Does your office have a clean workstation policy?

With cold and flu season approaching, we want to extend a friendly reminder to everyone about cleaning their keyboard, mouse, and phone. All three commonly harbor germs and are often overlooked when wiping down the office.

Studies conducted by consumer advocacy groups have discovered that computer equipment can carry everything from the common cold to dangerous bacteria like E. coli and staph. Only about half of respondents to a recent survey said they cleaned their keyboard once a month. The Royal Society of Chemistry in London reports that your dirty keyboard, which may house crumbs from your last working lunch, can even attract vermin. They are calling on employers to adopt a clean workstation policy to maintain safe office environments.

These may be extreme examples, but making sure that you routinely disinfect your devices – especially those shared by multiple employees or customers – could save you a few sick days in the months ahead.

It should come as no surprise that some people on the Internet aren’t always who they say they are. Even as many users are becoming savvier about identifying spam or “phishing” attempts, the purveyors of this garbage are stepping up their efforts to distribute viruses or gain access to personal data.

Consider the practice of email “spoofing,” one of the more challenging falsities to spot in your inbox. With this method, hackers and spam agents forge the header of an email to make it appear as if it was sent from a trusted address.

The trick used in this scam can be compared to traditional mail. If you send a letter or a package to someone, you can write whatever return address you want in the upper left hand corner. Most of us print the correct address on the envelope because we want it properly returned to replied to, but a criminal committing mail fraud could easily put some company’s logo on a letter if they were trying to deceive the recipient. Spoofing works the same way – spammers put a fake “return address” on an email by changing the displayed headers.

We recently received an example of spoofing here at Accent. The spammer, who was trying to get us to download a dangerous file, made it appear as if the message was coming from “tracking@ups.com.” The links in the email were also misleading – leading to a file download instead of the UPS.com site that was promised. An unsuspecting user might have clicked one of the links without realizing their true destination.

There are a few things that can be done to protect your computer against these kinds of attacks:

• Never give sensitive information like passwords or account numbers over email. Most businesses, especially large companies, will never ask for this, in the interest of protecting their clients and customers against scams.
• If you suspect that a message might be spoofed, roll your mouse over any links in the email to make sure that they go to a legitimate location. Text URLs may not always be as they appear. If you’re a current Accent Anti-Spam client, contact us if you feel something fraudulent has slipped through. We employ a number of authentication procedures and pride ourselves on quarantining nearly all spam attempts.
  
  
• Report deceptive email attacks to the Federal Government by forwarding it to uce@ftc.gov.

According to the Neilsen rating agency, 40% of mobile consumers carry smartphones as of July 2011, a figure that is well up over the same time last year. In contrast to “feature phones,” Neilsen (and others) loosely define smartphones as mobile devices running an operating system with a standard platform for third party software (“apps”).

This landscape has changed drastically in recent years, with the rise of Apple’s iOS platform (run on the iPhone) and Google’s Android platform (supported on many devices by Motorola, LG, HTC, and others). In 2007, approximately one-third of the smartphone market was held by Blackberry, with a quarter for Apple, and a quarter for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile. The rest of the devices ran other systems by Palm or Nokia.

This summer’s study showed very different results:

• Google Android - 40%
• Apple iPhone - 28%
• Blackberry - 19%
• Windows - 7%
• Other - 5%

Smartphones can be an incredible tool for your business, allowing you and your employees to check email, view files, get directions, schedule meetings, and verify information, all while on the move. However, the market is rapidly changing, and you should carefully evaluate your options before investing in new phones for your workplace.

Some things you will want to consider:

Who is your wireless service provider?

Each wireless service provider (or “carrier”) has a selection of phones they will support. Not all devices will be available on all carriers, so if you do not buy your phones directly from the service provider, be sure to confirm that they will be supported. Most smartphones will require you to purchase a data plan (Internet service) in addition to what you pay for phone service or text messages. Each carrier structures their data packages a little differently, so you may want to look into which plan best meets your needs and budget.

In what kind of environments will employees being using these devices?

Some smartphones are more fragile than others. It may not matter much in a low-risk indoor environment, but when working with heavy machinery or the office klutz, a ruggedized phone like the Casio G’zOne Commando might be in order. Those working in construction have also mentioned that they prefer a “real” QWERTY keyboard (with actual buttons, opposed to a touch screen) out in the field because of difficulties caused by sweat, rain, or work gloves. Whichever phones you choose, you may want to protect your investment with cases or replacement insurance.

What kind of software apps are you expecting to use?

A lot is advertised about the size of each of the platforms’ app stores, though these figures may be more relevant to personal consumers than those shopping for business. Both Apple iOS and Google Android now boast a little less than 350,000 applications, but only about a fifth of each store are software programs geared toward business or productivity. The top categories are books and games, which again, might not be a tremendous selling point if you’re looking to keep employees on task.

Beyond applications, you should consider how your mobile devices will integrate with your existing email or file sharing infrastructure. Before buying, most offices should check whether their mobile phones support Microsoft Exchange Active Sync. All iPhones, Windows Mobile 7, and Androids do. Blackberry devices will require additional software to be installed on servers in order to be supported.

If you are a current Accent managed services or cloud client, let us know if your office is planning to adopt a fleet of smartphones – we can help you plan the transition and make sure that your email, contacts, and files can interface seamlessly with your new devices.