Safe is Your Data?

With internet crimes on the rise, many businesses have been left wondering if they are safe from an attack. Internet crimes could wreak serious havoc on your business, so you want to ensure that your business and your data are protected from outside threats, such as hackers or even disgruntled employees. Take a moment to review your business's current security procedures and ask yourself the following questions:

Question #1

What important data do you need to insure the integrity of your business?
What type of data is sensitive and needs to be secured? There are many forms of sensitive data, such as customer records, employee information, business trade secrets or sales statistics. Sensitive information is crucial to how your business runs and it is imperative that it is kept confidential and only accessed by authorized people.

Question #2

What are your risk factors?
Your data can be at risk in many different ways. Write a list of all the ways that your data could be impacted whether via hackers, acts of God or a simple mechanical failure. A completed list can help you determine if your current security procedures are enough to keep your data safe from every foreseeable threat.

Question #3

What security measures does your business currently have in place?
It is important to evaluate your current security measures to make sure they cover all of your risk factors. Plan a meeting with your IT professionals to review current policies and procedures, virus protection software, back-up implementation plans, firewall mechanisms, access permissions, encryption guidelines and password validation rules. Try to locate any potential gaps in security so they can be addressed and corrected.

Question #4

Will implementing additional security measures be too expensive?
First review your gaps in security to determine what additional security measures you will need to implement. You can determine what type of budget will be needed. There are various solutions that can be cost effective for your business.

Question #5

Are my employees properly trained in security rules & regulations?
If employees are not properly trained, they can inadvertently cause a security breach. Each time a new employee is hired, they should be required to attend a security briefing with IT personnel to go over company security policies and procedures. Also, it is not a bad idea to host refresher courses every so often for current employees. Refresher courses will help current employees to remember policies and make sure they are upholding proper procedure. In the event new security procedures are developed, mandatory training should be in effect for everyone to learn the new procedures.

Question #6

Do I have unanswered questions regarding security?
If you have unanswered questions regarding your security procedures, then it might be time it might be time to enlist outside assistance. Security professionals can teach you the ins and outs of security and review with you the latest technologies available to ensure your business is fully protected against outside threats.

Easy Steps

1. Get your hair cut - regardless of how well you are dressed, unkempt and out of control hair will make you look untidy. 30 minutes and £10 well spent! Make sure you have any facial hair under control too.

2. Wear a suit - so many people these days go suit-less, and this gives you a great opportunity to stand out and look professional and more presentable. However just any old suit will not do. It must be 100% wool (please, no polyester) and preferably in dark navy or charcoal grey. You may even have something suitable in the wardrobe already; however if you bought it ready to wear IT DOES NOT FIT YOU!. A poor fitting suit is worse than no suit. Go to a good alterations tailor and get it fitted; It is not expensive! By the way, you really do need two suits so you can alternate each day. If you are really skint look on ebay or in a nearly new shop.

3. Wear a proper shirt, and one that fits - so many people wear casual shirts to work and usually with the wrong length arms and neck. Go to a store that sell shirts in various arm lengths and reasonably constructed to look good with a suit. If you are on a budget T.M. Lewin often do 4 shirts for £100 which are more than adequate, and will be enough to get you going - I suggest two each of white and light blue plain as a minimum.

4. Wear a tie - why, oh why do so few people wear a tie? A man is not completely dressed without one; a suit is not casual so why dress casually underneath it? The silk of he tie (and do ensure it is silk) offers a contrasting texture to the matt of the suit and shirt and is a great opportunity to express your personality through colour.

5. Shoes - So many people wear a suit and then finish it off with totally inappropriate shoes. Wear some black traditional, welted shoes in an oxford style. These will last a lifetime if looked after so don't skimp.

These five simple steps can make you look more professional and presentable.

Integrity

It is true to say that most people have an inherent interest in integrity and ethics to a large degree. Much In the same way that the vast majority of road users have an inherent interest in road safety. We all want to be able to rely on certain things in life to remain safe, reliable, trustworthy and fair. After all, certainty is the first of our human needs. For Instance, if we were to take a scenario concerning food, we all rely on the butcher to sell us fresh and uncontaminated meat, we expect him to work hygienically and we also expect him to buy meat that has been humanely slaughtered in a legal establishment and to charge us a reasonable price for what we buy.

None of us want to buy from disreputable, dirty and underhanded businesses. We all rely on the integrity and ethics of those that supply our products and services and we would be disappointed and understandably annoyed if were to find out that we have been treated unfairly and dishonestly. Likewise, others rely on us to act similarly fair in areas for which we are responsible. This is one of the founding principles of social order and reciprocal existence.

People who disregard this inherent need of ours to safeguard certain basic principles and standards put both us and the rest of society at large, at risk. It would be blatant abuse of our trust to provide products or services of a lower standard than that for which we are paying our well earned cash. We are willing to readily give our loyalty to those businesses that take care of our interests with ethics and integrity. It is, therefore, in the long term financial interest of such businesses to keep us coming back by continuing to perform to our satisfaction. Such businesses will prosper much better in the long term than will those businesses who are simply out to make a quick buck.

SOLUTION: THE MORALS OF THE QUR'AN

SOLUTION: THE MORALS OF THE QUR'AN
Around the globe, the majority of people are among the oppressed. They are tortured, butchered, and live in abject poverty, are homeless, are forced to live their lives unprotected from the elements and they suffer lack of medical care. There are those who cannot even afford a loaf of bread. There are the elderly, facing neglect, abandonment and denied medical care. Then there are those who face discrimination, expulsion from their homes and lands simply because of their ethnicity, language, race or tribe and even massacres. Helpless, malnourished, defenseless innocent children are forced to work for money or beg.

Countless people live in fear for their lives anxious about their survival, in a world in the midst of whose poverty and oppression, there is also immense extravagance, privilege and wealth. Those blessed with the "good life" pass by the homeless, see pictures, and watch scenes on television of those less fortunate than they. Sometimes they feel a brief moment of pity, but then change the channel, turn away from the image, and in a short time completely erase that fleeting prick of the conscience.

So many who enjoy the bounties and comforts with which they have been blessed, never think of expending effort to save those who can not afford these. They believe it is not up to them to save those people, when so many are richer and more powerful and in a better position to come to the aid of the less fortunate.

However, prosperity and power alone are not enough to save those people and to make this world a place of welfare in which justice, peace, confidence and well-being prevail. Despite the existence of developed countries around the world, there are still too many countries, such as Ethiopia, where people still die daily of starvation. It is apparent that the wealth and power of some nations are not enough in themselves to solve the afflictions of drought, poverty and civil warfare.

Only being conscientious will channel resources and power towards the welfare of the poor and desperate. The sole way of being conscientious is having faith. It is only the believers who constantly live by their consciences.

Eventually, there is only one solution to the injustice, chaos, terror, massacres, hunger, poverty, and oppression in the world: the values of the Qur'an.

Those adverse conditions were created in the first place by hatred, malice, self-interest, indifference and cruelty and therefore must be undone by love, compassion, mercy, generosity, unselfishness, sensitivity, tolerance, commonsense and wisdom. These traits of compassion are found only in those who fully live by the values taught in the Noble Qur'an, which is our guidance directly from our Creator. In one verse, Allah (swt) refers to the Qur'an's feature of leading mankind out of darkness into light.

... A light has come to you from Allah and a Clear Book. By it, Allah guides those who follow what pleases Him to the ways of peace. He will bring them from the darkness to the light by His permission, and guide them to a straight path. (Surat al Ma'ida: 15-16)

In another verse, Allah states that everything would be in corruption and confusion if the truth were to be according to human desires:

If the truth were to follow their whims and desires, the heavens and the earth and everything in them would have been brought to ruin. No indeed! We have given their Reminder, but they have turned away from it. (Surat al-Muminun: 71)

As you read this passage, millions of people are suffering, are cold and hungry, or facing expulsion from their homelands. For this reason, people who have consciences need to think about this, and act to solve those troubles as if they themselves or their loved ones were facing them. We need to act both spiritually and materially to alleviate the suffering and oppression. In one verse, Allah orders conscientious and faithful people to assume this responsibility:

What reason could you have for not fighting in the Way of Allah – for those men, women and children who are oppressed and say, 'Our Lord, take us out of this city whose inhabitants are wrongdoers! Give us a protector from You! Give us a helper from You!'? (Surat an-Nisa': 75)

When we consider the Qur'anic commands, it becomes obvious what are our obligations. The most important thing for Muslims is first, to struggle in the intellectual domain so that the values of the Qur'an and the Sunnah prevail over disbelief. The only salvation for the weak, helpless, homeless and destitute is the practice of the guidance of the Qur'an, which is directed to all humankind. Therefore, it is our duty to spread the word and communicate the message, and that is a vital component of worship for all Muslims.

Those who do not follow their consciences, who are indifferent to the suffering of others, who spend their wealth on frivolous and vain things, who fail to show concern for orphans, who look coldly at oppressed woman, children and the elderly, and who are happy only when there is immorality and ugliness in the world, will certainly have to give an account in the Hereafter.

Have you seen him who denies the deen (religion)? He is the one who harshly rebuffs the orphan and does not urge the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who do salat (regular prayers), whose hearts from their salat are remote, those who show off and deny help to others. (Surat al-Ma'un: 1-7)