Right now is one of the most dangerous times of year for the small to micro-sized business. With the holiday season almost upon us there is a tendency to take our eye off the ball and start to wind down in readiness to enter full-blown holiday mode.
In these seasonal circumstances it’s perhaps understandable that we are less than fastidious about updates, scans and security. But these threats are with us 24 x 7 and we simply cannot afford to let our guard down in the run up to the holidays. Or, for that matter, any other time of the year.
For in the words of the adage, prevention is better than cure. And a lot less time-consuming and expensive than being caught out. Imagine how awry your holiday preparations would go if a business-critical system went down?
While most businesses are well aware of internet security, anti-virus and the threat of hackers, the greater threat can frequently be that which is right under our nose – internal security. Countless studies confirm that often it is unwitting lapses in internal systems and the behaviour of in-house users that slip under company radar.
Bell Micro, a leading storage company, has conducted research that shows UK businesses are still failing to address the protection of data on internal computer networks from staff abuse, misuse or direct theft.
Most respondents in IT-based roles (74%) recognise, and work to protect, against the danger of rogue connections such as customer or contractor laptops yet almost half (43%) were failing to enforce a policy of encrypting data on portable devices - such as personal laptops, PDAs and removable media. Worse still, 62% of respondents indicated that their company would be unable to detect if an employee copied data off a server onto a PC, laptop, USB stick or a disk.
The problem for business is compounded by employees working longer hours and, now, claims that some office workers can see less natural daylight than coal miners.
Research conducted for BT shows that the majority of office workers are tied to their desks and see natural sunlight for less than an hour per day. Nearly a quarter (22%) see less than twenty minutes during the working day.
This lack of sparkle in their lives is clearly taking its toll, as nearly two thirds (65%) of workers admit they are depressed at the thought of not being able to get away from their desk to see more daylight. Four in five are unmotivated knowing they’ll be stuck indoors working. There are even some that would consider throwing a “sickie” to boost their daylight exposure.
Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, foresees this lack of fresh air as becoming a significant sap on productivity: “Lack of sunshine or outdoors activity has an enormous effect on morale and productivity is likely to drop in tandem.”
