How COVID has Changed Executive Assistant Roles Forever

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Jason Mood

The full impact of COVID has been devastating and as well as the obvious changes to our lives, such as social distancing, not seeing family and friends for long periods and being required to wear facemasks, the job market has also seen significant shifts.

When the pandemic first began to impact the economy, the government instructed people to work from home wherever this was possible. Where this was not possible, many businesses had no choice but to furlough staff and close their business or run their business in a different way.

One positive that has come from the need for businesses to adapt, is that more businesses have explored the ways that technology can help them to run more efficiently or to enable them to diversify their products and services.

Many businesses have seen that there are many benefits to having home-based employees, from reducing the cost of running business premises, to giving employees more flexibility in their work-life balance. One job that has arguably changed forever is the role of Executive Assistant, one that traditionally involved working in close physical proximity to the executive that is being assisted.

Throughout the pandemic, this type of role has had to adapt quickly, by utilizing online solutions to provide support while working in separate locations to the exec. For businesses that already had a good technology infrastructure to enable home working, the changes were less disruptive. However, for many companies, setting up the right IT frameworks to enable employees such as executive assistants to work from home was one of the biggest challenges they faced.

The impact on the skills required for Executive Assistants

With many EA roles now being performed from home, there is an increased demand for people with good IT skills. Executive Assistants have always been required to have good office management skills and to be proficient with the relevant business systems but now they need to be up to speed with more types of software.

For example, project management software is integral to collaborating with execs and their management teams, in the place of having physical meetings. Also, being proficient in arranging video calls through software tools such as Zoom, or Microsoft Teams is also important with many businesses encouraging employees to work from home as much as possible and to avoid physical meetings.

Therefore, Executive Assistants looking for new roles, or to continue to be able to perform to a high standard, need to have the right experience and qualifications to suit the new world of more digitally-reliant working processes.

Completing executive assistant courses can help people to develop the necessary skills that enable them to proficiently use all of the technology tools that are required for modern day exec support. There are a wide range of different courses that are available to complete online, that will help people to get offered a role as an Executive Assistant.

Businesses use different types of online collaboration and project management tools but some of the most common ones include Monday, Asana, Slack, Google Docs and Microsoft Teams. Becoming as familiar as possible with these tools will give you a big advantage over other job applicants, so try to practice using them and discover all of the main features for each one.

During an interview, you may be asked about your knowledge about some of these online solutions, so if you can demonstrate in your answer that you have an in-depth understanding, then you will certainly improve your chances of being offered the role.

Now you know how the role has changed in the last two years, you can acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to be more successful as an Executive Assistant.

Informative Guide with Tips and Tricks to pass CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Mack John

There has been a gradual growth in the field of cybersecurity with time. CompTIA Security + SY0-601 exam is one of the premier IT certifications to enter the area. The field is recognized globally, and it ensures that the person has the required fundamental skills needed to perform the core security functions. This exam is used to examine the basic level skills or the basic knowledge of the field. The CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam is an entry-level exam, but it is not easy to pass. If you are looking for tips and tricks to pass the CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam, this is the right place for you.

Here are some of the tips & tricks that can be beneficial and will add in passing the CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam:

Get to know the Security+ exam domains. The first step in this regard is getting to know the six Security+ fields. These are:

Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities (21%)
Technologies and Tools (22%)
Architecture and Design (15%)
Identity and Access Management (16%)
Risk Management (14%)
Cryptography and PKI (12%)

Gather data on each domain and study the information that comes under each of them. Focus on the area that you find challenging. Before moving to the next part, make sure that you have mastered the existing one.

1. Make a Study Plan

After knowing the domains and all the areas under them, it is time to make a study plan. Schedule your studies wisely and keep all the things belonging to the same category together. In between the domains, make sure to learn new things about the previous one and prepare yourself for the upcoming one.

Other things that need to be considered while making your study plan are:

· The time of your examination, i.e., how soon can you go for it?
· The amount you can spend on courses and training.
· The training method that suits you the best.
· The things that you already know.

2. Take Practice Exams

As this is an entry-level exam, you might be unfamiliar with the test-taking techniques and strategies. To get yourself out of that nervousness, take as many practice exams as possible. You can also go for single-domain-based practice exams. Review the CompTIA’s practice questions too.

3. Get Familiar with Your Exam.

You can get all the required information on the official site of the CompTIA security+ exam. Make sure to check that out. The site also has many valuable links and information like training providers, study material, etc. Get an overview of the exam, the certification, the number and type of questions in the exam, and the passing marks, etc.

4. Start with Free Exam Prep Resources.

A lot of sites and resources have CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam objectives and questions available for free. You can use them to evaluate your understanding of the CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam. These free exam prep resources will help you a lot, especially in making an effective study plan.

5. Find and Join a Security+ Online Community.

A simple search on Google will take you to multiple CompTIA security+ SY0-601 exam communities. Become a member of these communities and learn from the experience of others. One thing to be careful about is to beware of toxic people in these groups. A lot of people vent out their anger in these groups. So, be careful and don’t let them affect or discourage you.

6. Relax and Clear your Mind

These tips will help you in staying focused and relaxed during the exam:

· Be aware of the time and keep a record of it.
· Read the questions carefully.
· Stretch and relax your muscles during the exams. It will relax your mind too.
· Do not panic. There is nothing to feel stressed about the exam. If you cannot get through the exam this time, there is always a next chance.

Conclusion

The CompTIA security+ SY0-601 certification is a great thing that showcases your capability. But great things come at a cost. Only those who try hard will succeed. Therefore, put in all of your efforts and try your level best to pass the exams. Please keep all the tips mentioned above and tricks in mind and give it your best!

Google’s FLoC Raises Major Concern in the Tech World

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Hamza Razzaq

We all know that third-party cookies of companies track their users on the internet. What about if these cookies stop tracking you? Following Google’s latest announcement, they will not support third-party cookies on Google Chrome. This action will change the way companies track their users. One might think that Google will respect privacy and shun tracking. The answer is NO! Google has proposed that they be in charge of tracking by introducing new technology. Federated Learning of Cohorts or FLoC is meant to replace third-party cookies.

What is FLoC?

The Federated learning of Cohorts is Google’s machine learning-based advanced technology to replace third-party cookies. FLoC will allow every browser to research how people navigate and search anonymously. Later it will group them into “cohorts”. This will alter the way of identifying the targeted audience for advertisements. Previously, third-party cookies used to show ads based on personal interest, but now FLoC will advertise based on the cohort. As per the Google statement, it will make users more anonymous and less needed information for targeted ads.

FLoC is an advancement of artificial intelligence. The federated learning of this technology works on machine learning algorithms that require fewer user data than third-party cookies. Google argues that if ad businesses and services adapt anything like this, it will protect users’ information from tracking methods.

Working Concept Behind Google’s FLoC

Based on Google’s explanation, FLoC will allow personalized advertisements with the superficial data of users, such as interest, frequently visited pages, etc. The concept behind Google’s FLoC is assigning each browser an anonymous ID and then will group these IDs into large groups. Thus, the advertiser can only access the overall patterns and will preserve user identity.

Google tries to prove this concept by saying that FLoC will establish user IDs and assign people to cohorts via an algorithm called SimHash. Google designed SimHash to help Google’s web crawlers locate nearby identical pages. However, it will not save your data on a server because this occurs on your computer. It was one of the privacy concerns users had with third-party cookies. They store massive user data collected from the browser for an indefinite period under ambiguous security measures.

The product manager at Google, Marshell Vale, ensures that FLoC will not use any user’s sensitive data. So, for example, if any user visits any religious or medical site frequently, that information will not be included in the cohort dataset. This will make tracking flexible for both advertisers and users.

Tech World Response to Google’s FLoC

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) pointed out that the third-party cookies are moving towards death, and Google wants to take its place. EFF declares Google’s FLoC as a terrible idea and potentially harmful. EFF forces everyone should reject this Google’s technology and Google’s attempt to misguide others.

Brave and DuckDuckGo suspect that Google will automatically implement FLoC without informing the Chrome users. They added that it is why they already have blocked Google’s FLoC on their desktops, as it will harm the user’s privacy and will show creepy advertisements.

The CEO and co-founder of Brave, Brendon Eich, and the senior privacy researcher, Peter Synder, explained in their blog that Google is acting privacy-friendly. Still, it is making people less private. They added Google should first explain how Google’s FloC will determine whether the cohort is sensitive and is not using any personal information.

Amazon and Mozilla not behind FloC

One of the world’s largest platforms, Amazon is blocking Google’s FLoC and added code to its digital properties. The reason for being a hindrance to FLoC’s success is protecting its intellectual property and prized data. Google is Amazon’s big competitor. Thereby, Google’s tracking policy can affect Amazon’s advertising policy.

Many other Google competitors have also commented on Google’s FLoC. For example, one of Google’s major browser competitors, Mozilla Firefox, said that the company does not plan to implement FLoC, and they are looking for other privacy policies. Microsoft also disabled Google’s FLoC policy in Microsoft Edge for now.

WordPress, another powerful company that powers over 34 percent of websites, will block FLoC. A WordPress senior contributor said they had taken no decision for the future, but they will not support Google’s FLoC.

Possible Privacy Concerns

Though Google has revived the privacy policies with FLoC, it still presents privacy concerns that cannot be ignored. Google has kept the same previous policy for advertisement and only changed the way of targeting the audience. It has raised more prominent issues, as follow:

Browser Fingerprinting

Browser Fingerprinting is a process of extracting small information from a person’s browser and then combining them into a unique identifier. Your browsing behavior makes you unique in the crowd. So, the more unique your browsing behavior is, the easier it is to fingerprint you. As FLoC creates cohorts based on user patterns, it makes it effortless for the intruders to identify you. In the third-party cookies, the attackers have to find you among million peoples, but now they have to identify you among cohorts of a few thousand people.

Data Democratization

FLoC will reveal your cohort data to collaborate with marketers. This information may include the login information that can help them identify you. Let us suppose you have signed in to a website with Google as a service, which implies your sensitive information, such as name and login details, will be saved already. Later, that information can be utilized to link your Cohort ID, which is meant to be anonymous. This mix-up of information can facilitate cyber-trackers to become more active.

Conclusion

Google has developed its tracking policy to take advantage of the misery of third-party cookies. Though Google has shown a pleasant picture of Google’s FLoC, the big names of the digital world are opposing it. The reason behind this is the controversial disguised face of Google. Google has already started the trial of FLoC on 0.5% of users located in the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, India, Brazil, Australia, Canada, and the Philippines. Over time, more clear aspects of FLoC will show up and make the market respond.

New Way to Sync Google Calendar with Outlook – Automatic and Free

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Wayland Bruns

It takes just five seconds for DejaFlow to update Outlook when you change Google. CompanionLink has delivered a low-cost PC app with this amazing speed for nearly a decade. Today CompanionLink is launching DejaFlow. DejaFlow is a low-cost online service that connects Google with Outlook online, for free, without needing to install anything on your PC or Mac.

Businesses need a Simple Connector

Thousands of services are tied to Google Calendar, but most business people use Outlook. Outlook has a primitive ability to subscribe to a Google Calendar. However, this requires you to publish the calendar on the open world-wide-web which is hardly private.

Existing Tools are Expensive and Complex

So there is a pressing need to connect the two. Microsoft Power Automate is an expensive, complex tool that cannot do the simple task that customers need; Add, Change and Delete Appointments and Recurring Events, with two-way sync between Outlook and Google.

Everyone has just one calendar. You may keep it on Outlook or on Google. You place your appointments on it. You depend on your PC or Phone to ring alarms to notify you of places to be and things to do. Having a phone that uses Google and a Computer that uses Outlook makes it hard to schedule and plan.

Vendors like Zapier and Power Automate have tried to make a toolkit to handle this task. But 95% of business customers do not need a toolkit; they need something that works.

Free, fast and automatic connector for Google Calendar, Contacts and Tasks with Outlook 365, Microsoft Teams and Outlook.Com

The Experienced Pioneer of Calendar Sync

CompanionLink understands your needs. We have created products to fulfill this need for 30 years. We know all about how calendars work with each of the vendors, both Microsoft and Google. And we are good at it which keeps our costs low. As a result, we can reflect these low costs to our customers with low service fees.

DejaFlow connects Calendar, Contacts and Tasks from Gmail and Google workspaces accounts.

These can be connected to any online Microsoft account, including Office 365, Corporate Exchange, Microsoft Teams, and Free Office.Com/Hotmail Accounts.

Planned updates will add a direct connection to Apple iCloud, Act! CRM, Pocket Informant, and DejaCloud.

POP3 and IMAP Solution

For Outlook customers who use IMAP and POP3 folders, the calendar information is not stored online. For you, CompanionLink offers CompanionLink for Google for windows-based PCs and CompanionLink for Mac for macOS computers. The installed software will automatically synchronize from our local calendar to the online calendar.

Online Calendar Solution

DejaFlow is a SaaS website to connect Outlook Calendar with Google Calendar. Setup is a simple three-step process; Create a DejaFlow account, identify your Outlook and Google Calendars, and press Sync. The initial connection takes about two minutes for most people, and DejaFlow automatically matches any duplicate entries. Once Connected, any change in Google Calendar, and any change in Outlook Calendar, will flow to the other side within about 10 seconds.

You can use DejaFlow for Free! As long as you have 500 records or less, you can use the service forever without a charge. Most people have under 500 records in their calendar.

Affordable Pricing

Most businesses will have more than 500 records. Companies should plan on paying $1.50 to $5 per month per user for the DejaFlow service, which is still just a fraction of the cost of competing services.

For 2 Connectors up to 5,000 records, DejaFlow costs $4.95 per month or $39.95 per year.

For 5 Connectors (5 users) and 30,000 records, the cost is $11.95 per month or $99.95 per year.

Both Free and Paid customers can take advantage of CompanionLink’s email and telephone technical support.

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About CompanionLink Software

CompanionLink^® Software, Inc. is a pioneering developer of data synchronization solutions for mobile phones and CRM software and services. They also develop a DejaOffice^® for Outlook^® App which runs on Android^™, iPhone^®, iPad^®, Windows Phone^®, and BlackBerry^® devices. For 30 years, CompanionLink has helped mobilize information across devices, computers, applications, and web-based services. For more information, please visit www.companionlink.com and www.dejaoffice.com.

CompanionLink, DejaOffice and DejaCloud are registered trademarks of CompanionLink Software, Inc. Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Kicksta vs Sprout Social

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Jeremy Collins

In this digital world, having an Instagram presence is very crucial for promoting your brand or content. And to influence people on Instagram, you need to have a large following and increased engagement rate on your Instagram profile. Several tools and growth services can streamline the process of content creation, post scheduling, increasing followers, and gaining engagement on Instagram.

Two of the most competitive growth services are Kicksta and Sprout Social. Both the tools focus on increasing followers on Instagram. And both of them are the best sites to buy Instagram likes to improve engagement rate. So which one should you choose? Check out the comprehensive comparison between Kicksta and Sprout Social given below to pick the best Instagram growth tool for yourself. Let’s get started!

Product Features

Sprout Social

For social media management, Sprout Social offers several services such as –

In-depth social media audit
Advance scheduling and post automation
Social media content calendar
Data analytics and reporting

Besides these services, it also provides major tools required to gain engagement on Instagram. It is compatible with a lot of different social media networks and helps in increasing your followers at every platform.

Kicksta

Kicksta is an Instagram growth service and the best site to buy Instagram likes, comments, and followers. These tools are also crucial to gain engagement on Instagram. Some features of Kicksta include –

Smart targeting algorithm – Kicksta’s AI-powered technology helps to get high-quality followers on Instagram.
Automation – Kicksta automates finding similar Instagram profiles along with auto-engaging of the target audience.
Kicksta focuses on growing genuine Instagram followers, likes and comments. This helps to improve brand awareness.
Data analytics and reporting

Pricing Plans

Social Sprout

Social Sprout offers three different pricing plans –

The standard plan at $99/ month/user – this plan allows the user to connect up to five social accounts. Here, you can get a content calendar, publishing tools, an all-in-one social inbox, comprehensive reporting, profile, and keyword monitoring. You also get some paid promotion tools to boost your profile.
The professional plan costs around $149/month/user – this plan allows the user to connect ten social profiles. It offers custom workflow, content tagging, detailed analytics reports, helpdesk integration, and optimal post scheduling.
The advanced plan costs around $249/month/user – with this plan you can connect the ten social profiles. Along with this, you get access to automation tools like Chabot, digital assets library, custom URL tracking, message spike alerts, and automated inbox rule builder.

Kicksta

Kicksta follows a ‘pay for what you use’ model. In this model, the user can cancel the subscription at any time. And the money for the remaining days on the scheduled subscription will be refunded back. There are two subscription plans offered by Kicksta –

The standard plan costs around $49/month/user. This plan assures moderate growth speed with automation tools. The user can target up to ten new accounts.
The premium plan costs around $149/month/user. This plan assures four times faster gain in genuine and real Instagram followers. It also provides more engagement rate with the automation tools. Additional services include live chat support, email support, advanced targeting options, and blacklist capabilities.

Data Analytics and Reporting

Sprout Social

In terms of data analytics, Sprout Social offers plenty of reporting features. For example, this tool compares your post-performance with your competitor’s post. Additionally, it tracks team productivity and task performance. If you opt for upgraded plans, Sprout Social offers custom reports, interactive charts, and graphical representations along with advanced filtering. All of these tools are excellent in gaining engagement on Instagram.

Kicksta

Kicksta provides insightful insights on profile performance and individual post-performance with the help of graphs and numbers. All the data can be accessed easily from the user-friendly analytics dashboard. In addition to this, Kicksta also allows the user to analyze their engagement rate and followers gained during a particular time frame.

Which among the two is best?

Considering all the key factors that are required to gain engagement on Instagram with quality followers, Sprout Social wins them all. Although Kicksta is also an excellent tool to get genuine Instagram followers. Perhaps it is one of the best sites to buy Instagram likes, comments, and followers. However, its limited features and data analytical tools do not match the level of Sprout Social.

Another factor that makes Sprout Social a much better growth tool is its ability to generate traffic to your website using social media posts and marketing. Additionally, flawless user experience, customer support, and excellent product features make Social Sprout the number one choice.

Conclusion

Choosing the best social media management tool is a very challenging task. There are several factors involved that decide which tool is the best for maximum social media growth. While both Kicksta and Sprout Social provide unique features to get genuine Instagram followers, Sprout Social beats it in terms of superior automation tools, improved product features, and data analytics. Although the pricing plan of Social Sprout is slightly expensive as compared to Kicksta. It is the best out of the two when it comes to growing your Instagram.

Understanding the Benefits of Using Antivirus Software

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Charlene Brown

In the past few decades, the advent of the internet has changed our perception of the world and how we do things. Now, almost everything is done online and much of our most personal information is in cyberspace. This is why digital security is integral more than ever in this day and age. This doesn’t necessarily mean getting sophisticated technologies to protect your privacy. It starts with something as simple as installing antivirus software. Here is how it can help you.

Protection Against Viruses

As the name implies, the first and most important function that antivirus software serves is protecting your devices against viruses. If you don’t know it already, a virus can not just slow your computer, but also do more harmful things like reformat your hard drive or compromise your files and data. This is where the antivirus software comes in. It detects potential viruses and starts removing them. The great thing about this software is that it doesn’t wait for the virus to start causing problems to your computer. It eliminates the threat before it can harm your system and files. Good antivirus software works without you knowing, so you won’t be making much effort.

Guarding Privacy

While the internet has made the world interconnected and granted us access to endless information, it also made your information and privacy within reach for hackers. In many cases, a virus can be a hacker trying to gain access to your personal information. This is another reason why you should get good antivirus software. As you can see on https://softwarelab.org/, it helps if you slow down and consider different options. Compare different software and find one that works best for you. Antivirus software can protect your personal information when you surf the internet and protect vital information like your credit card information from potential hackers.

Spam Protection

Believe it or not, one of the most common ways for a virus to invade your system is through pop-up ads that annoy you when you open websites on the internet. Unfortunately, these ads are not just annoying. They can also allow viruses to enter your computer system and cause a ton of problems. Spam websites are also a way for viruses to attack your computer, and most of us click them inadvertently. Antivirus software can protect your system from spam websites, and it blocks the ads that might contain potential viruses.

Protection Against USB Drives

Well, it’s actually protection against any removable device. Reading this, you have probably thought of a million times you’ve connected external hard drives and USB devices to your laptop. Every time you do that, you risk infecting your system with viruses and malware. You never know what that removable device could cause to your system. Antivirus software will scan any removable device you connect to your system, ensuring that the USB or hard drive will not transmit any viruses to your computer.

Malware Protection

Antivirus software also protects your system from data thieves and hackers that might try to infect your system with a vicious malware. This is one of the most commonly used tactics by hackers to steal data and personal information, and malware can be quite difficult to deal with if you don’t have antivirus software. If you find yourself in that situation, hackers can ransom your data or delete them, causing problems that you don’t really need. With antivirus software, you get protection against malware and avoid such nuisances.

Improved Performance

As we mentioned earlier, if your system is attacked by a virus or malware, its performance will significantly slow down. This can be problematic for graphic designers, coders, or anyone who needs their system to be working at its full potential. Antivirus software protects your system before a virus could wreak havoc, as we mentioned earlier. Some even clear disk space and delete any useless files on your computer that might be slowing it down.

Firewall

A firewall keeps an eye on incoming and outgoing traffic that your computer network deals with. Firewall protection paired with antivirus software ensures that any data coming into or out of your computer is checked, so nothing suspicious could compromise the safety of your network. This protects your computer from phishing attacks, which are very common.

To put it simply, antivirus software provides you with convenience. You won’t have to constantly worry about your personal information and the security of your data. It also saves you the trouble of having to deal with viruses and malware, which can cause all sorts of problems. With virus protection, your computer can live longer, which means you will save money in the long run.

Top Trading Tips To Help You Think Like A Professional

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Charlene Brown

More and more people are starting to turn their heads toward the idea of trading, especially as they start to realize the importance of having multiple streams of income. While many people view trading as an opportunity to make supplemental cash, others opt to make it their full-time profession. Regardless of whether you want to build a career around trading or hope to make it your side hustle, there are many things that you need to consider. If you are a new trader, you are probably excited about finding out how you can make money immediately. However, you need to keep in mind that trading is a risky business; you need to think strategically and weigh out your options before taking any steps forward. You have to understand its dynamics and its every aspect; having realistic expectations is key. Read through our article to find out the top trading tips that will help you think like a professional.

Stick to a Trading Plan

Trading is a business and is a risky one for that matter. Just like every business has its own goals, objectives, and strategic plans, your trades need one too. Your trading plan should include your entry and exit points, as well as a money management standard for each of your purchases. Luckily, with the help of technology, you can easily approximate your risks and assess trading ideas nowadays. This will prevent you from risking or experimenting with real money. This testing practice is known as backtesting, and it is designed to help you put your trading idea to the test with the use of historical data. This will allow you to find out whether your idea is practical. After you develop your trading plan and backtest it, you can finally implement it into real-time trading. You need to make it a point to stick to your plan; completing trades that weren’t part of your game plan, even if they seem like great deals or turn out great, you will still be considered a poor strategist.

Trading is Your Business

As we explained above, your trading practices, even if you are no more than a hobbyist, should still be treated as a full or part-time business. This is because otherwise, you will never be keen on learning. You may also find yourself frustrated because trading doesn’t yield a regular or reliable paycheck. When you approach trading like you would approach your business, you will be able to accept that it comes with losses, expenses, uncertainty, taxes, risk, and a lot of stress. Think of yourself as a small or growing business owner rather than a trader; a trader, much like a business owner, must strategize, research, and continue to develop so that their business’ potential is maximized.

Make Use of Technology

Trading is a highly competitive business and therefore, you should always assume that others are making the best use of all the available and accessible technology. Using charting and VWAP platforms can help you gain insight into several aspects and perspectives of the market. Carefully analyzing the charts as well as backtesting your ideas before you proceed with them can help you avoid many potential risks and losses. These platforms are widely available on smartphones for download, which is something that you need to take advantage of. This allows you to stay on track, be constantly aware of major updates, monitor your trades, and keep an eye on the market on the go. Even if it’s as minor as having access to the internet, every aspect of technology can play a great role in helping you advance in your trades. Understanding the power of technology and knowing exactly how it can help you in your trades can help you increase your performance. Look out for new products, services, and platforms that can help you become a more insightful trader; technology is always evolving!

Trade What You Can Afford To Lose

As a newbie, you may be tempted to go all-in so that you can generate higher rewards. This is highly risky; professional traders know that they should not be trading at the expense of other important obligations. Your trading account should only include the money that you’ve allocated for your trading expenses- money that is really expendable. If you are not there yet, then you should save some more before you start trading.

Whether it is because of the increasing financial awareness or the need for supplementary streams of income, many people have started taking an interest in trading. Unfortunately, many people think of trading as a mere hobby or a side job. While many of their trades may end up successful, they will never be professional traders. When it comes to trading, the key is to treat it as your business.

Understanding and Preventing Privilege Creep

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Susan Melony

Businesses are in the midst of a transition. Many are trying to determine what the right path forward is for them after the pandemic, as far as remote work or hybrid work. Some companies are bringing employees back to the office full-time, while others are going to implement more flexible policies.

There’s a lot to think about and potentially reconfigure for businesses right now after they were thrown into having employees work remotely because of COVID-19.

IT teams, in particular, are taking on a lot of that work. The IT teams in many workplaces are trying to figure out how to balance changing needs with cybersecurity risks that can come with long-term remote or hybrid work.

They also have to think about what it might look like to manage day-to-day IT concerns when teams are dispersed some or all of the time.

One big issue that can become more pervasive with remote work is privilege creep. It can go under the radar more if workers are on a hybrid or fully remote schedule, and it creates a significant cybersecurity threat.

With that in mind, the following are some of the main things to know about privilege creep and preventing it from occurring in an organization.

What is Privilege Creep?

Privilege creep is also known as access creep. This occurs when an employee, often gradually over time, gets more access rights than are needed to do their job.

Privilege or access creep can be the result of not revoking access that was granted for temporary or special projects or not making the necessary changes to reflect different job duties or requirements. When someone gets a promotion or takes on a different role in a company and they get new access privileges, but their previous roles aren’t revoked, it also contributes to this issue.

Basically, the overarching idea with privilege creep is that employees have access to data, resources, and applications not needed for their duties, which then puts the system at risk.

The biggest risk with privilege creep is often the potential for insider threats to occur. Also, a hacker may be able to get into higher levels of a company network if they have just one set of stolen credentials.

There are problems with compliance that can stem from privilege creep too. If your organization is one that’s in an industry handling sensitive data, such as health records, and there is privilege creep happening, you may not be in compliance with laws and regulations.

Along with cybersecurity issues that can come from privilege or access creep, there’s also an impact on productivity. You want your employees to only use what’s absolutely necessary for their job. The more access they have, the more time they might waste on things like recovering passwords.

Preventing privilege creep can have the added benefit of streamlining workflows.

Conduct Regular Access Reviews

One of the most important things you can do on a regular basis is conducting access reviews.

An access review should be part of your overall cybersecurity plan. Access reviews allow you to get a view of who has access to what. Set a timetable when you’ll regularly conduct access reviews to audit existing permissions.

You can analyze all the user accounts that are part of your organization. Make sure that everyone within the organization has access to only what they need.

If you’re part of a larger organization, you might rotate audits across departments.

Each employee should have access privileges reviewed at least biannually. Their current permissions need to be both assessed and justified during an audit.

You also want to take away permissions they don’t need and delve into why they have those permissions and why they weren’t removed.

Formalize Your Employee Change Process

A good way to avoid privilege creep and other cybersecurity risks is to formalize the steps in the process when an employee goes through a change. This might mean a demotion or promotion or any kind of change in role.

The IT department should be in the loop on these changes in addition to human resources.

Always Follow the Principle of Least Privilege

The Principle of Least Privilege or POLP is a reference to best practices to reduce cybersecurity risks associated with privilege creep.

The idea is that any user, process, or program has the bare minimum privileges required.

By adhering to this principle, you’re reducing the likelihood of an attacker getting access to sensitive data or critical systems.

If there is a compromise in the system, it can stay confined to its origin area, or at least that’s more likely what’s going to happen with POLP.

To provide an example, Edward Snowden leaked millions of files from the NSA because he had admin privileges. His highest-level role was creating backups of the database. Now, in the time since that happened, the NSA uses the principle of least privilege, and around 90% of employees have had higher-level access privileges revoked.

Another example is Target. Hackers got access to tens of millions of Target customer accounts because an HVAC contractor had certain permissions. Target allowed itself to have a broad attack surface because it didn’t implement the principle of least privilege.

A few best practice tips to implement POLP include:

As was touched on above, you’ll need to do a privilege audit. You should check all the accounts that currently exist and programs to make sure they have only the permissions needed to do their job.
All accounts should, as a rule, start with least privilege. Any new account privileges should, as a default, be as low as possible.
All admin accounts should be separated from standard accounts.
If someone needs elevated privileges, restrict them only to the time periods when they’re needed.
Set it up so that you can track individual actions.

Limiting privileges and maintaining principles of least privilege is an important component of modern cybersecurity. It should be one of the biggest priorities for an organization because not doing so creates an enormous attack surface and opportunities for lateral movement at a minimum.

How to Top Up a Bitcoin Wallet

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Bailey Merton

If you want to take advantage of the potential gains from the crypto market, especially by investing and trading in Bitcoin, you first need to know how to top up a bitcoin wallet. This is because you cannot buy or invest in Bitcoin if you do not have a Bitcoin wallet. A wallet is a safe and secure form of storage that allows you to send, receive bitcoins and store digital coins. So, if you want to hold or transact in BTC, you must have a wallet. There are different types of Bitcoin wallets such as mobile, desktop, online, hardware, and paper wallets. Since your balance will go down after you pay with the coins or sell them, you need to know how to top up a bitcoin account, so you can replenish the wallet and keep enjoying the benefits of these digital coins.

Steps follow to top up your Bitcoin wallet

When we look into how to top up your Bitcoin wallet, we assume that you already have a wallet because you cannot have any of the cryptocurrencies without one. Below are the steps to follow when topping up your BTC wallet:

Make your Bitcoin order

Typically, you need to find a reliable exchange from which to buy your BTC. The exchange should charge reasonable fees and be secure and trustworthy since you could lose your money if you are not careful.

To place an order, you only need to choose the amount of crypto you want to buy, indicate your payment method, and then move to the next step. And If you are looking for a safe and reputable place to trade bitcoins, Bitcoin Prime is the perfect choice.

Depending on the exchange you choose, you can pay with various means. Would you like to top up your Bitcoin wallet on Nakitcoins? It would be one of the wise decisions you can make because Nakitcoins is one of the best Bitcoin exchanges. It offers you the chance to walk into their office in Turkey and buy bitcoins with cash with no limits, and you enjoy the utmost security and privacy.

You can also buy online through the Nakitcoins website because it is a decentralized exchange. You can use your bank card or a cash voucher such as Neosurf to pay for the coins. Also, selling BTC on Nakitcoins is equally convenient, as is exchanging them for other cryptocurrencies.

Key in Your Wallet Address

Each Bitcoin wallet has a public key and a private key. These are generally lengthy strings of numbers and letters. The public key is visible to other people and appears on the blockchain network. You give out your public key to those transferring coins to you. On the other hand, the private key is your wallet’s password. You are the only one who knows it, and you must keep it secure by not sharing with others or even losing it because it cannot be reset.

To buy Bitcoin and send it to your address, that is, your Bitcoin wallet, you have to enter your public key, which may also be referred to as the wallet address. This will enable the exchange to send the coins to your Bitcoin wallet. Once you have entered the public address, you only have to confirm your wallet address via email. Then you can wait for the bitcoins to be sent to your crypto wallet.

Now you know how to do a Bitcoin top-up if you have been seeking information on how to top up a Bitcoin wallet. As you choose the exchange from which you will buy bitcoins, you need to be cautious and choose only secure platforms that charge reasonable fees. Also, ensure they will process the transfer of BTC to your wallet speedily and have a good reputation.

Expert Inventory Management Tips for Small Businesses

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Allen Brown

Owning a business is not easy, it takes a lot of time and energy to get things right so it makes sense why some small businesses seem to fail in the long run. The main thing a lot of business owners seem to miss is proper organization! So here are some expert inventory management tips for small businesses!

Make a plan

First things first – you need to establish what kind of business you are running and find the best solution that suits your needs. Is your business handling digital assets, offering services, or is it a real-life thing like a cafe or a store? All of them have one thing in common and that’s inventory and assets – but they all come in different shapes and forms! So your first step is to make a plan that is going perfectly with the nature of your business, this is the only way you can actually make things run smoothly! Doing additional research, finding valuable helping tools and resources is always welcomed so make sure your plan is not lacking anyhow!

Categorize your inventory

Depending on what kind of business you are dealing with, you need to categorize your assets. This can be done by sorting your assets by usage and function, so you know where to look for them in any given situation. You want to focus on making things functional and practical, and it all starts with making a good plan and organizing your space – regardless if it’s physical or digital. A business can crumble with a lack of management, and this also means focusing on your inventory and behind the scenes as well!

Prioritize

Another important factor in organizing and managing your assets is learning how to prioritize! Some things are more important than others, and you should sort things out by the level of importance or usage – depending on what it is. This way you’ll know exactly what goes where and it won’t cause you any trouble. And overall it’s just way better to sort out things this way, for instance, if you are selling items, particularly things with an expiration date – prioritizing them is key! You want to sell everything, and to avoid any losses, regardless of if it’s money, time, or assets!

Using the right tools is key

If you truly want to transform your business and help boost productivity, getting the right tools is the best thing you can do! Instead of doing everything by hand, there are so many software and apps you can use to do the job for you. Why work hard when you can work smart, right? Software apps like Grey Trunk focus on tracking your assets and helping you stay on track with the organization. There is nothing more annoying than not knowing where something is and having to seek it yourself. That’s where handy IT comes in to save the day and do the work for you! Nowadays technology is so evolved, there is no reason why you shouldn’t use it to your advantage, especially when it comes to maintaining and building your small business!

Regular checkups

Having a plan of action is extremely important when running your business, you don’t want things to go off the rails! Keeping things organized will also help with being able to track your assets and regularly check how your inventory is doing! This way you won’t come across any problems and create an even bigger problem down the line! Counting, taking a double-take, and making sure that everything is right where it’s supposed to be will help your business a lot in the long run! If there are any losses or potential clogs in the inventory, you’ll notice it right away and sort things out – so make sure you are doing it regularly!

Always strive for better

Technology is evolving, and things can change overnight, as shown during the global pandemic and similar occurrences. So being able to adapt and evolve during hard times is key. Regardless of whether your small business revolves around offering services or dealing with products – management is extremely important. Being able to constantly learn new ways and being up to date with the technology is a must, so make sure you are doing your research as a business owner!

At the end of the day, if you truly want to build a successful business you need to be on top of your game and covering all that is to cover inside the business. So many things make the business, never leave things behind! Make sure you put organization and functionality on the top of your list and see how much it will help grow your business out!

How to Decide Which Stocks Are a Good Investment and Which Aren’t

Posted on June 29, 2021 by Charlene Brown

There are many people now that choose to invest in stocks, this is probably because it doesn’t require much work. In other words, it is something that you can do besides your day job to increase your income. That being said, buying stocks isn’t as simple as you may think, it isn’t like walking into a store and purchasing any item. There are many steps that you need to take first like creating a brokerage account, researching, and adding funds. Taking these steps will ensure that you know what you are doing before you start investing. Research is very important as well because just buying stocks without analyzing them is a quick way to lose money instead of making it. So, keep reading to learn how you can decide which stocks are a good investment and which aren’t.

Determine Your Goals

Not all investors have the same goals in mind, each person hopes to accomplish something different with their investment. For example, young people have different investing interests like increasing their portfolios, while older investors who are near retirement are interested in bigger investments, so they can live off their holdings. On the other hand, some investors want a regular income, so they go for investments in the form of distributions or dividends. This is why you should determine your goals first, and once you do, you will be able to decide which companies to invest in.

Choose the Right Company

It is important to invest in a company that you know a lot about because you will become a partial owner in it, and if you don’t understand the business, then you will set yourself up for failure. It is important to know that if a product is successful or widely used, then this means that its stocks are performing very well. So, if you understand a product or use it then investing in it is a smart idea. People who spend most of their time in hotels or understand the hospitality industry choose to invest in hotels, while people who know electronics are always on the lookout for drone stocks to buy, in other words, as long as you understand the business you invest in, you are safe. You can also consider the industry that you are employed in, even if you don’t use the products that they sell, you will still have an above-average understanding of it to determine if buying stocks in it is a good idea or not. It is important to stay away from companies that you don’t know much about. Simply ask yourself, “do I understand how they make money?” If the answer is no, then avoid these stocks.

Be Realistic with Your Choices

It is a dream for many people to invest in a small business and watch its price go up in months. Who didn’t dream of investing in Apple when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were just starting up in a garage. However, this is just a fantasy, and when it comes to your money it is important to be realistic. This is why you should buy stock in companies that have a successful track record, this means that you will have to avoid new companies and startups. You shouldn’t take risks with money because your goal should be making money and not losing it, and making any profits from new businesses isn’t guaranteed. Moreover, make sure that the company that you choose has been growing and making profits for the last ten years or so.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

As mentioned before, you should invest in a business that you know a lot about, however, that doesn’t mean that you should put all your eggs in one basket. Simply put, you shouldn’t invest in just one industry, for example, if your knowledge is in IT you may be tempted to only buy tech stocks. Nevertheless, the market isn’t stable and although technology seems like a safe bet now, it won’t remain this way forever. This is why it is better to buy stocks in different industries. It may seem like a good idea to invest in one thing while it is flying high, but imagine the consequences when their stock falls one day.

Investing in stock can be very tempting, especially if you start making a steady income from it. However, if you invest in a bad stock, you can end up with more losses than you can imagine. For this reason, you should first determine your goal, choose a business that you understand, be realistic with your company choices, and don’t invest in one industry. Last but not least, you should do thorough research before making any decision or taking any steps.

5 Online Apps for Increasing Productivity

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Steve O'Neil

In this article, we selected five online tools for you, which will help you focus on tasks, correctly distribute your time, and plan your workload.

1. Clockify

Clockify tells you when it’s time to rest and when to get to work, allowing you to maintain an efficient pace, fight procrastination and avoid overcommitment. Also, if you give the sprints task names, you know exactly how much time you spent on this or that task. It’s useful for every writing service, which provides an essay writer for you to get more work done.

To be productive, you need the proper division of time. Clockify is a convenient time tracker, which works by the Pomodoro method – 25-springs drawn at intervals of 5 minutes. Every four sprints, you have to make a big break for half a minute. However, you can adjust the duration of the sprints and intervals to yourself.

Clockify works on different operating systems: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. There is also an extension for Google Chrome and Firefox.

2. Forest

With Forest, you can concentrate on your work, studies, reading, and rest without being “bogged down” on your smartphone or soft pleasure sites. It works this way: you grow “productivity forest,” where trees are short tasks (10-20 twins), and the trees – three-long (from 25 twins). So Forest also works according to the principle of Pomodoro technology.

To grow a tree or a couch, you must not log out of the add-on on a mobile device or enter the forbidden sites (which you have banned, for example – social networks or YouTube) from the desktop. Soon you will lose focus and will be lost – the plant will die. You’ll get points for completing the task, and for 2500 points, you can plant a real tree – the Forest developers sponsor the planting of trees by the Trees for the Future organization. So, you can not just become productive but also help nature right from the workplace.

3. Notion

The need to immediately switch to a new work program reduces our concentration. To maintain focus, you can try to do everything in one place – write texts, set tasks, plan the day, and make a budget. Such a versatile workspace is Notion. The program combines the functions of writing text (like Google Docs or Evernote), planning projects and tasks (like in Trello or Asana), creating tables and databases.

The service works in browsers, and there are also applications for iOS and Android. Many Notion users note that there is so much functionality that it is hard to decide how to use it first. A handy minimalistic design and tutorials help to orient yourself.

However, for those who are looking for a simpler and more straightforward note-taking application, exploring Notion alternatives might be worth considering.

4. Todoist

Todoist is a handy tool for creating task lists. With the device’s help, you can organize daily work – arrange plans, and divide the job into a team. In Todoist, you can set up a daily repetition of tasks, and you can use it not only for work but also for planning household chores or leisure activities.

Todoist works in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari browsers are available for MacOS, Windows, mobile versions for iOS, Android, and even smartphones. On the Todoist website, you can find many list templates for different types of tasks, and on the official YouTube channel – tips for starting to work with the service.

5. Evernote

Evernote is an online notepad with extended functions. If you like to write everything down but have already become bogged down in folders and tablets, the service will help you record more efficiently. In Evernote, you can create your tags for sorting and searching for information, make notes, create checklists, add notes or media files.

Evernote works in browsers and is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Evernote’s advantage is its minimalistic interface.

Productivity is not limited to digital tools because only additional tools (though very handy and helpful). Look for productivity techniques that work for you, test and customize your services, plan your time correctly, and don’t forget to relax.