Homeland Security and Day-to-Day Cyber Security

Today, Dairy Queen announced it is coming off a three month security breach that impacted the financial data of its consumers. Yikes, it seems paying cash is the best option today when you look at many retailers' track record. But what about your track record? While we are busy shaming retail outlets for breaching our data, is it possible we are just as guilty? Many people are and don't even know it!
All this said, I figured I would note a few ways to keep your own email account "hacker-free".

1. Don't use anything personal or that can be guessed about you as your password. This includes your pet's name! Use a weird combination of numbers and letters. Keep the password written down and somewhere in your home, not in a breachable app.

2. Never use a "Remember me" option on any of your devices when it comes to your passwords, especially email. Remember, hackers don't have to hack your email to get into your computer. They can hack your computer, send a "reset my password" request to your online banking and then, once into your email because you have a "remember me" option set up, get into your bank account (or other accounts).

These two steps may seem relatively elementary, but you will be surprised how many people still use "password" as their password and a "remember me" option on their mobile and home devices.

Until Monday,

Twyla N. Garrett

Make An Impact- Websites that Work!

A website is a huge financial investment for any company. Before you commit, there is a website out there that will tell you if the website is going to work or not- even before it is launched! And the best part is that it is free!

I love FiveSecondTest. You can access the site by clicking here.
What this website does is analyze your to-be launched or live website within five seconds. Here is how it works; You upload a screenshot or mockup of your page, app, etc. to the website. Next, you pre-load a few questions for testers to answer. Testers have five seconds to view your image and must then answer the questions you have set. The website, FiveSecondTest, collects all of the responses for you, extracts the frequent keywords and then presents the data with easy-to-understand graphs. That's it.

Market analysis is done for you, you have honest answers and you know if you need to head back to the drawing board with your website or if you are golden. Again, this is huge for businesses because it means the difference between engaging a client and being looked over on Google!

Do you have a favorite free website that can help other businesses? Please share it with me so I can post it for the world.

Twyla