This sounds like a nightmare that could never happen.
US soldiers have been putting sensitive information online in non-secure third party websites. It defies belief, yet we’re reading that it happened. The story popped up on ‘Gizmodo’ .
It is alleged that US Soldiers were saving sensitive information on a couple of common flashcard sites, presumably of things they were trying to memorise and learn. It seems these are common learning tools used in universities to help students memorise facts. That works well so long as the facts aren’t top secret! Even worse, their settings were on ‘public’ not ‘private’!
It is a classic warning about the risk of people, however well intentioned, saving critical data online in places the organisation is unaware of, and can’t control. That’s why our KARE FOUNDATION proactive cyber-security plan helps identify use of these sites in your organisation.
Shadow IT is part of our 10-point cyber-security check list
While there is no single layer of technology that can guarantee you will be safe from hackers, you can reduce your risk by adding layers of protection. How many of our 10-point check list are in place for you?
Feeling less Vulnerable
When the Microsoft cloud had a momentary failure in early May, most of us had an uncomfortable hour with limited access to our files and systems. It seems that some red-faced engineer at Microsoft made a simple small mistake that impacted systems all around the...
RIP Windows 7, SQL 2008 and friends
It's time to say goodbye to Windows 7 The end of the (support) road is approaching rapidly. They are over ten years old which is ancient in IT terms. If you think about tech around your home or in your daily life, then its quite understandable that these products...
The alarming business models of cyber-criminals
Cyber-crime has become big business It's organised, and the purveyors are shameless in their determination to steal from all of us. Heaven only knows where they get their names from. One group we recently became aware of is called 'PINCHY SPIDER', and they are doing...
Anyone can be hacked! And anyone can be the cause.
Guess who got hacked? In recent articles, we’ve warned that people are the weakest link in your IT security. We’ve also warned that any business is a target. No one is immune. Tech companies like us are especially cautious because, in order to do our job, we have...
Updated Privacy Laws coming to NZ
Overshadowed by overseas privacy law changes like GDPR, our own NZ Privacy legislation has flown a little under the radar. But rest assured, changes are coming here as well. The last change in NZ Law was 1993, and it was world-leading at the time. Then in 2011, the...
Te Whangai – Growing People by Growing Plants
We are incredibly proud to have helped The Te Whangai Trust. They are an amazing organisation. There’s a whole group of society that miss out on the opportunities many of us take for-granted. While many under-privileged members of our community can access various...
Using the Cloud to compete globally from New Zealand
As a small kiwi business working in a global context, The Conference Company (TCC) faced some unique challenges. They compete around the world to host some of the most pre-eminent events against impressive competition from much larger operations. TCC has to present...
Have you noticed the new Office search?
We love that Office365 keeps improving. One of the most common challenges we all have is finding things. So, if this resonates for you, the new search feature might be just what you need. [header2 text="Microsoft Search in Office" align="left" color="#336A40"...
Will this really ‘break’ the internet?
[header2 text="What is news?" align="left" color="#336A40" margintop=""] There's nothing worse than accidentally clicking on a daft click-bait link that re-directs you to a dodgy, untrustworthy website. They are all too common, with news you can't trust, and...
What are @Mentions in Office?
How many times,. when you are working on documents with someone else, do you want to ask them a question? "Why did you add (or remove) this section?", "How does this calculation work?" and so on. So, you stop what you are doing, send them an email or make a phone...