Data Reform Bill
On May 10, 2022, as part of the Queen’s Speech, the UK government announced its intention to introduce a Data Reform Bill.
ACEVO guest blog – Ransomware
According to the UK government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021, a quarter of charities (26%) reported having cyber security breaches or attacks in the last 12 months. The risk is high for all organisations; email (phishing) remains the most successful method. Preparing for what to do should the worst happen is almost as important as preventative…
Why should you use a Password Manager?
A password management tool can really help with the ever-increasing number of passwords we all have to remember on daily basis for websites, applications etc. Smartdesc – Charity IT Specialist can now offer LastPass Business for your staff, starting from £3.60 per user – cheaper than going direct! LastPass is an industry leading password manager…
Cyber Essentials for charities and non-profit organisations
Andrew Coyle, Head of Information Security at Smartdesc, explains how non-profits can achieve Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation to demonstrate their cyber security commitments to funders, supporters and other stakeholders: What is Cyber Essentials? Cyber Essentials is a government backed certification introduced following concerns that organisations were not putting the basic technical…
Phishing Emails – Remember to stay vigilant
There has been an increase in the number of phishing emails recently and, in particular, personalised spam emails that look extremely convincing. It is important to stay vigilant even with emails that appear to be from someone you know. Here are a few tips on how to identify phishing emails: You will normally be…
Optimising and Securing The Charity Cloud: Microsoft 365
Optimising Microsoft 365 for nonprofits The last 6 months have been a time of fantastic innovation and lateral thinking around Digital; people have worked extremely hard to keep operations running in the face of adversity. Charities reacted very quickly in March and, as offices were abandoned in apocalyptic style, many ended up dumping data onto…
IT Security for Charities
IT for Charities – Useful resources and guidance for your IT Security and IT Policies As a charity IT specialist, IT Security and Policies are something we are frequently asked about, especially as most organisations are not operating in their usual working environments and, as so many staff and volunteers are using their own…
Zoom Security Review
Smartdesc Zoom Security Review for charities Our Smartdesc Security team completed some analysis on Zoom recently and the attached PDF explains what we’ve found, including answers to common questions clients have raised. Spoiler alert: Zoom is a great tool and, set up correctly with a bit of care and attention, is perfectly good to use…
Charity IT Security – Home Working Tips and Advice
Charity IT Security – Tips and Advice for working remotely As most of us get used to life working at home, IT security can easily slip down our conscious priorities. Here are some tips and tricks on how you can help to ensure working from home is done securely, and what we all need to…
Google’s decision to move all UK Data to the US
Google will be moving all UK user data to data centres in the United States from the 31st March 2020 Ricci Wilding, Smartdesc’s Information Governance and Security Officer, shares some key facts you need to know; On March 31st 2020, Google Ireland will transfer ALL UK user data over to Google LLC (Their US…
