Off to GSMA at Barcelona till Wednesday. Anyone want to meet for a coffee drop me a line at paul@yougetitback.com.
The numbers seem to be down on last year - a major shift for innovative applications that can drive revenue - so it suits us perfectly.
An interesting report “The Human Factor in laptop Encryption” from Absolute and Ponemon shows that 56% of US Managers disable encryption on their laptop.
92% of IT security professionals indicate that a laptop has been lost or stolen in their organization. Of those stolen, 71% resulted in a data breach.
“The Human Factor in Laptop Encryption: U.S. Study” key findings:
* 92% of IT security practitioners report that someone in their organization has had a laptop lost or stolen and 71% report that it resulted in a data breach;
* 56% of business managers have disengaged their laptop’s encryption;
* Only 45% of IT security practitioners report that their organization was able to prove the contents of missing laptops were encrypted;
* Only 52% of business managers – employees most likely to have access to the most sensitive data (personally identifiable information and/or intellectual property) – have employer-provided encryption;
* 57% of business managers either keep a written record of their encryption password, or share it with others in case they forget it;
* 61% of business managers share their passwords, compared to only 4% of IT managers; and,
* Business managers are much more likely than IT security practitioners to believe encryption makes it unnecessary to use other security measures for laptop protection.
Lots of sleepless nights in Yougetitback.com HQ but we are happy to announce Windows Mobile version of the Mobile Superhero is live.
Test drive it today and as always feedback is appreciated.
Although house prices are plumetting , most of us would like to hang on to the one we own. Network World have an interesting post detailing a new Identity Theft crime ” House Theft”.
… The con artists start by picking out a house to steal - say, YOURS.
… Next, they assume your identity - getting a hold of your name and personal information (easy enough to do off the Internet) and using that to create fake IDs, social security cards, etc.
… Then, they go to an office supply store and purchase forms that transfer property.
… After forging your signature and using the fake IDs, they file these deeds with the proper authorities, and lo and behold, your house is now THEIRS.
This post reiterates the importance of being fully aware of key personal information whether it is on paper, online or on a mobile devices.
Pat Lynch , our director and shareholder, is running a number of wealth creation seminars. Pat is a director of 3 other interesting companies Put Place, Compliance & Risk and Omnivend as well as being an expert on the Stock Exchange. Pat is one of the few people I know who is an active investor who is still making money trading shares.
As well as hearing how he does it, including investing techniques and pertinently making money in a downturn , the 4 companies will be doing 10 minute investment pitches.
Dublin :Radisson SAS St Helens, Saturday Nov 22 10am - 2pm . pre-registration & coffee at 9.30am. €20 reg fee.
Galway: Galway Bay Hotel Salthill, Saturday Nov 29th 10am - 2pm . pre-registration & coffee at 9.30am. €20 reg fee.
Looking forward to seeing you there - any queries drop me an email paul@yougetitback.com.
MobileCrunch reports that 19% of US consumers currently use smartphones and that 50% plan to buy them in the next 2 years.
Dropping retail prices coupled with new applications on smartphones , such as our own Mobile Superhero, is driving the move away from basic feature phones.
A nice post from Kari Barlow over at ASU, the largest campus in the USA detailing the yougetitback.com programme that we are currently rolling out.
To quote Kari “ASU is providing the ASU Community with a free service to secure, track and retrieve lost valuables, including cell phones, mp3 players and laptops, using security tags.”
MI Banking are offering a free phone for customers that sign up for their new Mobile Banking service. Interesting to see that Security is one of the key messages they are pushing on their site.
We are speaking to a number of companies in this space who are planning to use our Mobile Superhero to increase Peace of Mind for customers who use Mobile Banking.
There was an interesting piece in The Guardian on Saturday about companies that have been on Dragons Den and have left with nothing. We were one of those soldiers, it feels like a decade ago but it was only 2 years ago.
Dragons Den is great fun but it is all about 2 things - PR for us and entertainment for the producers. Anyone looking to make the leap , go for it but don’t have to do a deal with these guys - some of the valuations they give decent little companies are crazy - ” I will give you the bus fare home and a packet of crisps for 87% of your company”.
With that in mind - make sure you do / say something memorable - your objective is to get on the telly - loads of people dont. We got a whopping 48 seconds after Frank was poked with a stick for an hour. The Dragons are a sarcastic bunch - think Simon Cowell trapped inside an accountant.
Cork uber blogger Pat Phelan has an interesting post about prepaid registration.
Carriers in the UK are facing a major headache with the new Communications Data Bill. They will be required to gather data on all prepaid phone users.
“The office of Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, said it anticipated that a compulsory mobile phone register would be unveiled as part of a law which ministers would announce next year.
“With regards to the database that would contain details of all mobile users, including pay-as-you-go, we would expect that this information would be included in the database proposed in the draft Communications Data Bill,” a spokeswoman said ”
It will affect some retail stores more than other e.g. Tesco where you grab the phone and can pay for it at self service and away you go. One key problem facing the carriers is the fact that it is planned to be retrospective so registering millions of customers when all you have is their phone number is going to be very expensive.
