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Caught in a Trap? Beware Auto-Renewing Contracts

Beware of auto-renewing contracts.

In the UK there are laws to protect consumers from unfair contract terms. However, commercial parties have less protection and are generally free to bind themselves to whatever terms without fear of court intervention.

As businesses outsource an increasing number of activities, it is important to fully understand what you are committing to when you sign a contract with a third party.

This is especially true for automatically renewable contracts. For some, they are convenient, ensuring services continue uninterrupted. For instance, if you forget to renew your web hosting and haven’t agreed to automatically renew or made other provisions, your website will likely go down when the contract expires. This could have a detrimental effect on your business.  Read more

GDPR-A cloud with a silver lining

GDPR: A Cloud with a Silver Lining

Are there four letters presently capable of generating greater fear and anxiety for organisations around the world than GDPR? The majority of conversations surrounding its imminent arrival strike a tone similar to the way citizens were prepared for nuclear Armageddon during the Cold War. With so much attention focused on potential doomsday scenarios, are we ignoring the positive aspects? Could GDPR be a cloud with a silver lining?

Reducing the cost of storing data

Before the digital era, organisations had a finite capacity for data storage. When the filing cabinet looked fit to burst, it was time to purge the documents that were no longer relevant or useful. As businesses transitioned from hard copies to digital copies, that element of housekeeping was often left behind, perhaps proving there’s truth to the saying, out of sight, out of mind. Read more

Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects? Nation State Cyber Attacks

Nation state sponsored cyber-attacks are growing in frequency, reach, and sophistication.

Within the previous year alone, a successful attack targeted the World Anti-Doping Agency, releasing the medical records of Olympic athletes from around the world. State sponsored hacking is also assumed to have played a role in the outcome of the US 2016 election, leading the US government to release a report detailing indicators of Russian involvement.

While countries have been conducting stealth attacks against each other for centuries, the digital era means these attacks can now be achieved remotely with technology. Read more

Securing Email is Essential

Why mail by electronic must never let down its guard.

Ensuring emails are secure is a concern to anyone dealing with confidential information – which of course, includes both the law and finance sectors. However, today, more than ever, it is important, rather critical, to be aware of the dangers of using the usual email systems and ways email communications can be secured with the use of an encrypted system. We dwell on how this system works, the financing of it and, indeed, its benefits.

Email is an essential communication and collaboration tool for both employees and consumers. According to the Radicati Group, there are currently more than 3.7 billion people using email on a worldwide basis, which it estimates will grow to more than 4.1 billion by the end of 2021. Part of this growth is anticipated to come from the migration of premise-based mailboxes to those based in the cloud. Read more

Data Protection and Outsourcing

Data Protection and Outsourcing

Outsourcing tasks and responsibilities are commonplace for many businesses today. Everything from administration and HR, to bookkeeping and IT, can be outsourced to a third party, allowing you to focus fully on the core competencies of your business.

While this usually brings about benefits in terms of efficiency and cost, it can also cause serious problems and risks if the issue of data protection and access is not properly considered. Read more

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How to improve security against email attacks and for GDPR compliance

About 200 billion emails are sent every day, but because of its importance email is constantly exploited by attackers, and yet is often overlooked in cyber security strategies

It is not unusual for emails to be used for arranging payments or for submitting identifying documents. “Legal services seem to do 40% of their work on their mobile phone,” observes Colin Tankard, managing director of Digital Pathways.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), set to come into force in May 2018, is designed to protect European Union (EU) citizens’ data, and organisations that want to operate within the EU will be expected to comply with it. Read more