Internet users

World Password Day

My password is password

Intel created World Password Day, the first Thursday of May to address the critical need for solid passwords.

Strong and secure passwords are crucial, especially now that most of our work is done online. It is better to have complex and unique passwords, which are not easy to guess. World Password Day creates awareness about the importance of strong passwords.

Despite knowing the risks, not many people are in the habit of keeping their passwords strong. Take World Password Day as your cue to immediately change the weak passwords of your emails, social media accounts, and most importantly, accounts storing your personal information.

According to National Today:

99.9% – the percentage of threats to passwords that can be stopped using multi-factor authentication, according to Microsoft.

2020 – the year when the top type of information stolen around the world was credentials.

60% – the percentage of data breaches that involve credentials.

40% – the percentage of people in a 2020 study who said that their company data was compromised because of a weak or cracked password.

20 – the number of common categories into which the majority of passwords fit into.

40% – the percentage of organizations that rely on sticky notes for remembering passwords.

82% – the percentage of workers who admitted recycling the same passwords.

60% – the percentage of recycled passwords that appeared in multiple data leaks in 2020

25% – the percentage of data breaches, which were as a result of credential stuffing in 2020.

¾ – the number of employees who use the same passwords for their work accounts as they do for their personal accounts.

Other External Password Resources

Trustwave

Mac Sources

Tech Advisor

Amazon Web Services now offers local Canadian region availability

Great news for Canadian businesses looking for reliable and fast cloud services in Canada.

With Canadian organizations increasingly turning to the cloud but often insisting on using data centres here, observers have been wondering when Amazon Web Services would turn north.

The answer is, in a few months. Amazon will unveil its first Canadian data centre and regional office in Montreal at the start of 2017, the company said recently in Toronto at its first AWS Enterprise Summit in this country.

It has had a small presence here since late last year when it opened a field office in Toronto.

Stephen Orban, the company’s head of enterprise strategy told an audience of current and potential customers the cloud giant’s strategy centres around information security, back office systems and end user computing being consumed in as-a-service model.

Any business with meaning has a cloud centre of excellence that provides best practices, automation and governance, he said.

This new model tends to spur on a dev-ops culture that creates new products as app teams work closer together to take on more responsibility, he said. The build-up tends to have a similar pattern: Companies start with a desire for optimization, then migration followed by the establishment of a foundation that leads to a project.
Read more: http://www.computerdealernews.com/news/aws-canada-outlines-cloud-first-model-for-tomorrow/50854?utm_source=632458&utm_medium=CDN&utm_campaign=cdnnews%27,%27&scid=5d37cce0-608a-bda3-9b8a-4e604c15ff36#ixzz4sO32EL8U
or visit http://www.itworldcanada.com for more Canadian IT News

Create Pages That Engage Visitors Quickly

You only have seconds to impress a Visitor to your website.

Average first-time visitors make decisions about a website after only two-tenths of a second, according to Entrepreneur.com. After another 2.6 seconds, they will concentrate enough to reinforce that initial judgment. If a website doesn’t impress readers immediately, it can lose them in the blink of an eye.

Use these strategies to attract and retain readers: Reinforce the site’s main goal Your website can achieve many things, but it should still have one primary goal, whether it’s selling products and services, educating customers, establishing the company’s credentials or generating leads.

Every picture, every bit of text, every link and every button should support the primary goal. If your site’s mission is to capture leads, then each page should include devices to gather visitor information, whether it’s a “Contact Us” call to action or a sign-up form for an e-newsletter.

Keep text short and to the point Remember, you have less than three seconds to capture a visitor’s attention and compel them to explore further. Don’t discourage them with long paragraphs. Use clear, concise text that states what you offer, and make clear what you want the visitor to do – make a purchase, sign up for a demo, subscribe to a newsletter. Make calls to action visible, placing buttons such as “Request a Quote” near the top of the page.

DS 3501 – Spam Phishing Search Engine Registration Scam

Security blue puzzle pieces assembled - Phishing Alert

Beware this email that attempts to trick you into paying another company for your domain renewal or Search Engine Marketing. Here is an example of what the email looks like: (I have replaced your actual domain with YOURDOMAIN.COM and personal name with MR JOHN SMITH)

Subject: Domain Notification: MR JOHN SMITH This is your Final Notice of Domain Listing

Complete and return by fax to:
1-716-242-0409

ATT: MR JOHN SMITH
ADMINISTRATIVE CONTACT
YOUR COMPANY NAME.
OWNER@YOURDOMAIN.COM
CANADA
WWW.YOURDOMAIN.COM
Please ensure that your contact information is correct or make the necessary changes above
Requested Reply
JULY 16,2014

PART I: REVIEW SOLICITATION

Attn: MR JOHN SMITH
As a courtesy to domain name holders, we are sending you this notification for your business Domain name search engine registration. This letter is to inform you that it’s time to send in your registration and save.
Failure to complete your Domain name search engine registration by the expiration date may result in cancellation of this offer making it difficult for your customers to locate you on the web.
Privatization allows the consumer a choice when registering. Search engine subscription includes domain name search engine submission. You are under no obligation to pay the amounts stated below unless you accept this offer. Do not discard, this notice is not an invoice it is a courtesy reminder to register your domain name search engine listing so your customers can locate you on the web.
This Notice for: WWW.YOURDOMAIN.COM will expire on JULY 16,2014 Act today!

Select Term:
[ ] 1 year   07/16/2014 – 07/16/2015 $75.00
[ ] 2 year   07/16/2014 – 07/16/2016 $119.00
[ ] 5 year   07/16/2014 – 07/16/2019 $199.00
[ ] 10 year -Most Recommended- 07/16/2014 – 07/16/2024 $295.00 [ ] Lifetime (NEW!) Limited time offer – Best value! Lifetime $499.00

Today’s Date: _____________________ Signature: _____________________

Payment by Credit Card
Select the term above, then return by fax: 1-716-242-0409

YOURDOMAIN.COM
——————————————————————————————-
By accepting this offer, you agree not to hold DS liable for any part. Note that THIS IS NOT A BILL. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amounts stated unless you accept this offer. The information in this letter contains confidential and/or legally privileged information from the notification processing department of the DS 3501 Jack Northrop Ave. Suite #F9238 Hawthorne, CA 90250 USA, This information is intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above. There is no pre-existing relationship between DS and the domain mentioned above. This notice is not in any part associated with a continuation of services for domain registration. Search engine submission is an optional service that you can use as a part of your website optimization and alone may not increase the traffic to your site. If you do not wish to receive further updates from DS reply with Remove to unsubscribe. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that disclosure, copying, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance on the contents for this letter is strictly prohibited.

The e-mail is filled with personal information which makes you believe it could be legitimate. This is not a legitimate message from your trusted supplier.

While there are legitimate search engine optimization companies, local lead generation and other internet marketing services that will help your business succeed, all of these types of mass solicited marketing offers are total trash.

Anyone that is soliciting you blindly through e-mail offering these sorts of marketing services is probably trying to scam you or get you to buy something you don’t need.

Unfortunately, so many people have been burned by unscrupulous outfits offering marketing scams like this one that they hesitant to purchase from legitimate internet marketing companies that can actually help your business and not just rip you off.

Action: Delete the Email – Do Not Reply – Do Not Click on any Links – Do not send this fax with payment.- Only renew your domain with the company that looks after your domain (e.g. WeGo.ca)

Connect with Travelers in Real Time

Digital transforms global travel planning

Today’s travellers can dream, plan, book and share their travel experiences using devices like smartphones and iPads, anywhere, anytime. “Change and evolving technology is just a part of doing business these days,” said Todd Lucier of Northern Edge Algonquin, an eco-lodge in Algonquin Park. “Our job as tourism operators is to follow customers as they move from technology to technology.”
Mobile access to the Internet is predicted to exceed desktop access by 2014 according to Morgan Stanley. Worldwide tablet sales are also growing quickly and estimated to increase by more than 400% by 2012, reaching 81.3 million units. One of the biggest drivers of travel planning is social networking, according to PhocusWright. Search engines still play a critical role in driving traffic to travel sites, but today consumers are influenced by referrals from people they know through popular networks.
More than one billion people worldwide use social networks representing more than 70% of the global Internet population. Emerging markets, such as China, India and Brazil, have some of the highest penetration rates. Almost half (42%) of the international Internet usage occurs in Asia, and 52% of that traffic occurs in China, by over 485 million people. In China, penetration of social network Sina Weibo rivals the reach of magazines and surpasses radio and movies in larger cities. Currently, the Ontario Tourism Weibo site has more than 6,500 followers.
In Canada, 60% of people online have a social networking profile, according to Ipsos’ Canadian Interactive Reid Report. Nearly half (48%) with profiles follow at least one brand or company, with an average of 6.7 brands for those who follow at least one.
“The Web, including sites, blogs, Facebook and social networking and now mobile websites, has become almost exclusively the way we communicate with potential clients,” said Lucier. “In 2011, we focused on producing high definition video – short stories that help our guests imagine themselves being here at the Edge. We’re always paying attention to new opportunities to engage with our guests on their terms.”

Canadian Market Healthy – 21.8 million Internet Users

Canada is a relatively mature Internet market. 65.3% of the people in Canada use the Internet at least once in a month. There will no doubt be some growth in the future. What this means to me; Canadians are using the Web, which is good for all of us marketing on the Web. Check out the complete ClickZ article.