Posts Tagged ‘small business’
Monday, October 24th, 2011
 Small businesses are leaving customer data open to hackers – despite encrypting databases – allowing even long passwords to be cracked in as little as 7 seconds.
Testing by hosting specialist UKFast has revealed that using industry-standard hashing algorithm MD5 to protect data still allows for a seven character password (of lower alphabet and numbers) to be cracked in 7 seconds.
Using a more secure encryption method such as SHA 256, it would take up to seven times longer to brute force crack the same password.
The tests call into question the security of customer data stored by SMEs, who often do not have the luxury of in-house IT teams or the technical knowledge to properly secure their customer databases.
Neil Lathwood, technical director at UKFast, explained: “Many small companies are trying to protect their customer data on their own or outsourcing their IT and relying on the skills of another company to secure their customer data. What these companies may not be aware of is that some methods of encryption are significantly less secure than others.
“With the emergence of brute force password cracking using Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for extra fire power, the need for strong encryption algorithms has become more important than ever. The MD5 algorithm is so weak that no one should be using it as their only encryption method – a normal PC without the extra GPU fire power could even crack the MD5 code.”
Despite the many different encryption algorithms available for SMEs to use, with this method of brute force cracking and the extra boost of the GPUs, no encryption is complete secure. Making it as difficult as possible to crack information is the key.
Lathwood said: “Using an encryption method like SHA256 rather than MD5 would still allow the hacker to decrypt the information but it takes significantly longer. For example, a seven character password (of any digit, letter or symbol) would take 1 hour, 40 minutes to crack when encrypted with MD5 but would take 12 hours, 53 minutes when encrypted with the S/HA256 method.
“It is also possible to ‘salt’ encrypted information where random figures are added, making it more difficult to crack the code.
“Businesses that encrypt their own data or outsource their IT must ensure that they are aware of what encryption is used and how safe their customer data is. Relying on the expertise of others is often the best method for smaller companies but they must stop burying their head in the sand over data security – if their database is hacked it is their reputation on the line and many businesses are oblivious to the chances that they are taking not by properly protecting their data.”
Tags: cracking passwords in 7 seconds, encryption for small businesses, Kingston, small business, weak business security, weak passwords
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Security | Comments Off
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
 It is hard to over estimate the importance of small business success in terms of creating new jobs. These businesses across the U.S. account for 44 percent of the private payroll in the country.
Small business also employs approximately 5 percent of all private sector employees, generated 64 percent of new jobs within a 15-year period and hires 40 percent of high-tech workers in the U.S. These businesses are also helping the growth of other businesses, as they make up 97.3 percent of identified exporters in the U.S.
Of course, this impact on the U.S. economy largely hinges on the businesses making it past the hurdles that come with the first five years, when there is a 50 percent chance of success versus the 15 percent chance of success that businesses face the first year their doors are open.
Credit Donkey created this infographic to highlight what makes small businesses sink or swim.
Tags: Credit Donkey, entrepreneurial success factors, failing to plan is planning to fail, reasons for startup failure, role of small business in the U.S., small business, volutary closures vs. failures, what makes small busineses succeed or fail? infographic
Posted in Business advice, entrepreneurship, infographic | Comments Off
Friday, May 28th, 2010
 It is difficult to overstate the importance of entrepreneurs to the success of the U.S. economy, says a new report from TD Economics.
“While economists spend a lot of time analyzing near-term trends and developments in aggregate data, economic growth over the longer-term is driven primarily by individuals taking risks and making sacrifices in order to bring innovative ideas to market,” writes TD economist James Marple in “Small and Medium Sized Businesses Key to U.S. Economic Recovery.”
Marple points out that small and medium-sized businesses, typically firms with fewer than 500 employees, make up 99.7 percent of all U.S. companies and more than half of total employment in the country.
He adds, “They are also profoundly important to generating new employment.”
We noted in an earlier post that while large tech firms such as IBM continue to shed jobs, portfolio companies at many venture firms are hiring (see: Job hunting? Venture-backed startups are hiring
The TD report says that businesses formed within the last five years have been responsible for the vast majority of net job growth in the last two decades (a statistic we found amazing).
Looking ahead, the report says, the U.S. economic recovery will depend largely on the performance of U.S. small businesses, which “suffered a disproportionate share of the job losses and many still have difficulty accessing credit form some lenders.”
Fortunately, he adds, things are beginning to look up.
We think this is another indication that government policy on national, state and local levels should pay much more attention to supporting, nurturing, and developing small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups rather than spending so much time and money on chasing large manufacturers and big companies.
North Carolina invested a lot of time, money and energy in recruiting a Dell computer manufacturing plant to the state that is shutting down operations after only a few years.
Would that money have been better spent helping develop and support startup operations that would generate jobs for a decade or more?
We see more and more evidence that making sure small businesses and startups have access to capital and support they need to succeed is far more important than shoring up large industries that are often dinosaurs that face near extinction every time some economic volcano blows its top. – Allan Maurer
Tags: economic recovery, entrepereneurs, government policies, Report, small business, Startups
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Carolinas, Economic Development, Florida, Georgia, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, IT, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Monday, May 24th, 2010
 CHAPEL HILL, NC – Coinciding with National Small Business Week, North Carolina will be among 10 states to participate in Google’s first-ever economic impact event on Tuesday, May 25 at 10 a.m. at Johnny T-shirt in Chapel Hill.
Small businesses are the economic engine that provide jobs, bring innovative products and services to the marketplace and sustain communities throughout our nation.
On May 25, Google will kick-off simultaneous announcements in small businesses across the country that use Google’s services to grow revenue and support jobs. Johnny T-shirt, a Google AdWords partner, will host state and local dignitaries, and business leaders at their Franklin Street store.
Penny Price, Google’s VP for Global Agency and Industry Development will speak.
Tags: Chapel Hill, eocnomic development, Events, Google, NC, small business
Posted in Business Briefs, Carolinas, Events, North Carolina | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
By Allan Maurer
 DURHAM, NC – Several months ago, Google approached Durham-based Shoeboxed.com, a receipt and business card management company, about becoming part of its just launched Google Apps Marketplace. Now it is one of the first 50 or so firms Google has included in the new service.
Shoeboxed is a feature-rich web application that allows users to manage their receipts, business cards, and other important financial data from anywhere in the world with just a browser and an internet connection.
Google’s online apps marketplace fits in with its ongoing efforts to move the world to cloud computing and running apps in browsers rather than by installing them on hard drives.
Google has lined up more than 50 software sellers for its store. It will keep 20 percent of sales revenue.
Trend: small businesses using tech to grow
Stacy Chudwin, director of communications at Shoeboxed, tells us the Google apps store includes four of the five founding companies of the Small Business Web. Founded a year ago by Shoeboxed, BatchBlue, Freshbooks, Outright, and MailChimp, the Small Business Web now includes more than 70 companies.
Email marketer MailChimp, based in Atlanta, one of the Small Business Web founding companies, is also now part of the Google Apps Marketplace.
The mission of the Small Business Web, Chudwin says, is to create “a movement to bring together like-minded, customer-obsessed software companies to integrate our respective products and make life easier for small businesses.”
Now, she adds, “Google has taken that mission to a whole new level.”
“The Google Apps Marketplace is just a milestone in a much bigger movement sweeping the nation: small businesses are tapping into innovative, inexpensive technology solutions to grow their businesses and revitalize the economy,” she says.
A natural choice
Taylor Mingos, founder and CEO of Shoeboxed said in a statement, “Shoeboxed is committed to leading the marketplace toward a paperless office with digitization and intelligent online processing of documents, so integrating with Google Apps was a logical choice for us.”
Chudwin says Shoeboxed intends to add even more functionality to its app.
Online:
Shoeboxed app at the Google Marketplace
For more details about Shoeboxed see:
Shoeboxed offers service to digitize those receipts
Tags: Atlanta, Durham, Google Apps Marketplace, IT, MailChimp, Shoeboxed, small business
Posted in Carolinas, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
 BALTIMORE – Social media adoption doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent in the last year, according to the State of Small Business Report by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. It says they are increasing investing in blogs, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and Twitter.
The most common use of social media tools was a company page on a site such as Facebook or LinkedIn with status updates, with 75 percent of small businesses reporting they have a company page on LinkedIn. Another 69 percent say post updates on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
Other substantial uses reported include monitoring positive and negative feedback on social networks, blogging and tweeting about areas of expertise, and using Twitter as a customer service channel.
While the majority of small businesses said they’re breaking even on their use of social media, one-fifth said they already find it profitable and almost half say they think it will make money for them within 12 months. A mere 9 percent see social media as a losing proposition.
More than half, 58 percent, said social media are living up to their expectations.
Janet Wagner, director of the Center for Excellence in Service said in a statement, “Social media levels the playing field for small businesses by helping them deliver customer service. Time spent on Twitter, Facebook and blogs is an investment in making it easier for small businesses to compete.”
Tags: facebook, LinkedIn, Network Solutions, reports, small business, social media, twitter, University of Maryland Robert Smith School of Business
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Maryland, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
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