Books

6. Geofilter the internet traffic and emails. Companies that don’t do business with a foreign country should block traffic and emails to and from it. This keeps out lazy cybercriminals. No, it won’t keep out the cybercriminals that VPN into the country before attacking the company, but it’s surprising how many cybercriminals don’t take the time to do that.

7. Companies with many workstations should use the

Microsoft Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) to

randomize the local administrator password on all PCs. If the same initial local admin username/password is used for every workstation, then if one machine gets compromised, it’s very easy for them to all get compromised.

8. Businesses whose users have local admin credentials may

want to rethink that. Today. Right now. Once cybercriminals compromise a computer, they normally inherit the permissions of the user for that computer. If that user is a local administrator, the bad guys are going to use that access to do more damage.

RANSOMWARE VICTIMS NEED TO ACT

Businesses should note, however: Most of these need to be done before the attack takes place. 1. OFFLINE backups. These are backups that are kept off the business’s network. Cybercriminals try to delete a business’s backups.

If the backups are not on the business’s network, the bad guys can’t destroy them. 2. Tested restore procedures. Businesses that try to restore their backups only when they’re needed are rolling the dice every time they are in a real bind. 3. Offline restore methodology. It’s important to not begin a restore with the company’s network still attached to the internet.

Ransomware cases often unfold where the cybercriminals still have hooks into a company’s network, and they destroy the used-to-beoffline backups as soon as the restore process begins. 4. Workstation reimages. Businesses will need a clean workstation image to restore workstations quickly if they suspect the workstations have been compromised. 5. Server rebuilds. Businesses will need a clean server image to recreate the servers quickly. 6. Pre-negotiated incident response team contract. Businesses should find a cyber incident response company and get a contract in place. That way they will know how to “call in the cavalry” very quickly as opposed to going through contract negotiations in the middle of a crisis. 7. Thirty-five percent free drive space on all network drives. Ransomware often bloats the data on the drives it encrypts. As soon as a drive fills up, the encryption process will keep trying to move forward, but every file it encrypts after the drive is full will be unrecoverable.

8. Companies that have cybersecurity liability insurance should

call their insurance company ASAP! There are many stories of insurance policies with a clause stating that the customer must inform the insurance company of a suspected incident within 24 hours of the initial discovery. If they take a few days to confirm that the incident was real, it can be an expensive mistake.

If all companies followed the specific recommendations above, ransomware cybercriminals would become a thing of the past. With proactive action and a good cybersecurity awareness training program for the employees, cybercrime is a solvable problem!

Email Marketing That Doesn’t Suck

In Email Marketing That Doesn’t Suck, Harvard Law-gradturned-online-entrepreneur Bobby Klinck uses his lawyering skills to convince readers that the old-school rules for email marketing are just plain dumb. He shows how to do email right, teaching the five phases of email marketing and how to infuse purpose into one’s message. Readers will learn how to tell a really good story that people want to read. But fair warning: Those who are a conversion copywriter, an online marketing guru, or have a serious problem with laughing at themselves should probably not read this book. And those who cringe at the occasional curse word definitely should not read this book. Warning delivered.

Email Marketing That Doesn’t Suck: Have Fun Writing Emails Your Subscribers Will Want to Read (and That Will Actually Make You Money!) Bobby Klinck $19.99

Lioncrest Publishing Available 5/3/2022 266 pages

No Business Is Too Small For Digital Marketing

With everything else businesses have to do for their customers, they also need to communicate with those customers to retain them and market their business to potential new customers. And in the digital age, there are dozens of new and ever-changing ways to accomplish those things. Who has time for it? Who even understands what needs to be done? Author Jon Martinsen has guided hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses through the countless and continual changes in media and marketing in the digital age. This book is a practical guide for those who want to get an easy-to-read insight into the basics of marketing today. It outlines a simple approach that any business owner can adopt to best reach their customers and prospects, making it possible for business owners to develop effective strategies for maintaining and growing their businesses.

No Business Is Too Small For Digital Marketing: Everything You Need To Know To Grow Your Business

Jon Martinsen Media Group $19.99

Available 5/24/2022 200 pages

Storytelling for Business

“Nothing connects people to engage emotionally with your business better than a well-told story — your story.” From mega-large corporations to tiny startups, every … single … business always has a story to tell. Before people choose to buy one’s product or service, or respond to a call to action, they need to understand how that product or service will solve their problem or fulfil their needs. Storytelling for Business reveals why storytelling remains the most impactful way to create a meaningful and sustainable connection with the people who matter the most to one’s business, and how businesses can tell their story well.

Storytelling for Business: The art and science of creating connection in the digital age Rob Wozny $21.99

Practical Inspiration Publishing Available 5/31/2022 234 pages