Identity theft is an unfortunate occurrence that is all too familiar with most business owners, but do those individuals know where the compromised data will end up? Often, these business owners are unaware of the virtual marketplace where stolen data is purchased and sold by cybercriminals; a place known as the “Dark Web”.  An article on Lexology explores what the Dark Web is, what information is available for purchase there and how it impacts small businesses.

The numbers are on the rise – and in this case, we aren’t talking about COVID test results.  In just a few months, the number of consumers that suspect they are at risk of identity theft has increased.  In February of 2020, we saw numbers from CyberScout that out of 1050 employed adults in the U.S., 52% felt that they would never become a victim of identity theft and 55% were confident that it was “somewhat” or “very” unlikely that their financial accounts would be hacked.

As a business owner, you’ve probably been focused on shifting your business to accommodate this world crisis. You may even be investing more of your time in retaining customers and generating new cash flow. If you’re like most people out there, you’ve barely even had time to think about cyber security and protecting your important data.

As a business owner today, you are now facing unprecedented challenges to help deal with the coronavirus pandemic. You are asked to self-isolate and practice social distancing to “flatten the curve.” You are asked to allow your employees to work from home to reduce possible exposure and slow the spread of COVID-19.

In a matter of just a few short weeks, we have gone from living how we’ve always lived to changing just about everything we do. Schools are out for weeks if not months. Cruises have stopped sailing, and air transportation may be next. Bars and restaurants are closing, sporting events are nonexistent and so many people are now unemployed. If you watch the news or follow social media and see the number of infected keep rising, you can’t help but wonder when (or if) life will return to normal.

The world is slowing down during this COVID-19 pandemic. Wall Street is being hit hard. People are no longer going out. We’re told to quarantine or self-isolate and not engage in groups.

Hackers love to go after small businesses. There are many businesses to choose from, and many don’t invest in good IT security. Plus, many business owners and their employees have bad cyber security habits. They do things that increase their risk of a malware attack or a cyber-attack. Here are five bad habits that can lead to a hack and what you can do to reduce your risk.

Timothy Ferriss is renowned for The 4-Hour Workweek. It’s been a go-to book for countless entrepreneurs for over the past decade. Ferriss’s Tribe Of Mentors: Short Life Advice From The Best In The World, however, takes things in a new direction.

We all use e-mail, and we all spend too much time reading and responding to these messages (one estimate cited by Inc. suggests the average office worker spends 2 1/2 hours per day reading and responding to e-mails).

Never worry about running out of memory on your smartphone again! It happens to all of us – you’re trying to take a picture or record a video and you get a message saying your phone’s storage is full. You don’t want to buy another new smartphone, so what can you do besides delete old photos?