Archive for the ‘Online presence’ Category

Why all kinds of organisations should be using docSAFE

Tuesday, August 29th, 2017

We traditionally provide docSAFE to the professions who demand top security and client confidentiality (among other things). However we are seeing docSAFE rise in popularity with other sectors, almost by accident but with very good reason.

You may have seen a mailer we sent out recently that illustrated how the NHS had suffered a huge breach of data of its junior doctors in the north-east. We researched this and found that the NHS staff use of WhatsApp is also widespread which is really worrying.

Organisations that hold any personal data, especially publicly accountable organisations, should be using systems to communicate that are extremely secure. docSAFE has been designed to be secure on a number of key levels – secure login (using 2-factor authentication), secure portal in which to exchange messages and documents, online signing, to be GDPR compliant, offer automatic backups to secure EU based servers and much more.

By using a portal instead of email, for example, the message sit in the cloud until the recipient accesses it. By return, the responses sit in the cloud until the sender accesses it. Both are notified and know the information is there – but it’s locked away safely, staying put, not flying through the ether.

We are expecting more uptake of docSAFE by schools, colleges, universities, doctors and hospitals and similar organisations where security simply cannot be the weak link. Talk to us if you think we can help with your secure communications.

Are you still emailing sensitive information?

Monday, June 12th, 2017

For any professional managing information on behalf of clients, email is dead. It is not secure and highly susceptible to human error. How many times have you sent information to or received information from the wrong source? I am regularly wrongly emailed client documents by a highly intelligent, trusted professional simply because I have a very similar name to his client. It is completely understandable but it could have any number of repercussions.

A client portal is a cloud-based safe. The documents go in (added by you or your client), the recipient is notified and they are then retrieved. It is also subject to several layers of top-level security.

For the sake of your practice, your reputation and your clients’ trust, switch from email to a secure client portal before it is too late. We can help, advise and support a quick transition to a much safer and more professional way to communicate.

How strong is your online presence?

Monday, August 22nd, 2016

This is a great time of year to review things – work practices, your website, how strong your social media is as well as many other parts of your business. A break or holiday sometimes lets you step back a little so you can see areas for improvement. At Online Practice, we look at your online presence in detail. This is a mix of your website, social media and any other activities such as blogs or press activity.

How you are portrayed online is vital to the way you are perceived – by clients, suppliers and even other firms within your sector. A dry, unchanging, outdated website with nothing new can sometimes be worse than not having an online presence at all. It smacks of neglect and a lack of dynamism that is actually not too hard to correct.

A fresh new look to your website to bring it bang up to date, the addition of an interesting blog page and filtering this into bite-size chunks for your social media platforms is surprisingly easy and low maintenance. We can even take it one stage further and create a bespoke monthly newsletter so you communicate with your clients in an informative and regular way.

Talk to us and see how we can advise you to do things better. It’s what we do best.

 

What do you know about GDPR?

Monday, June 13th, 2016

Screen shot 2016-06-13 at 09.29.40The new GDPR comes into effect in 2 years from now. That might seem a long way off but it is barely enough time to understand the changes and put everything into place for total compliancy. What are we talking about? The new GDPR replaces the Data Protection Act as we have come to know it. It has serious implications for any business holding customer information – this includes businesses that sell products and services and also those who monitor customer behaviour (in any way – research, social media etc) of EU citizens.

It is important on many levels – for ethical reasons obviously – you are holding someone’s personal details. However you should be aware that the fines for misconduct (and this can happen just as easily by accident than design) are severe. Previously the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) could demand up to £500,000 for serious breaches. Under the new rules, the ICO can fine companies up to 4% of global turnover or €20m. For more minor breaches, fines up to 2% of global turnover or €10m can be levied. This is serious stuff.

A useful article outlining this is more depth can be found in the Law Society Gazette.

There are many things to understand about GDPR but you must comply with the 6 main principles of the law, have a Data Protection Officer (employed or outsourced) and completely understand what the implications of holding data are. Talk to us and we can help. Time is ticking.

No one wants to announce a security breach

Tuesday, May 31st, 2016

Telling the world (or just your clients) that you’ve had a security breach is embarrassing and it has a huge effect on people’s confidence about your business. LinkedIn just announced such a breach and it spells nothing but trouble.

Screen shot 2016-05-31 at 10.50.08“On May 17, 2016, we became aware that data stolen from LinkedIn in 2012 was being made available online. This was not a new security breach or hack. We took immediate steps to invalidate the passwords of all LinkedIn accounts that we believed might be at risk. These were accounts created prior to the 2012 breach that had not reset their passwords since that breach.”

LinkedIn Trust & Safety Team

For an organisation that makes its living from the exchange of personal data, this is a serious issue. It means that everyone on the business networking site, all of whom have been notified of this situation, will be rethinking their membership (and if they’re not, they should be). We’re not saying ‘leave LinkedIn’ but what we are saying is that LinkedIn should enforce regular password changes and take every step possible to prevent this happening again.

LinkedIn has 433 million members – that’s a lot. That’s also a lot of data to be unsecured. The data affected was email addresses, passwords and member IDs. Hackers don’t always target such high profile sites, they go after any site randomly – accessing information, placing hidden links, installing hidden ‘back doors’ to your site and adding malware to infect your visitors. We were handed a problem website recently only to find 55,000 hidden links in a 100-page site.

Don’t risk your own security, no matter what size of business you are.

Don’t risk having to tell all your clients that their data has been exposed.

 

Take the next step, call us today
0121 794 0685