Small firms worry about cybercrime

Concerns about cybercrime are adding an additional burden of pressure to small businesses in the UK, on top of worries about bankruptcy and strong competition. That's according to a survey commissioned by internet content security company Trend Micro, which found that 20 percent of UK small business IT decision makers are concerned about personal details and confidential company information being stolen. One in four respondents said their business had been disrupted by a virus over the last 12 months, while 14 percent recognised that company data had gone missing. One in ten of those surveyed recorded the theft of mobile devices, such as laptops, mobile phones and BlackBerrys. For more on this story, visit ENN.ie.

SEO spend set to rise

Online marketers are increasingly turning their attention to search marketing tactics, according to a study by Econsultancy and search engine optimisation (SEO) firm Guava. More than half of survey respondents said they plan to increase their spending on SEO, and 45 percent plan to do the same with paid search engine marketing. In addition, 31 percent of SEO and 32 percent of paid search users said they intend to maintain their budgets. Marketers are using paid search and SEO to achieve different results, however. The main aims of paid search advertising cited by marketers are (in order) to capture online sales, generate sales leads, drive website traffic and enhance the brand. With regard to SEO, most marketers said its primary purpose was to drive web traffic, create leads, generate sales and improve the brand. For more see eMarketer.com.

Cut IT jobs with caution, says consultancy

Getting rid of IT staff could leave companies ill-prepared for the economic recovery. So says British IT consultancy Affiniti, which is encouraging companies to look into alternatives before making cuts in the IT department. Affiniti says that, according to its own research, many firms are cutting IT staff, but few are looking for ways to replace the roles and duties of the lost staff, or considering how future recovery could affect those departments. Its research found that 75 percent of companies are looking to cut overall IT costs, but fewer than 10 percent are considering alternatives, such as cutting operating costs or moving to managed services. The result could be an epidemic of organisations that are unable to adequately manage IT when the economy begins to recover, the company said. For more on this story visit VNUnet.com.

Don't pay more for anti-spyware software: Gartner

Companies shouldn't pay extra for stand-alone anti-spyware solutions, analyst firm Gartner has warned. Most security software products include anti-spyware utilities, but Gartner analyst Neil MacDonald says that he is still hearing about companies trying to charge customers extra for anti-spyware software. "There is no sustainable market for standalone anti-spyware, and no reason you should be paying separately for it," he says, explaining that the market for such software used to exist, but the idea of a stand-alone package is now unnecessary given that spyware protections are built into most security code. He suggests changing supplier if a company tries to charge extra for anti-spyware software. For more see VNUnet.com.

Here are some of the issues our forum members have been discussing in the last fortnight:

• Using a HD TV as a projector view thread
• Multiple password solution view thread
• Windows 7 - worth waiting for? view thread

Is Twitter right for your business?

Work away (part two): Stay safe overseas

Case study: Celtrak

Evil twin

An evil twin is a term used to refer to a fake Wi-Fi hotspot. If you are accessing the internet using Wi-Fi - for example, in an internet cafe or hotel lobby - keep an eye out for evil twins, which have a similar purpose to phishing attacks. A malicious user can set up a fake hotspot by jamming the signal of a nearby legitimate hotspot and then intercepting users' web sessions. They can also set up spoof pages that resemble internet banking or other sensitive sites in order to harvest usernames, passwords and credit card numbers. For information on how to protect yourself against evil twins, see Issue 158.

IPA, 57-61 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, June 17
The IIA and BizGrowthSeminars present a full-day course on new social media tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Attendees will learn how these tools can be incorporated into their business to make a real impact.

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