If you’d be so kind as to Google search “Do a barrel roll”...

And now that the fun part is out of the way, we have some actual Google search tips for you:

1. Use quotation marks around search terms to search for exactly that word or phrase.

    

   Searching “multifactor authentication” won’t give you results with just “multifactor” and just “authentication”. 

    

2. If you want to exclude a term from a search, use a space then a hyphen before the word you want to exclude. 
    
   Spam -tech will only give you results of Spam^®, the versatile canned meat product.
    
3. If you want to search within a specific website only, type what you want to search for, followed by site:yourwebsitehere.com. 
    
   You want to know if PTG has posted about password managers, so you’d type password manager site:goptg.com. 

Remember that Colonial Pipeline breach that caused 50% of the east coast to lose their fuel supply? Well, you may not be aware that the organization wasn't technically required to report that they were breached. However, when that many people don’t have access to gas, word gets around pretty fast.

Since the breach, several government agencies have shown interest in enforcing new rules that would require companies to report these types of cyber incidents. 

New Cybersecurity Regulations Are Coming. Here's How to Prepare | HBR

Key Takeaways: 

1. Some have suggested that only 25% of cybersecurity incidents are reported, others say only about 18%, others yet estimate that 10% or fewer are reported. 
     
   1. As the management guru Peter Drucker famously said: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”  
       
2. To an extent, these requirements have been inspired by the reporting recommended for “near misses” or “close calls” for aircraft in the sky. When aircraft come close to crashing, they’re required to file a report, so that failures that cause such events can be identified and avoided in the future. Same concept here, but with cybersecurity.  
    
3. What Companies Can Do Now
     
   1. Define “materiality” for your org and review its current policies and procedures for determining whether “materiality” applies, in light of these new regulations.
       
   2. Company policies regarding paying ransomware need to be reviewed at once and regularly, along with likely changes to cyber insurance policies.
       
      See: The Small Business Guide to Cyber Insurance
       
   3. Maintain a detailed and up-to-date Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) so that your team can quickly and accurately identify all the different pieces of software embedded in otherwise complex computer systems. 

But what if your company is new to this whole cybersecurity thing? Like, first day of Freshman Year new? It can feel difficult to even know where to start, so here’s a blog to get you started. Once you identify where you need to start at your organization, you should build a communication strategy to help aid in implementation. 

The Right (And Wrong) Way to Frame Cybersecurity Conversations | Forbes

Key Takeaways: 

1. If your board’s not on board, ha, well, get them there! Promote the importance of having cybersecurity on the agenda of every board meeting. Ensure every board member understands the risks and the critical elements of your cybersecurity measures, both technology and people-related. 
   
   

2. Conversations with employees should focus more on them and less on your technology – how will they succeed more now with the new tech? It should help them understand the critical role they can play in both protecting and potentially putting your data and systems at risk.

    

   1. Afterall, human error is the cause of 85% of all security breaches. 

       
3. Ditch the slide decks and data and start telling stories. Tell one-to-one stories about how people in your industry have been impacted by a breach, and how they overcame the problem. 

Today, technology is disrupting industries like never before. We’ve already mentioned how 80% of executives believe their current business models are at risk, 84% agree that innovation is essential to growing their companies, and less than 10% know how to improve their innovation efforts.

And no matter how prepared you can be individually, if your team doesn’t have a plan for implementation in a productive, flexible way meant for your organization specifically, you could be in a world of hurt with expensive new technology. So here are four quick mistakes to avoid when implementing new tech at your business: 

Link to the full blog: Don’t Make These Mistakes When Implementing New Technology

Working Without a Plan

We often hope that it will soon go without saying, but in the meantime, planning is the first and most important step to implementing new technology – no matter what you’re doing or how you’re doing it. If you get the planning part wrong, everything else that follows will be, at the very least, out of whack. 

Skipping Input from Key Stakeholders 

That this will look different in every instance, even within the same team, as every piece of software will do different things in different ways for different parts of your group, but the gist is that everyone who will be touching the tech should be involved. 

Never Explaining the “Why” 

At the end of the day, employees don’t want to hear the age-old “Because we said so” about new technology and programs. More transparency can lead to a lot of really fantastic opportunities within your business, no matter what your market or sales goals are.

Not Scheduling – or Mandating – Enough Training 

No matter how user-friendly any kind of new software may seem, businesses should still be providing extensive training for everyone involved (and then some) so the key stakeholders who need to know do know how to use your program. These employees should be trained in the software and tools, including your processes on the software. 

Conclusion

Looking for significantly more information about these mistakes and how to avoid them altogether? We’ve got a good ol’ blog waiting for you here, in addition to a ton of fantastic tech topics to answer every question that could pop up.  

Give us a call at (864) 552-1291 and we'll help you evaluate your capabilities and options for password managers and more! Also, consider following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter!