Author: Dyka Smith

With the doors firmly shutting in 2021, we must focus on 2022. Like every aspect of our lives, we need to make new year IT support resolutions. 2021 has already had a lot of talking points from the cybersecurity perspective. For instance, According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) Q3 Data Breach Analysis, as of October 2021, the number of data breaches reported in 2021 had already exceeded those of 2020, thereby making 2021 a record year. Even more alarming has been the surge in malware and ransomware attacks. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a 62% increase in ransomware attacks; this is according to the 2021 Cyber Threat Report by SonicWall.

If you are searching for IT Support in Edinburgh, you can explore this website. Texaport provides fully managed IT support and security services to small and medium businesses.

The events of 2021 are a clarion call for individuals, organizations, healthcare businesses (such as those in need of Dental IT Support), government agencies, and cybersecurity experts to rise to the occasion and do thorough preparation for 2022 and the years that follow. From past trends, you can only expect cybersecurity risks to continue increasing and not to decrease. Good preparation starts with performing a cyber risks analysis. If you do not know what that is, there is no need to worry. This article explains everything you should know about performing a cyber risk analysis.

Meaning of Cyber Risk Analysis

Cybersecurity risk analysis is the process of determining the degree of harm a data breach or cyber attack would cause to your organization. An IT security audit and analysis will help you to make informed cybersecurity choices and decisions by identifying the most susceptible digital resources, the likelihood of the attack occurring, and the impact the attack will cause if it occurs. This way, organizations, individuals, and other key cybersecurity stakeholders can know the essential cybersecurity tools and measures to mitigate such risks.

A Step By Step Guide To Conducting A Successful Cybersecurity Risk Analysis

The following are the steps to follow to perform a cyber risk analysis;

1. Outline the Scope of the Risk Analysis

The first crucial step in conducting a security risk analysis is outlining the scope of the risk analysis. Here, you have to determine which unit of the organization you are most interested in. For instance, you can analyze the risk on a department, web application, website domain, etc. You can also target the whole organization if it has an interconnected IT infrastructure. When performing the cybersecurity risk analysis, you must cooperate with all the stakeholders within the organization.

2. Catalog all Network Resources and Assets

Next, you must take inventory of all IT resources and assets falling under the analysis. Here, it would help if you documented all digital assets, including your phones, servers, printers, computers, tablets, networks, WiFis, among others. Pay attention here to business security and make note of how easy it is for physical unauthorised access. It’s worth remembering that cybersecurity can be compromised on the premises itself.

All data types and departments with access privileges to these assets should be listed, and vendors with access to information should also be noted down. It is important to trace down the path that data follows as it travels across the digital assets.

Also, do not take dormant assets lightly. In most cases, the most innocuous device can be the root cause of all cybersecurity troubles your organization will face. Lastly, never forget to take inventory of the resources located outside your physical organization. If you use cloud-storage systems or a customer relationship management tool, you must note them down.

3. Develop Cybersecurity Controls

The next step you must take is to seal all the loopholes that might open your network to attacks. There are several measures you can employ to ensure that your network is safe. Having robust security protocols and an effective plan to manage all your sensitive data can go a long way toward ensuring that your network resources are secure. For example, if your workforce uses mobile phones for their work – either company phones or their own personal phones – you may wish to take your mobile threat defense in UEM into consideration so that you are able to streamline your security policy make any updates to device security as easily as possible. There are several security controls that you can adopt. They include the following;

• Installing a firewall
• Enforcing best password policies and practices for all employees and stakeholders within your organization
• Employ robust data encryption algorithms
• Using antimalware and antivirus security tools
• Employing two-factor authentication procedures to strengthen user authentication during signing in
• Using security plugins and extensions
• Employing a reliable hosting provider for your website
• Ensuring that you run on up to date software and operating systems
• Having a robust and reliable data backup and recovery system

It is always advised that you employ multiple security layers to strengthen your security walls. And for websites, always ensure that you purchase and install SSL certificates. SSL combines with HTTP to give rise to HTTPS, which is a secure transfer protocol. All communication and data transfers that occur via HTTPS sessions will be encrypted. Today, with most websites having multiple level-one subdomains, the Wildcard SSL certificate is the most viable certificate option users can choose. Just a cost-effective, cheap wildcard SSL will do a great encryption job for securing your chosen main domain and an unlimited number of first-level subdomains under it.

4. Find Potential Network Loopholes and the Associated Risks

The next procedure is to find the vulnerable spots that the cataloged devices are susceptible to. Knowing where exactly the threats can come into your system will help you to better understand how you can safeguard your system against such threats. Now, you should know that cybersecurity threats will not target every digital resource in your organization. For this reason, you must identify the assets that are more valuable to attackers and check to see any vulnerabilities in them.

Threat identification is often not an easy task. You should know the possible tricks, tactics, and methods that an attacker is likely to leverage to target your network and resources. It is important to note that most attackers usually have motives. You must research to note the driving force that will drive hackers to hack your digital assets.

5. Determine the Risk Priority Scale

Here, it would help if you classified the cybersecurity threats based on the likelihood of them happening. It would be best to set up a threshold tolerance level so that any level scenario appearing above the threshold should be given high priority.

From the risk priority scale, you will be able to decide the right course of action to take. Essentially, it would help to start by dealing with the risks that appear top of your risk priority scale.

6. Evaluate The Effectiveness of The Controls and Repeat the Procedure

An excellent risk analysis procedure should encompass the ability to measure the results and also offer the assessor the opportunity to continue improving the processes. Indeed, networks and systems are continually evolving, and new devices are emerging on the market every passing day. Therefore, the risk assessment procedure should give an allowance to also assess new assets that the organization acquires over time. In a nutshell, an effective cyber risk analysis gives a clear framework for continuing to deal with cybersecurity risk.

Cybersecurity risk analysis is not a one-time thing, and it is something that should be performed frequently. For instance, you can conduct the analysis annually or semi-annually to ensure that no high-risk security vulnerabilities are left behind.

7. Document The Results on Your Risk Assessment Report

Last but not least, you will have to develop a cybersecurity risk assessment report. The report is crucial because it will help the management make informed decisions such as budget, cybersecurity policies, procedures and many more. A good risk assessment report describes the asset or resources, its associated risk or vulnerability, the value of the risk, the impact, and the likelihood of the risk occurring.

Wrapping Up

Whether you are a small business, a governmental agency or a multinational eCommerce store, information risk management is the backbone of your cybersecurity strategy. It all starts with a cyber risk analysis which has been elaborated in this article. Cyber risk analysis is the genesis of everything needed to avert potential cybersecurity threats. Remember to conduct the analysis more frequently to remain a step ahead of hackers.

With 2022 just a few weeks away, it is time to take a good look at your achievements in the past year. If you achieved significant goals in 2021, you need to set new objectives for the year ahead. In case you still have pending plans, the occasion requires you to finally set them in motion.

If you run your own business, these goals may somehow circle back to the expansion of your venture. Whether you want to increase your sales or improve your exposure, this often calls for growing your team into the new year.

In case this holds true for you, the following choice suggestions can help you hire a competent workforce. To help you through the process, here are 7 tips to hiring new employees in the new year.

1. Take an Assessment of Your Needs

In order to follow essential business tips for a successful venture, you need to understand your own needs before you bring new people on board. This includes identifying the requirements for specific positions, employee qualifications, and personnel specializations.

From there, you can make an assessment about what type and scale of talent you want at your firm. This helps you craft job postings and create a hiring plan.

2. Be Ready for the Hiring Timeline

There are countless candidates available for every single position, but you need to remember that you cannot hire everyone at the snap of a finger. From initial screening to final interview and everything in between, you have to take your time in making hiring decisions. This is where you need to learn more about how long do background checks take or determine how extensive your onboarding process should be.

3. Allocate a Staffing Budget

Hiring people left, right, and center is pretty easy. But managing their salary and benefits is not a walk in the park to say the least. If you are not ready, the end of the month can land you between a rock and a hard place where you can neither pay your employees nor let them go. With this in mind, track your expenses through an accounting app and allocate a staffing budget.

4. Adjust to Short-Term and Long-Term Requirements

If your business booms through the holidays but drops in popularity the rest of the year, you need additional workers for only a certain period. But in case your operations stay consistent throughout the year, you require an extended team at work without seasonal breaks.

For an optimal hiring plan, adjust between short-term and long-term staffing strategies. This allows you to make the most out of your resources according to your needs.

5. Hire Remote Staff Whenever Possible

With plenty of work from home opportunities now being open, more and more parents, students, and part-time workers are turning towards this mechanism. If you can hire a remote team, don’t hesitate to entertain the idea.

In addition to cutting your costs, hiring remote workers also gives you an optimal way to diversify your team across different locations. Having an open mind for hiring a remote workforce also gives you access to a larger pool of candidates.

6. Detect Red Flags in Potential Employees

In order to steer clear of potentially problematic employees, make it a point to ask direct questions within the interview itself. From behavioral problems to future insubordination, you can detect a series of red flags through the right set of inquiries.

In many cases, even a candidate’s social media profile can influence hiring decisions. With this in mind, take a multifaceted approach to thoroughly vet the employee.

7. Find the Right Cultural Match

Even when your goal is to enlist an employee for a couple of weeks, their alignment with the company culture goes a long way. While being mindful of this point, ask relevant interview questions that help you determine the candidate’s suitability with your business.

From there, it becomes easier for you to welcome them through an onboarding service or your own HR. This saves you from walking into unnecessary problems over the course of a worker’s employment.

Looking into these points ensures that you can hire your ideal employees without any issues. This allows you to build a strong workforce that not only helps you achieve your goals, but also stays with you for as long as your interests align.

The craze of social media has reached a whole new level today. Video is taking over all the social media platforms at large. But out of all the platforms, Instagram is growing exceptionally fast compared to others. According to the latest survey reports, an average consumer on this platform spends about half of their time watching videos. It might not be a piece of breaking news; however, it is an indication of the reputation of Instagram as a photo- and video-centric network. As other video platforms, such as YouTube, continue to rise, consumers’ cravings for video-based content are most likely to grow day by day. The great news is that the obstacle to entry is relatively low for businesses looking to get started with video marketing on Instagram. We will break down the effectiveness and usage of Instagram videos in this article.

How to Make Instagram Videos

If you are thinking of how to post a video on Instagram, there is nothing to worry about. It is much easier than you can imagine. The consumers of today are primarily binge-watchers. That is why brands are trying to integrate video into their marketing strategies and get significant viewership. To start with, Instagram provides brands with lots of flexibility when it comes to formatting. The in-feed video of the platform works properly for tutorials and commercials.

Provided that about 72% of videos related to businesses are not more than two minutes, the native video format of Instagram meets all the requirements of brands right there. The supported video length is up to 60 seconds. The orientations that you can use are portrait, square, and landscape. Also, editing your videos with the proper formatting is very important, for which you can use various video-editing apps.

Stories support vertical videos that are 15 seconds long. Videos of this type need very little in terms of production value. You can publish them in a few seconds. Do not forget about IGTV if you want long content, which comes in the range of 15 minutes if you upload it from your mobile. The available orientations are horizontal and vertical. IGTV is an excellent choice for product and service tutorials and descriptions. Another superb video format that you can use for business promotion is Reels. It comes with editing features and music and is a trend in today’s world. Reels is a great option if you want a short and lasting impression on your audience. But make sure it is packed with content and is eye-catchy. No matter what video length you want for promotion, Instagram has got you covered. Let us have a look at some examples of Instagram videos in action.

Ideas to create promising Instagram video

The requirements of posting videos for business on Instagram are pretty simple. You just need to follow specific tips that can make your work even more accessible.

• Showing off service or product in action: There is no surprise here. If you want to promote a physical product, producing promotional videos around everything you sell is a great starting point. Right now, in-feed is the best video format if your business depends on e-commerce. Product reels and timelapse videos are also top-rated to showcase your products from every possible angle. A bit of editing using video editing software, and you are good to go.
• Conducting tutorial or how-to video: Proper audience education is an excellent tactic if you are willing to sell using video. You need to brainstorm all those things that you can teach your audience and various ways to integrate all your services or products in the process. For instance, if your business is related to hair colors, you can post hair color application videos to grab your audience’s attention.
• Taking your followers behind the scenes: It is worth repeating – if you are willing to create videos for Instagram, it is not required to be complicated. From festivals to conferences and product launches, Instagram Stories is the easiest way of capturing footage. It can encourage interaction with all your followers using stickers and captions. Stories provide an unpolished and raw feel that can make your content more authentic. You can regard it as a break from commercial or professional promotional videos.
• Conducting Q&A sessions: A great strategy to use Instagram for your business is conducting Q&A sessions. It will not only need minimal editing and no equipment, but it can also provide you with a chance to interact with your audience. You can either answer questions in real-time or source the same in advance. Also, Q&As are superb in creating hype for product launches and events. You can also save the sessions to your stories so that your audience can check them later.
• Asking followers to make videos on your behalf: Like other types of user-generated content, like customer photos, never hesitate to ask your audience to create videos on your behalf. For example, brands like GoPro use #GoProLiveIt to encourage customers to share video creations for the Stories contest every week. You can do the same with the in-feed video feature too. Instead of showcasing your products or services all the time, provide your customers the chance to do the same. It is more interactive than ads of all types.
• Keeping an eye on video analytics: Videos on Instagram are for engagement. With that said, videos cannot be guaranteed with comments or likes all the time. So, you must keep an eye on the analytics to assess some of the components as you roll out your promotions.
• How does the video content perform in competition to your photo?
• Which videos are most trending on your account?
• What is the duration for which your customers are watching your videos?
• What is the average view count?

As a business, you need to think from the perspective of the values that your videos can provide. Brainstorm ideas and do not restrict yourself to only one sort of promotion.