When it comes to interoffice e-mails, most employees are under the impression that they can be more casual and informal
There have been hundreds of stories and several books published about the importance of crafting grammatical, well-thought-out, professional e-mails at work. Yet most people are still under the impression that different rules apply to e-mail. Discipline and planning go into writing letters and memos committed to paper, but most employees think they can be more…
Draconian responses did more to kill the economic, social, spiritual and educational lives of citizens than stop fatalities
Twenty-one years ago, the world panicked over an invisible, media-hyped enemy. That enemy was Y2K, a problem whose shadow was much larger than its substance. Unfortunately, COVID-19 may be this era’s equivalent of that ‘millennium bug.’ The Y2K problem was essentially this: many computers had two digits for dates. If they went to 00, the…
The shambles of the Iowa caucuses reconfirms that electronic voting is still a long way off
The recent Iowa caucuses debacle reminded me of two things. First, my about-face as a member of the New Brunswick Commission on Electoral Reform with respect to electronic voting. Second, further confirmation that the electronic infrastructure continues to be an impediment in advancing digital democracy. The 21st century has empowered humanity with electronic connectivity and…
Welcome to the predatory online scamming world. Fraudulent emails, often containing links or attachments, are dangerous. If it seems too good to be true, it is
Beware the phishing hook. Phishing describes an attempt to get you to unknowingly disclose personal information such as credit card details, banking information, usernames and passwords. The party trying to gather your information will try to hook you by sending you an email and asking you to click on a link. The email will look…
When you understand the threats you’re facing, it becomes much easier to adapt your practices in a way that better enables you to keep your data safe. With that in mind, here are ten facts you need to know about data security
When we think about cybersecurity, viruses and hackers in the shadows tend to be considered as the most important threats faced today. It’s important to note, however, that it is entirely possible to compromise entire servers of data without a single virus or individual hacker being the cause. This is one of the reasons why…
Cybersecurity awareness training is effective but only 22% conduct training at least monthly
A new survey finds that 71 per cent of Canadian organizations reported experiencing at least one cyber-attack last year that impacted them in some way, including time and resources, out-of-pocket expenses and paying ransom. The Canadian Internet Registration Authority’s 2019 Cybersecurity Survey Report also found that 96 per cent of respondents said that cybersecurity awareness…
Explosion of cloud entities has led to decisions to make security as much of a priority as speed
In August 2019, an unsecured database belonging to Choice Hotels provided too big a temptation to resist for hackers. Some 700,000 records were stolen, with hackers demanding ‘ransom money’ for their return. The Choice Hotel Group - which has properties in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide - was able to avoid a wipe of this vital…
A convoluted – and doomed – communication portal in Nova Scotia has failed the health care system and its users on both sides
Most businesses encourage clients to electronically access their own information because consumers value the efficiency and convenience of electronic access. Unfortunately, the Nova Scotia Department of Health (DOH) has a different idea. It has been a successful barrier preventing most Nova Scotians from retrieving and using their own health information. Few Nova Scotians have access…
Who will ensure devices have been tested thoroughly and are secure? Who will ensure our privacy is protected?
Back in the early 1990s, I came across a story about a Coke machine that you could query from anywhere on the Internet and it would tell you the temperature of the drinks, the last time it was stocked and how full it was. The machine was in the computer science department of Carnegie Mellon…
We use the internet for almost everything, from shopping to connecting with friends to finding out more about the world in general. We also use it for business in many instances, and although the internet has opened up a vast new world in which to sell, it has also brought with it a number of…
There have been hundreds of stories and several books published about the importance of crafting grammatical, well-thought-out, professional e-mails at work. Yet most people are still under the impression that different rules apply to e-mail. Discipline and planning go into writing letters and memos committed to paper, but most employees think they can be more…
