3 Tips for Surviving “The Year of the Hack”

3 Tips for Surviving “The Year of the Hack”
Green Car Maker Fisker Considering Bankruptcy, Taxpayer Loan at Risk
Klout Scores Now Include Bing and Instagram: What It Means to You
Introducing Our New Small Business Infographics Gallery
“Decisive” is the Right Choice for Making Business and Life Decisions

Posted: 08 Apr 2013 02:00 AM PDT

2013 the year of the hack

“The year of the hack” is upon us. Your business needs tips to survive.

From almost the beginning of 2013, stories of alleged hacks on U.S. corporations, organizations and government agencies by foreign governments and malware attacks by cybercriminals on companies like Apple and Facebook have dominated the news.

The attacks have been so pervasive they’ve caused The Atlantic Wire to recently dub 2013 “The Year of the Hack.” And last month Google launched a special resource for hacked sites. Below are three tips to help your business prepare for whatever comes.

3 Tips for Surviving “The Year of the Hack”

Gain a Better Understanding

While motives like cyber espionage may be the aim of hackers attacking larger corporations and government websites, attackers of your business site are more likely interested in just one thing: money.

According to Google Developer Programs Tech Lead Maile Ohye, attacks generally come in two flavors, including hacking a site to add spammy content or hacking a site to distribute malware. In the first instance, a hacker would exploit a vulnerability on your site and add links to a site or sites of their own. In the second, a hacker would use malware to gain access to your site and those of your visitors with the goal of stealing log in credentials for online banking or financial transactions.

View Ohye’s full video below for more details.

Take Some Defensive Steps

Simple steps can be taken to at least reduce your vulnerability to a hacker. For example, avoid reusing passwords on your sites and other accounts, including online banking. This way, if a hacker obtains access to your user data from a third-party site like LinkedIn, Twitter or other social networking sites requiring a log in, they will not necessarily have obtained access to other, more sensitive accounts. Ohye also suggests watching out for outdated or insecure software or vulnerable plugins loaded to your site, which can unintentionally provide access to a hacker.

Finally, hackers can install malware on your personal computer, which then steals log in credentials when you sign into your Website, so make sure you have adequate security to identify this kind of tampering before it’s too late.

React Appropriately When the Worst Has Happened

If your site is compromised, it’s important to take action. First, determine whether you or someone on your team is tech savvy enough to address the issue in-house, or whether you will need to get outside help to address the problem. There are sources of help for site owners.

In particular, Google has identified non-profit organization StopBadware as having assisted more than 130,000 sites get back up and running effectively within the last three years. Whether you decide to address problems in-house or with the assistance of an outside expert or support team, several steps will be needed to get your site back to normal. You will need to quarantine your site to prevent further hacker activity, then you must assess the damage, identify the vulnerability, clean the site and then submit it for review by Google.

Hopefully your site will never be a victim of malware or another attack by hackers. But to be prepared, visit Google’s Webmasters help for hacked sites for more on how to keep your site and visitors safe and what to do if your site is compromised.

The post 3 Tips for Surviving “The Year of the Hack” appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Green Car Maker Fisker Considering Bankruptcy, Taxpayer Loan at Risk

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 03:00 PM PDT

Electric car maker Fisker is a study in how a startup can quickly implode on itself – and likely take almost $200 Million in taxpayer money down the drain with it. The carmaker that was once touted for the promise of innovative green vehicles, now has so many woes it’s hard to know where to start chronicling them:

Last Friday the company terminated 160 employees, or 75% of its workforce, reports Reuters.
Fisker employees promptly filed a class action lawsuit the same day. The lawsuit alleges violation of the Federal WARN Act, for not giving sufficient notice of the firings.
Barely more than a week ago the company reportedly hired a bankruptcy lawyer. This came after talks to be acquired by Chinese car makers fell through.
One of Fisker’s core problems is that Fisker apparently doesn’t own a lot of the technology in the electric vehicle. “Much of its core technology comes from other companies and suppliers,” notes Katie Fehrenbacher in an insightful piece at Gigaom.
About a month ago the company announced that its Executive Chairman and company namesake, Henrik Fisker, had resigned and left the company.
The cars weren’t made in the United States, but were manufactured in Finland and had to be shipped to the U.S. So much for helping U.S. autoworkers.
The car was panned by Consumer Reports, after the test car broke down on the test track. A Consumer Reports official noted, “…the Karma’s problems outweighed the good.”
320 of the vehicles were lost when caught in Hurricane Sandy at a New Jersey port last October. The company lost $32 million and the insurance company later refused to pay Fisker.

If you were thinking the Fisker cars were some sort of Fred-Flintstone mobile for the masses, they weren’t. The one and only model actually produced, the Karma, is a $100,000 luxury car (image above).

The backdrop to all of this is that the company received a loan from the Department of Energy (DOE) to produce green vehicles, receiving $193 million in taxpayer funds. Back in 2010 when the loan was announced over at Energy.gov, Vice President Biden called it a, ” … commitment to innovation by the U.S. government and the perseverance of the American auto industry.” The company also raised over $1 billion in private investment from venture capitalists and Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio.

A payment of $10 million is due on the taxpayer-funded loan on April 22. Want to bet whether Fisker will make that payment?

The DOE stopped disbursing the loan in 2011 after Fisker failed to meet milestones, avoiding a much greater taxpayer hit (the full loan, had it been disbursed, would have been over a half billion dollars). The DOE has come under fire after green energy company Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in 2011. The DOE said in a statement, “Despite Fisker’s difficulties, our overall loan portfolio of more than 30 projects continues to perform very well, and more than 90 percent of the $10 billion loan loss reserve that Congress set aside for these programs remains intact.”

Image: Fisker press photo

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Klout Scores Now Include Bing and Instagram: What It Means to You

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 12:00 PM PDT

By now a lot of us may be tired of hearing about Klout, because it just doesn't seem to make all that much sense to many. Measuring social influence is a great idea, but for some reason people still don't seem to take these numbers seriously. Even after Klout made changes back in September 2012 (originally Klout scores only used about 100 signals to create this number, now they use more than 400), the response hasn't grown much more positive.

However, Klout is not giving up. The network that aims to give you a score based on your influence online and on social media accounts keeps making it harder to ignore by bringing in some very serious players. As of this week, Klout has announced that Bing data and Instagram activities will now be a part of Klout's algorithm.

Changes to Klout Scores: What It Means to You

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Bing

The first, and probably most interesting, change is the partnership with Bing. Klout and Bing partnered up last fall. However, this week they have actually decided to take things to a new level.

First, Klout is going to use information about search results and Bing rankings in its algorithm. You have to first connect your account, and then watch your score increase (adding any new network to your Klout score will only help it improve) over the next few weeks. You can connect your Bing account by simply clicking the Bing logo that you will see under your name. It takes less than 30 seconds to get synced up. Below is a screenshot demonstrating where you can find it:

klout scores

Second, Bing is going to show the Klout scores of some professionals right there on the search engine. Below is a screenshot of one celebrity search result where the Klout score is shown right along with other basic information about the star:

klout scores

As of right now, only some celebrities have their Klout scores displayed on a Bing SERP (search engine results page). Klout is currently working on more ways to use the new partnership with Bing to affect Klout scores.

How the New Klout Changes Will Work with Instagram

Syncing up your Klout account with your Instagram account is a sure-fire way for many individuals to improve their Klout scores. You simply click the Instagram icon exactly the same way you did when you wanted to sync Bing, and you're set to go. All of your Instagram moves will be factored into your score, and some of your Instagram photos will even make it to your homepage. According to an article on Social Media Today, over 77 percent of users who connected their Instagram accounts will see a score increase of between 1 to 5 points.

What the New Klout Changes Mean for Your Small Business

While only some celebrities can see the change on Bing, it's safe to say that someday your Klout scores will be on display in Bing search results. Google currently displays the number of Google+ followers an author might have, thanks to Google authorship, and uses this number to help users learn more about a particular search result. Is it safe to assume that someday Bing will be doing something similar with Klout scores?

It's tough to say for sure. This isn't really an assumption you should make. However, it makes sense to start getting prepared and looking at your Klout score a little bit more seriously. This is something that is going to set Bing apart from Google, and you never quite know what will come next.

The Prosecution: Regardless of the fact that Klout is making these changes, they likely won't be enough for some people. It's hard to reduce your influence down to one number, despite the fact that a search engine is getting on board. It doesn't take into account different industries where you may have more influence than others, and it doesn't take into account the success of a website you might have on your own.

I would have to say I agree that Klout still isn't where it needs to be, but the idea is interesting. It seems to be moving in the right direction, but only time will tell.

What are your thoughts on the new Klout advancements? Do you think that Bing will start to use Klout information when it comes time to rank websites? Will you take Klout more seriously, now that they are using data from Bing?

The post Klout Scores Now Include Bing and Instagram: What It Means to You appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Introducing Our New Small Business Infographics Gallery

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 09:00 AM PDT

We’re excited to introduce the new Small Business Trends infographics gallery. It’s a free resource of data visualizations –i.e, infographics.

Infographics are visual images. They are usually lengthy images with statistics in them, to help you understand a subject by presenting the data in a visual format. We like them because they are informative, interesting and fun. If you need a fast statistic or set of statistics for a PowerPoint presentation or article you’re writing, infographics can be extremely helpful. Or they can simply help you to better understand a topic.

We’ve included a thumbnail of the infographic and a few representative statistics. You will also find the embed code so you can quickly use one of them online.

We cover a lot of small business infographics here on Small Business Trends, because people find them interesting. We’re always getting emails from readers asking if we know a good statistic for this or that. But many facts and stats are buried in infographics. We can’t always remember exactly where a particular statistic might be found, so we decided to collect the best of the ones we’ve encountered and put them in one place.

And since our entire focus is exclusively “small business” you can be sure that all the infographics are screened for relevancy.

Bookmark the small business infographics collection!

The post Introducing Our New Small Business Infographics Gallery appeared first on Small Business Trends.

“Decisive” is the Right Choice for Making Business and Life Decisions

Posted: 07 Apr 2013 06:00 AM PDT

decision making Decisions, decisions, decisions.

No matter your role in business, your daily schedule can be filled with decisions faster than seats to a Justin Bieber concert. But if you want to prevent yourself from becoming a zombie numbed by decision after decision, you should read Chip and Dan Heath's new book, Decisive: How to Make Better Choices In Life and Work.

The Heath brothers (@heathbrothers) contacted me when their follow-up to their last book Switch, which I also reviewed, was close to release. Decisive is certainly an easy read to make hard decisions easy.

Decisive explores the topic of decision making without deeply rehashing Switch's thesis about change. In Switch, the Heath brothers share the elephant-and-rider metaphor for managing rational thought. They use it to explain one instance of an emotional short-circuit – “Chances are you know the people with Rider problems … your colleague who can brainstorm for hours but can't ever seem to make a decision.”

Decisive expands that vision by explaining a set of biases that hinder decision making. These biases are:

Narrow framing your selection, eliminating other viable choices.
Confirmation bias: Seeking support for your own beliefs in a decision rather than question.
High level of emotional investment in the decision.
Overconfidence in the answer derived.

The book is divided into four overall segments, meant to explore the solutions to each decision bias. The solutions are, respectively:

Widen Your Options
Reality-Test Your Assumptions
Attain Distance Before Deciding
Prepare to Be Wrong

Like Switch, the psychology behind Decisive is understandable. Reference ranges from business narratives, like Andy Grove's decision to change Intel's memory chip strategy, to more pop-oriented factoids, such as how an Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory has more calories than 3 McDonald's cheeseburgers and a pack of Skittles candy.

Fast food fights aside, the Heaths assert that “process matters more than analysis” and that “guts can have questionable advice.” This neutrality towards analysis and guesstimating makes the book an accessible guide for business owners who need to make heavy decisions in life, let alone business. If you are in business for yourself and striving for life balance, this book will guide without being so touchy-feely that examples won't impact business decisions.

The introduction alone has conclusive support for why and how we make decisions. That support carries through the segments, such as multi-tracking, the consideration of many options to prevent narrow framing:

Many executives are worried that exploring multiple options will take too long. It's a reasonable fear, but researcher Kathleen Eisenhardt…found that executives who weigh more options actually make faster decisions.

Eisenhardt offers three explanations. First comparing alternatives help executives to understand the landscape: What's possible and what's not….Second, considering multiple alternatives seems to undercut politics… Third, when leaders weigh multiple options, they've given themselves a built-in fallback plan.

For those analytic practitioners concerned about managing analysis, the Heaths wisely footnote a resource that explores the balance between analysis paralysis and being narrowly focused. (The Heaths have definitely “widened their options” in choosing how to present new ideas.)

Another strategy, called bookending, encourages the reader to imagine two scenarios – dire and rosy. To “spotlight” the scenarios helps to prevent overconfidence in a decision. I felt the approach helps small business owners understand what managing risk really means. An investment analyst's view of Coinbox, the parent company of Redbox, illustrated how “the future is not a point; it is a range.” More on that range comment:

In the absence of bookending, our spotlights will lock into out best guess for how the future will unfold…even if we have a good guess about the future, the research on overconfidence suggests that we'll be wrong more often than we think.

The authors simplify examples, such as noting how pervasive safety factors are. Yet they don’t talk down to anyone or stick with a dictionary-dry explanation.

Decisive narratives are meant to translate suggestions into actionable ideas. One example of an actionable suggestion is psychologist Gary Klein's premortem strategy:

A post-mortem analysis begins after a death and asks, "What caused it?" A premortem, by contrast, imagines the future "death" of a project and asks, "What killed it?"…. Everyone on the team takes a few minutes to write down every conceivable reason for the projects failure. Then the leader goes around the table, asking each person to share a single reason, until all the ideas have been shared. Once the threats have been surfaced, the project team can prepare to be wrong by adapting its plans to forestall as many of the negative scenarios as possible. The premortem is a way of charting out the lower bookend of future possibilities and plotting ways to avoid ending up there.

At the end, you’ll find notes and references to a complementary website with exercises. But even if you choose to read Decisive without the extra material, you'll find that you’ve made a great reading choice to make your business great.

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