Welcome to our new team member – Kate – a Diversity, Inclusion and belonging Specialist

Diversity refers to the characteristics that make people unique.  Inclusion refers to the behaviours and cultural norms that make people feel welcome.  Belonging refers to an individual sense of acceptance.

Regardless of whether you’re new to business or leadership, or you have been in business for a while, when you first start to take your cyber security approach seriously, you may well discover that your first challenge is where to start.

There are many different elements to cyber security, and lots of different ways to approach it once you start looking at the detail of all of the things you need to do, but in terms of your starting point there are really two fundamental approaches that you can choose to take.

The first approach is to pick a framework or a set of standards and work towards that.

A bit of research will show you that there are a number of frameworks that you could pick from.  Standards like Cyber Essentials, CIS controls, or ISO standards (27001 for example).  All vary somewhat, and have a slightly different focus, but there are certainly some common themes running through most of these standards or frameworks.

The nature of frameworks however is that they are trying to be all things to all people; it is extremely difficult to create a framework which is equally applicable to all types of businesses or organisation.  So how do you know which one is most applicable to you, and which one to pick if that’s the cyber security approach you are going to take?  That’s not an easy question to answer.

Following a framework is one valid approach to cyber security.  It gives you something to work towards.  But how applicable is it to your organisation?  Answering this question is not something that you need to be considering alone and from within the walls of your organisation.

Not only can we support you in gaining ISO 27001 accreditation or Cyber Essentials Certification, training and awareness are something we strongly believe in and to this end we have built a number of training courses and workshops.  These will not only inform and educate but will also empower the right people in the right roles to be able to ask and answer the most relevant questions for your business.

Rather than focusing on frameworks, you may decide to instead take a risk-based cyber security approach.  This is an approach that is more tailored towards your specific business or organisation.  It considers the specific data that you have, the systems you use, the people you have in your organisation and their level of understanding of all things security, the processes that you have in place, and how all of these combine to create risk specific to you.

How this happens depends on who you partner with.  Our approach is to come in to your business and run discovery workshops on site with your teams.  This enables a depth of understanding which allows for the development of the most relevant and workable cyber security roadmap to you – a roadmap that will get you to a position where your risks are being proactively managed.

Different organisations, different security requirements – What sort of differences are we talking about though?  Let’s look at three key differences.

Firstly there is data.  Some organisations are heavily reliant on data, some not so much.  Some organisations collect and process particularly confidential or sensitive data, such as health data for instance.  Whatever data or sensitive information your business handles, it is of paramount importance to ensure you fully understand the implications of a data breach for you, your customers and those whose data you hold.

Some organisations have only employed staff, where elements of security policy can be made part of their employment contract and ongoing training, whereas other organisations have a heavy reliance on freelancers or subcontract staff where this is not so easy.  Management of systems used by these groups also differs in its level of practicality; managing and controlling devices which are company supplied is one thing, but devices owned by a freelancer or subcontractor present a particular challenge.

And third we have technology and technical infrastructure.  Every single business is unique in this aspect, so to this end there is no “out of the box” solution to understanding what risks your specific solutions and set-up pose.  Whilst it is a key part of understanding your business, we would also advocate that increasing awareness amongst your staff should be front of mind when choosing how you approach cyber security.

Security is all about risk – appreciating it, understanding it, and reducing, mitigating or sometimes accepting it.  Building confidence in your organisation and across all teams and departments is not something that should be left as a nice to have part of your cyber security approach.  Investing in your people as well as technology and advice, will go a long way to ensuring you are as best protected as you can be from cyber threats.

It would be very easy, and not at all surprising to witness, to get oneself in to a panic and high state of fear relating to the risks of cyber crime to your own business, or your employer, especially if you are in a position of responsibility relating to data, information or security.  With the UK governments latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey reporting that “Four in ten businesses and a quarter of charities report having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months”, we should not be overlooking that to be forewarned is to be forearmed when it comes to your cyber security strategy.

Any cyber security strategy, to be as strong as it can be, should involve a combination of technical, people and process elements.

Cyber criminals are always looking at ways to overcome technical solutions, which will never be 100% infallible, and they have the time to dedicate towards finding ways to bypass them.    Phishing campaigns are becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot and even target companies at times they consider peoples guard will be down the most.  Add to this that we see more and more that the technology side of an organisation is people dependent, as alerts need to be responded to, updates need to be made and the right questions need to be asked if people are unsure of something.

Although not glamorous at first thought, security processes and policies are arguably the bedrock of your cyber security strategy.  They outline the organisational standards for the controls you put around the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, and can also help employees know what to do under certain situations to further minimise risk.  This element of your strategy is also ultimately about people and how they understand, implement, follow and respond to any security related process or policy requirements.

Now above I said “arguably” as we often hear that people are seen as a key problem when it comes to cyber security.  At CyberScale,  we prefer to see people as a potential strength and central to any robust cyber security strategy.  So, what is the bedrock?…Educating staff about what to look out for, why they should/shouldn’t do something, and what to do if something does happen is paramount to a company’s defence against cybercrime.

Whatever your organisation is handling in terms of data or sensitive information, the importance of awareness across the organisation cannot be underestimated as this can and will ensure a more vigilant workforce.   One simple error can lead to catastrophic effects for the smallest or largest of organisation.  The sooner a mistake can be identified the better the chance of the company recovering quickly and minimizing the damage. Without awareness and emotional investment from employees, security will be forever seen as that mundane or intimidating topic that people will generally avoid.

Having your cyber security strategy clearly defined and accessible will also ensure that you are able to increase customer confidence and compliance with their (and your) supply chain requirements.

So what are we really talking about here?  We are talking about building a culture of security within your organisation, a key element of which is investing in cyber security training for your staff.  Depending on where you are on your cyber maturity journey cyber security training will often begin as non-technical, tailored to the teams and their needs, and will always be developed to be made understandable and accessible.

Mistakes made by people can lead to cyber security breaches so placing staff training at the centre will go some way to mitigating this.  Greater awareness can lead to overall improvements in defences especially against the most commonly used tactics such as phishing.  Building a culture where security is easy to talk about will reap rewards in terms of not only what is prevented but also how your organisation reacts as and when any cyber-attack happens.

By personalising your cyber security training, making it mandatory and part of staff onboarding, keeping it updated and on repeat to ensure everyone is kept abreast of the ever-changing landscape, all goes towards keeping the topic alive within the business.  As change involves asking people to do something, they need to feel supported in this.

We believe that with face-to-face training, we can provide context and that human perspective on why security not only matters at a business level, but at a personal level in this changing landscape.   People should be at the front and centre of security, they can spot a suspicious email, they can report if something doesn’t seem normal about their computer, they are the first line of defence and that should never be overlooked.  We can also deliver remote sessions providing the same quality and value which are more accessible for people who can’t travel or are not comfortable with in person training.

So what now? Don’t sit on what you now know, make sure you talk to the relevant people in your organisation or reach out to us if that’s you and start building your cyber security strategy.

SEO is the most diverse, fast paced industry and it so important to keep up to date with the latest trends to ensure your strategies are still effective and relevant. Google constantly changes its algorithm, and each update brings new ways of working, transforming SEO. We will talk about how SEO is changing coming into next year and the new trends and updates to look out for. 

Voice Search

Google Voice Search is a product that allows users to use Google Search by speaking on a mobile phone or computer initially released back in 2012 starting as a small project but is expected to rise and make a big comeback in 2022. We already use Alexa, google dot and Siri daily and they now play a crucial role in the day to day lie of many people, its only a question of when will the voice search be a main form of search. 

This will change how marketing teams work, to focus on their vocabulary to translate written content to natural language and to understand what language the users will use to voice search, optimizing your website with that in mind. Google will be introducing LaMDA (Language Model For Dialogue Applications) which allows Google to talk back to you, designed for conversation. 

Trained to read words and understand how those words elate and what they would possibly say next. There are any ways you can start optimizing your website to facilitate voice search including, using long-tail keywords which will help your website be the most relevant answer for the search as they are more specific and targeted, using keywords which are broad will decrease the chances of your site appearing during searches. 

Most voice searches are used for local searches for example ‘Chinese takeaway near me’ so making sure your google my business profile is updated is very important as this will boost your traffic and rankings. Another simple feature you can add to your website is frequently asked questions (FAQs) where you can write out questions that are popular within your industry and write out responses that are in a conversational format to appear in voice searches. These people who are asking a question are looking specifically for that and by you fulfilling their needs, Google will reward you with higher rankings. 

Shopping online in 2022

Voice based shopping is predicted to spike and Google are adding and updating many features to add searchers when online shopping. During covid-19 online shopping was huge as shops were closed and so many people spent time indoors on their technology as this was their only option, e-commerce stores experienced an influx in orders. 

Google shopping has been around for a long time however has never really become popular, but they want this too change. They have recently announced the idea of ‘shopping graph’ which is a model created to understand products, sellers, brads and reviews. Therefore, making the users shopping experience much easier and provides them with the help they require as Google shows them listings from millions of merchants related to their search. This works in real-time meaning you can also see whether it’s in stock, so with this you must ensure your information on your site is correct such as showing the right stock levels, product information and prices, update this regularly. Also, ‘open cart tabs’ is another idea Google has introduced which is a feature which shows your current open carts when you open a new tab allowing customers to pick up where they left off. 

Video Content 

Video content is rising in popularity and will hugely impact SEO and the use of videos have major benefits. Individuals are becoming more visual with apps such as TikTok on the rise, people like to watch videos about businesses products or services to get more of an insight and may aid their decision whether to purchase. Having video content on your site allows you to be seen as an authoritative and a helpful source, as a result Google will place you higher up on search engines. To optimize your content, update your video channels descriptions by using keywords which are more user-friendly and to make sure it explains what the video/channel is about. 

Also, you must optimize the featured snippets especially for question-based videos to capture the attention of the user at the top of the search informing them straight away what they will benefit from watching the video. This will allow you to stand out from competitors as you will become a leader on answering questions users ae interested about. 

Overall, the updates and changes to Google will affect SEO and it may feel overwhelming staying up to date but its crucial to know what’s happening so that you can alter your practises and implement changes to your site so your campaigns are effective. Here at MR SEO we can assist you on how to optimize your site in the most effective way and take your business to the next level. 

Huxley Events & The Crime Lab team up to create the next 30 Minute “LunchBreak Live” Session on “Is Your Boss A Psychopath”!

Is Your Boss A Psychopath? A question I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves, well now is your chance, in this fantastic 30 minute session to explore;

• What is a psychopath?
• Do you know a psychopath?
• Do you have psychopathic tendencies?
• Take the interactive psychopath test!
• Concluding with…Is your boss a psychopath?

The Event: Friday 27th August 2021 12:30-1:00pm BST Zoom Event Only £8 per ticket

Book Your Tickets Here: https://bit.ly/3CX5KCt

About LunchBreak Live We know your time is precious and you don’t always have time for “fun things” especially during the working day!

LunchBreak Live are quick, interesting 30 minute talks on a variety of fun, light-hearted topics, focusing on psychology and true crime. Think “Is Your Boss a Psychopath”, “Offender Profiling” and “Murky World of Psychopaths” (and much more).

The Presenter The experience will be delivered by Steve Gaskin a former Murder Squad Detective Chief Inspector at New Scotland Yard. He is also an adviser to BBC Silent Witness and a forensic psychologist.

Duration: 30 minutes How It Runs: You will receive a link to follow online to, ready for the video call. We use the online platform “Zoom” to deliver our experiences. You will be able to see and hear Steve during his talk. There will also be the opportunity to post questions (and time dependant, Steve may be able to answer these). Recommendations This is the perfect experience to share with friends or colleagues! Make sure you invite your friends and family to purchase a ticket as well! This is an online masterclass, and you will not be required to attend a venue.

Huxley Events & The Crime Lab offer Private Corporate Talks, Team Building & Experiences. To find out more, contact the team at team@huxleyevents.com or visit www.huxleyevents.com (or for ticketed events visit www.thecrimelab.co.uk)

Book Your Tickets Here & Find Out More: https://bit.ly/3CX5KCt