts Confidence
One major reason for employees to hold themselves back from career progression is lack of confidence.
Lack of faith in oneself will often lead to staff not putting themselves forward for new roles and becoming complacent and comfortable in their current role.
By undertaking training courses that are accredited and have been verified of a professional standard, students can quickly gain some confidence with new knowledge, while also reiterating what they already do know.
This can then be applied in the workplace, with the added benefit of access to experts in the subject matter of the course, they can always reach out for clarification and even find solutions to work-related problems.
Many of these courses even provide real-life examples and scenarios, meaning if similar occurrences happen in the workplace, they are already equipped to handle this.
Effective Ways to Get Premium Clients Online
/in Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenThe difference, more often than not, lies in our approach to sales and marketing. Finding the right clients for your business requires a willingness to ask for the right rates unapologetically and the ability to prove that your service is worth it. How do we do that? Read on for some of the best ways to find premium clients online.
1. Qualify your clients
Your online marketing should tailor itself towards the right high-paying clients from start to finish. Aside from thoughtful and unique branding choices, your advertisements and sales funnels should be catered towards clients that have the ability to pay for your rates. How do you qualify the right client? A great way to do it is to have clients fill out an application with industry-specific questions. For instance, if you run an online personal training business, asking clients about time availability and goals will help you identify whether or not a potential client will work out for your business.
2. Define a nice
Let’s go back to the example of the personal training business. We know that an online training business will most certainly be catered towards the 25-45 age range. Older clients won’t want to deal with apps and video conferencing and younger clients generally won’t have the disposable income to pay for a service like yours. So we target middle to upper-class middle aged adults who don’t have the time to attend workout classes or train one-on-one. These clients will have the funds to invest in online courses.
3. Ask the right questions
The worst thing you can do is to ask too many questions and overload your client with a ton of information. Rather than try to make everything happen at once, try asking questions that lead to your client discovering whether or not your service is a good fit for them.
4. Always follow-up
You should give them enough time between your initial conversation and follow-up for them to process the new information they’ve received. Once enough time has passed (at least three days) you can send a follow-up email or phone call. The goal here is to make yourself visible to your client again, not force a sale.
If you begin to implement these tactics, you will be well on your way to finding high-paying clients that are a joy to work with on a consistent basis. Just make sure that your service is as premium as the clients you’re looking for.
Advice for Building a Remote-Working Business
/in Starting Your Business/by StrategyDrivenThere are lots of advantages to remote working. For one, you will have fewer overheads. Secondly, you and your staff should have a better work-life balance, and thirdly, you can employ the best possible people regardless of their location.
However, there are also some risks to consider. How can you be sure that your staff are doing what they said they would? And how can you foster a supportive working environment if you never see each other in person?
Here is some advice for building a remote company that runs smoothly:
Use the Right Tools
Your employees are going to need access to all the important documents required to perform their job effectively, from home. There are many software options available to you in order to implement this.
You may need to consider remote conferencing software, such as Zoom, and project management software that allows you to assign tasks and create workspaces, such as Notion. You may also need a password manager and encryption. If you share logins, then this could be particularly important.
Choosing the right software, to begin with, is important so that everyone only has to learn one system. So do your research and figure out what’s right for you.
Determine Your Communication Plan
The biggest thing a remote business is missing is in-person communication, which is why a communication plan is so important. When will you communicate and how? Perhaps have a catch-up skype call every Friday, or messaging tools. Keeping a line of communication is essential.
You may decide to meet in person every so often, especially when hiring new employees. For some businesses and people, this is important. If you do, just make sure that you adhere to social distancing measures and that you keep the space clean with disinfecting sprays, hand gel, sanitizing wipes and more. It would be effective to have sanitizers and sprays across each workspace in the office, and you can order in bulk from Brooklyn Equipment’s line of sprays if you want to keep them stocked up. That way, everyone can feel safe and secure.
Choose the right remote workers
For remote working to be successful, you need the right workers. You will probably have a lot to choose from and need to be stringent in your decisions. Read CVs thoroughly and speak to people on a video call to get to know them better. Ask for references too if necessary. It is not just about having the experience and skills, they need the right mindset, be self-motivated, and they need to be a good fit for your company.
Find creative ways to connect
Remote working makes it difficult for people to feel part of the team, which can be important for retention of good employees. Hold group video calls, have a cloud collaboration, and get creative. Consider remote challenges and activities for them to participate in such as fancy dress over video call or a Friday quiz or shared lunch.
Set Clear Goals
Goal setting is always important, but especially for remote workers. Determine what your expectations are, and when deadlines should be met so that you can keep people accountable. You should also have frequent performance reviews and set tangible, clear and achievable goals. This will also help keep your staff happy as they can see themselves progressing.
How Technical Debt Opens the Door to Cyber Attacks—and Steps to Protect Your Small Business
/in Managing Your Finances/by Michael C. FilliosSimilarly, poor practices that allow a business to incur technical debt open the door to cybersecurity exploits that can bankrupt a business financially or through loss of trust and reputation in the eyes of its customers. Leaders of small and medium size businesses (SMBs) often think their size lets them operate under the radar, as less attractive targets to bad guys. But, actually, their lack of robust security strategy and resources make them easier to penetrate. And, sadly, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) reports that 60 percent of small companies are unable to sustain their business more than six months following a cyberattack.
Years of experience working and advising businesses domestically and internationally has shown that business leaders find it difficult to recognize tech debt and how it exposes cyber vulnerability. As technology has evolved over time from main frame to client server to the Internet and now the cloud, the impact of a new Tech Debt 2.0 has grown stealthier and more sinister. This is especially true for SMBs that lack the resources to apply to cybersecurity. CEOs and CFOs managing technology may not recognize tech debt building up in their SMBs—because it is not revealed in monthly variance reports or other accounting controls. Someone in their organization, without explicit or implicit authority or oversight, may be making decisions adding to the Tech Debt 2.0 load and increasing exposure to cyberattacks. Let’s look at how that might happen and how to prevent it.
Old and Obsolete Infrastructure:
Azeotrope, an aerospace firm in the Southeast, realized they were compromised when a number of clients complained of receiving invoices from Azeotrope that contained confidential information about their client’s orders and projects. Months of investigation by a cyber consulting firm finally determined the source of the vulnerability to Azotrope’s network: a combination printer/fax machine in their testing and QA area that engineers regularly used to fax lunch orders to a local Chinese restaurant. Because the device was connected to the company’s network for printing purposes, it provided network access using out-of-date insecure facsimile protocols. This gave the bad actors access to the company’s customer accounts and valuable data.
“Fax is an ancient technology; the protocols we use today haven’t been changed for the past 30 years,” notes Yaniv Balmas of Check Point Software, a leading provider of cyber threat intelligence. “Fax data is sent with no cryptographic protections; anyone who can tap a phone line can instantly intercept all data transmitted across it. Fax is always sent unauthenticated. There are absolutely no protections over fax.” Balmas advises: “If you can’t stop using fax, segregate the printers, put them on a separate network.”
The Tech-away: Identify and remove obsolete components from your network. Not just equipment with obvious vulnerabilities like fax, but all equipment no longer supported and updated by the manufacturer for cybersecurity risk.
A Stitch in Time . . .
Patches are often created after a software or hardware company has experienced a data breach or recognized a vulnerability that might allow one. The patch is issued to ensure other businesses’ data remains safe. Applying a patch as quickly as possible lessens the risk of your business becoming affected. But it is each business’s responsibility to know a patch has been issued and to apply it promptly. That is patch management—a relatively straightforward process, 10 or 20 years ago. Today, however, the vast proliferation of software and hardware components in our business environment have made patch management a complex, time- and resource- consuming necessity, critical to the cybersecurity of a business’s network. Failure to effectively manage patching is a main cause of accumulating excessive Tech Debt 2.0 and security penetration.
NETGEAR, a highly respected manufacturer of network equipment in data centers, offices, and the homes of hundreds of thousands of people working from home now, and, possibly, far into the future, recently sent an email alert to its customers. An excerpt is below. How would your CFO or CIO handle this?
Hello.
We have become aware of vulnerabilities involving certain NETGEAR products and have issued a security advisory.
We have released hotfixes addressing some of the vulnerabilities for certain impacted models and continue to work on hotfixes for the remaining vulnerabilities and models, which we will release on a rolling basis as they become available. We strongly recommend that you download the latest firmware containing the hotfixes as instructed in the security advisory. We plan to release firmware updates that fix all vulnerabilities for all affected products that are within the security support period.
Until a hotfix or firmware fix is available for your product, we strongly recommend turning off Remote Management in your product. Please follow the steps below to turn off Remote Management immediately. . .
The Tech-away: Take steps to reduce the burden and complexity of patch management. Adopt software and hardware that automatically detect and apply patches. Look for opportunities to shed responsibility for patch management through outsourcing cybersecurity responsibility or utilizing cloud services that provide monitoring and patch management services. Tech Debt accrued through failure to manage patching effectively can fatally compromise your network and business.
People, Policies and Processes
Of greater consequence than obsolescence and patch management to Tech Debt 2.0 and cybersecurity are the people, policies, and processes that make up the culture and collective mindset of a business organization. Properly patched, up-to-date infrastructure is not going to stand in the way of the accounts payable clerk or chief marketing officer who clicks on the attachment to an email from some bad actor posing as a trusted vendor or prospective customer. Equally dangerous is the computer operator who props open the data center door to make it easier to allow the guy who says he’s the A/C maintenance engineer get in and out. Or the CEO who shares her password with her husband and children so they can access her mail and messaging accounts.
Establishing a data security mindset from the bottom to the very top of an organization is a basic essential to safeguarding a business from cyberattacks. Policies and processes must instill in all the company’s people an always-on awareness of their responsibility to protect the physical and digital assets of the enterprise. That mindset needs to be reinforced frequently and backed up by actions that demonstrate commitment and consequence behind company policies and processes.
The Tech-away: Formulate and clearly communicate policies and processes governing any actions that involve cybersecurity. Visibly demonstrate across the organization the commitment to security.
Make cybersecurity awareness a visible priority for every person in the organization.
About the Author
7 Professional Development Goals To Set Today
/in Professional Development/by Vanessa KearneyHere are 7 goals that you need to set for professional development today:
1. Start With An End Goal
You heard right! Start with the end!
“To start with an end goal means to think about the future,” says Joan Smith, a business coach at NextCoursework and Write My X. “In other words, work backwards. As you work backwards, you’ll find your answers easily. Figure out what it will take to get to each goal, the skills and experience needed, and any other required training or certification.”
Here are questions to consider when thinking about your end goal:
2. Remember Why You’re Here
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed, to the point where you question how you’ve picked a profession to begin with? Don’t worry – we’ve all been there at some point.
In fact, part of your professional development goals should be to make sure that you don’t get burned out of what you’re doing. Instead, take some time for yourself to quietly reflect on why you’ve chosen your profession in the first place. Also, think about the people that you’re affecting with your profession. Once you reflect on these things, you’ll get a clear understanding of why you’re here, and then come to appreciate it more.
3. Be SMART
Try the acronym SMART to figure out your objectives, and learn to reach them:
4. Strategize Each Goal
It’s important to have strategies for each of your goals – not just one of them. First, break down your goals into smaller tasks to give yourself achievable milestones as you progress.
Afterwards, ask your HR department if there’s a budget for learning and development. If so, sign up for a course, and learn as much as possible. Finally, when you take a certification exam, make sure you study prior to testing.
5. Establish Relationships
Relationships matter in many industries, including retail, real estate, customer service – the list goes on. No matter your profession, you have to cultivate relationships with your customers, so that you can be a shining star in your community, and positively affect people’s lives with what you have to offer.
6. Check In With Yourself Often
“It’s important to check in on yourself every so often, when developing your professional goals,” says Hayden Wilkinson, a writer at Britstudent and Australia2Write. “In other words, set up a time weekly or monthly to track your progress, and see how you’re doing. If necessary, you can have a friend or family member check in on you to see how you’re doing every week or month, so that you’re giving your best all the time, every time, in your profession.”
7. Make Time
When it comes to setting goals, you still need to make time for them. Regardless of your objective or profession, you have to be consistent with your goal-setting. Even if you have to substitute an activity (i.e. watching TV) for focusing on your goals, then do so.
Conclusion
Once you set up some of these professional development goals, you be certain that you’ll improve always, and that you’ve kept track of your accomplishments.
Don’t just wait for your company to offer you on-the-job training. You can start setting your professional development goals today!
About the Author
Vanessa Kearney is a writer and editor at Write my research proposal and Phdkingdom.com. She is also a contributing writer for Research Paper Help. As a professional writer, she is not only passionate about writing on various topics, she also strives to create something unique and exciting for her readers and subscribers.