#mkryptor

The BBC has published a story that should be of no surprise to any readers of our blog.  Shock horror, bad guys have your data and are using it against you.  Well, about time too.  Not that I support such fraud and nefarious schemes but come on guys, if you are going to go to the effort of sending out emails with criminal intent then have the imagination to at least spell and grammar check your work.  Relying upon Google translator to turn it from Russian or Chinese is a sure sign of laziness.

The BBC article shows clearly that the criminals are starting to get smarter.  Not smart, I hasten to add, because they are still lacking the imagination to do more sophisticated attacks with the tools they have.  But they are getting better.  It is like watching a caveman work out how to use fire.  Eventually they will get it and end up burning down half the planet.  The cyber criminals are pretty much the same.

You really have no excuse to continue your ‘do nothing’ approach. We’ve just given you the freemium version of our award-winning email protection. We dare you: try it, experiment. Even the cavemen are experimenting.

4 new encryption resellers sign up with mkryptor

Following the 4th Cyber Security Showcase in Vienna we have signed up 4 new European resellers.

For the first time since the launch of the award-winning mkryptor we saw companies actively seek email encryption solutions.

We heard that the formerly preferred PKI had failed the expectations. While it is a good protection for email in transit, it is not user- or customer-friendly. Throughout Europe users are finding PKI difficult, time-consuming, awkward and off-putting. As a result, sensitive emails are being sent unprotected.

Mkryptor in Vienna

As we approached landing, the flats were alive with the sound of wind power. I did not mind the lack of hills. I was busy being happy that BA actually made it. We took off 30 min late because "the plane wouldn't detach from the jetty". At first, this sounded much better than the wrong kind of leaves. But then, it started worrying me. Either the aircraft did not want to go to Vienna (was Vienna that bad?), or maybe this was a coded message for something very unexpected.

Vienna displayed full summer glory on a sunny February day with plus 20 Celsius. The "brown beer soup" looked like a white upside-down French onion soup, with cheese at the bottom and cream froth on top. The "beer cabbage" tasted neither of beer or cabbage but of juniper honey. Unexpected, I thought. But not unpleasant.

Catching up with my old Viennese friend I was told that the conference had featured earlier on morning TV.  Ah. So Vienna is not just about palaces and the civilised intake of cake. They also take cyber security seriously.

I liked it how the opulence and the gentle sparkle of chandeliers created a new standard for doing business. This was an immeasurable improvement on the ordinary exhibition surroundings. 25 British cyber security companies took part in the showcase with lots of intriguing presentations over two days. Someone kindly commented that mkryptor had the best visuals (thank you Paul Rodger) and certainly none did pass my stand without being gently encouraged to mkrypt.

I hope we all raised cyber awareness very high indeed. The 4th CEE Cyber Security event in Vienna was beautifully organised and executed by UKTI to promote British exports. 225 visitors from 15 states attended.

The personal touch

Haven't we got used to the thought that online is where all good business happens? I dare to claim that when it comes to the top serious matters, that's not the case.

By top serious matters I mean the heart and the hearth. According to a leading tile seller, last year 99% of buyers bought their tiles not online, but in stores. On Valentine's I kept seeing couples romantically strolling along the river, him with a bunch of roses protruding from his rucksack, her charmed - no online activity spotted. We are constantly reminded that there is a whole digital-only generation. Not really.

With these observations, I'm leaving for Vienna to present mkryptor at the biggest annual European event put together by the UKTI. While no doubt I will be reminded not to leave my luggage unattended, I hope that you won't leave your personal emails unencrypted.

Cyber insurance, hurrah?

I walked to the City along The Thames, taking in the breathtaking scenic beauty of E1 and EC. The river glistened along the Hermitage Moorings, Tower Bridge, the Shard, the Tower of London. The City proudly displayed its delightful buildings against the blue sky. A new research says that urban scenic beauty is as good for your soul as rural scenic beauty. Apparently, scenic is scenic, wherever it is.

This is not news. This is obvious to all us urban people. Geography doesn’t dictate what is beautiful. And there’s more "news": conmen use Christmas spending spike to send you fake emails as if from your bank. How is that news? If you were a fraudster, what better time would you choose? Of course they won't email you as your bank when you are doing no frantic spending, what would be the point of that?

Then, you must have noticed adverts for the latest remedy. The remedy is called cyber insurance. It will deal with all the pesky cyber things. Really? Take a look around you: your home. You have the contents insurance. Also, you have something irreplaceable. Now, do you risk it and leave it to insurance to mop up when a breach appears? Or do you do everything you can to protect it?

With a cyber breach, what's at stake is your reputation, your client's confidentiality, business-critical data, intellectual property.

Let me give you the preview of the news to come: "Cyber Insurance Doesn’t Make Your Emails Secure". Of course not. Cyber insurance doesn't put your email in a secure envelope. Email encryption does. Don’t risk it, mkrypt it.

More “news” next time.

Predictions

This is the time of year when I stop reading newspapers. The prediction time.

It all started when I was a kid. We were supposed to draw the world in 2000. The teacher encouraged living in bubble helmets, with rockets as public transport. Did I feel cheated in the actual year 2000? Yes, I did. Of course you can’t predict the future, because the future has too many factors being created as we speak. In my opinion, speculation is a waste of time and it’s only suitable for entertainment purposes.

Let me entertain you with my top three predictions:

One of Waitrose’s managers will be looking for a new job. Allowing their flagship store to run out of Christmas cards on 15th December cannot end up with much else.

The pervading noise brigade will accept its defeat and we’ll reclaim restaurants, shops and other public spaces.  It may even stretch as far as reducing mindless transport announcements to what is actually useful.

Following the new cybercrime awareness, wild and reckless social media sharing will be replaced with privacy protection.

Whatever you predict - don’t risk it, mkrypt it.

In safe hands

Parcel through the door, proudly screaming in big print: “responsible delivery”” – was your delivery irresponsible before? So not the real thing? The official U.S. announcement praising “the historic Paris summit” – aren’t all events that have happened, ehem, historic? “Iconic” is on the way out, phew. The much ridiculed “curated” doesn’t bring me up in hives. It just makes me hungry. Marketing is all about words. Yes. But. No, it does not do away with thinking. If we say “responsible”, it’s just too close to implying that what we did before was irresponsible. Be careful about your words. No, there’s no app for that. So what to do? First, take your eyes off the screen. Then, don’t ask Siri and Cortana. Ask your intuition. Ah. There it was.

As for apps, I’m being told by TechWeek that they are on the way out. Hurrah. Not surprised at all. In my opinion, go-between solutions are not-really-solutions. I’m often asked why we hadn’t developed an app for mkryptor. Simple. Because mkryptor is email. Real email, outbox-to-inbox email. Straightforward solution. mkryptor would need an app if we were one of the secure doc storages, like Egress or Regify, where you create an account; ask your recipient to create an account; leave the doc; ask the recipient to pick up your doc; hope they will; hope that what you left stayed secure; hope that when you were leaving it there the transit was secure; hope that when the recipient picks it up it will stay secure on the way to them; hope that when you forget your password it will be sent securely enough; worry that when they forget their password it will not be sent securely enough and so the whole “secure email” exercise would end up pointless; hope they don’t forget to maintain that account; hope that you remember too. That is a lot of hoping.

Not sure where you stand on hoping. I think it doesn’t have much to do with security. Mkryptor cuts down on the hoping exercise. Straightforward, simple, usable envelope for your email.

Another question I hear a lot: must your company every time go through what you see in our demo? Of course not. That’s just to show you the basics. Our Business Plus version automates the process and draws from your customer database.

Inconvenient, complex and time-wasting is not what we do. We do responsible delivery. And in this case, that’s the right use of the word, considering what was before. With mkryptor, you’re in safe and secure hands.

Innovate!

The weather forecast for the Malvern Festival of Innovation is marvellous: balmy and sunny, Indian summer at its best. This is an excellent reason to book a business trip. In three weeks you could be breathing in the gorgeous air surrounded by the impressive hills and get inspired by all the innovation that is quietly and intriguingly going on. Treat yourself. I shall.

As I was booking my trip, a LinkedIn request flashed. The name looked vaguely familiar. Ah. A person with a new employer. Who thinks it's a good idea to connect with someone who had helped him before. That would be probably logical, if not for the facts. Two years ago, he invited me for what he called a networking meeting. I was thrilled – he described himself as a “networking guru with masses of contacts”. This was well before mkryptor hit the press as the winner of the Cyber Security Solution of the Year and I was putting all my time into networking. I networked with lots of people and made lots of introductions for their businesses, so they would help me spread the word about ours. We set up the meeting. He spent it on selling his firm’s services. I was confused. A networking guru? Selling is not networking. But maybe it was his bad-net-day? Anyone can have one. So I decided to do my bit of the networking job anyway and made some introductions for him. I know he benefited from them. They were good. That was what he said in the one-liner when I enquired weeks later. But no networking happened at his end and no catching up. Which, after a year, left me with no choice but to click “remove connection" and forget about it. I only keep people I respect.

I think the idea of LinkedIn is largely misunderstood. Yes, it is a networking tool. But it is just a tool. "Being on LinkedIn" doesn't magically turn you into a networker. It is the starter and the desert, but absolutely not the main course. To create a network you have to really meet the actual person. There is no way around it. Harvesting hundreds of “connections” does not make you connected. Especially that so many are forced to network. I meet people at networking events who do nothing beyond saying they have been sent there. Some email me requests and when I ask why, they say their marketing department makes them email people with 500+. Collecting LinkedIn connections is not the real thing. You are not building yourself a network. You are just clicking. Those people will not go out of their way to help your business and you will not go out of your way to help theirs. A good chat in person is necessary to clearly establish that you like what they do and how they do it, while they have a clear understanding of your business. This is followed by solid, mutual accountability. If that has not happened, you have no network.

This time, I did not just "reject". I wrote why. I got an immediate, surprised response. I went back to booking my trip.

You can enjoy The Malvern Festival of Innovation between 6th and 10th October. The Cyber Day is on the 9th. Don't miss it. I know you too innovate sometimes. Innovating is good for you. (By innovating I do not mean stealing 60 turkeys and 30 geese so you are covered for Christmas, which is what just happened in Newquay.) Come to Malvern and find out what others are doing. It is also an excellent opportunity to network.