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We all should know well why we should save energy of electricity. Hence, to lower our energy costs and help reduce harmful emissions as well as improve our operating performance. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find the time to research. As well as choose from the most energy-efficient options, not to mention finding room in the budget. The Save on Energy efficiency programs, offered by the Independent Electricity Systems Operator.  In conjunction with local hydro companies, can also help reduction in electricity.

From decoding your power bill to suggestions for seasonal holiday savings. The Save on Energy website has many excellent suggestions. There are resources as well for food service operators looking to reduce their energy usage. Well worth exploring, the site offers concrete advice. There are examples of how businesses like yours can benefit from energy-efficient practices and upgrades.

Saving on energy doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can be incremental and part of your daily routine. Small reductions can add up to savings in both cost and power usage. They are both good for you, your bottom line and the environment.

STUDY YOUR CURRENT ENERGY USAGE:

Examine your bills to learn not just how much your power costs, but also how much power you use. When you know how and when you use power, you can plan your strategy. Time of use is also important: shifting non-urgent tasks to off-peak hours can provide immediate results.

SWITCH FROM REGULAR LIGHT BULBS TO LED

LED bulbs to use up to 75 per cent less power than regular incandescent bulbs, and last much longer. The best thing is to have a switch to LED. Therefore, to save electricity the bulbs in fridges, stoves and hot food holding units should be switched to LED.

KEEP LIGHT FIXTURES CLEAN AND FREE OF DUST

For automatic shut off lights that are not in use and saving electricity. The best solution is installing dimmer switches on fixtures and timers. Take advantage of natural light wherever possible. Remember, every small step helps.

CHECK OUT THE SMALL BUSINESS LIGHTING PROGRAM THROUGH SAVE ON ENERGY
This program provides assistance with assessment, installation, and financial incentives towards your energy-efficient lighting upgrades.

REFRIGERATION EFFICIENCY

Refrigeration can be one of the largest single consumers of energy in food service. It accounts for up to 40 per cent of electricity use. Efficiency is key when it comes to reducing costs and energy. Keep coils and fans clean and dust-free, and ensure they’re kept away from heat and direct sunlight. The lower the ambient temperature near the motors, the less power they’ll need to use.

ADD PLASTIC STRIP CURTAINS AND AUTOMATIC DOOR CLOSER TO WALK-IN UNITS

The Small Business Refrigeration program provided by Save on Energy can provide financial incentives to improve and fine-tune your system.

THE STORAGE OF FROZEN FOODS NO LONGER NEEDS TO BE AT -18 DEGREES CELSIUS OR LOWER

A recent study proved that storing frozen food at -15 degrees Celsius had no impact on food safety or quality. That three-degree difference can add up to substantial energy savings.

KEEP UP WITH REGULAR MAINTENANCE

Ventilation and space cooling is of major concern to food service operators. Balancing the needs of comfort and cooking can be tricky. A cooler ambient temperature makes refrigeration more efficient, which can be challenging during the hot summer months. The energy savings always takes place for doors and windows, especially that are properly caulked and sealed. Awnings, blinds and tinted window coverings can also help reduce indoor temperatures.

CLOSE YOUR FRONT DOORS

It may seem counter-intuitive or unwelcoming. However, keeping the cool inside during the summer and outside during the winter. This is a simple and easy way to lighten the HVAC load. If you need to retrofit from residential-style HVAC to a more efficient commercial set up. Then save on Energy Heating and Cooling program might be able to help.

LOOK FOR ENERGY STAR CERTIFICATION APPLIANCES

ENERGY STAR® certified products meet strict technical specifications for energy performance and are the best energy performers on the market. They can help you save electricity without compromising performance in any way.

Make your changes and upgrades part of your story. Not only will you save both energy and money. But, you will also connect with customers who want to support environmentally responsible and sustainable business practices.

Courtesy: Imtiaz Kermal 

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The Question is about: Why cutting oil production seems utterly UN-Albertan? That’s why the choice by the provincial government to order a production cut. By the industry flies within the face of what percentage Albertans self identify.

The province’s free-market spirit is set aside when money and jobs are on the line. Alberta is meant to be the house of the free-market in the province of privatization. It’s a wide open-market to sell brew-age, wine, cannabis, and insurance of each kind.

Take a test for your driver’s license and the person in the right-hand passenger seat works for a business, not the government. The province is often seen as a libertarian hotbed with the common view that less government is better government.

THE HEART OF FORMER PREMIER

Ralph Klein Alberta advantage mystique as he served up massive government cuts and promoted a free-enterprise ethos in the 1990s. It’s the place wherever business ought to thrive, and there is no want for government assistance.

That’s why The Canadian provincial government choose the industry that appears rather UN-Albertan to cut compulsory production.

The move flies in the face of how many people in the province self-identify. It’s especially uncharacteristic if one pictures what’s happened in recent weeks. The majority of the oil patch pleading with the left-leaning NDP government to interfere in the market.

A BIG STEP 

Mandatory production cuts to be on the oil sector by Alberta. A measure aimed at reducing an oil glut that’s punished the price of Canadian crude. Mandated oil production cuts are the kind of thing that’s expected from Saudi Arabia and OPEC, not Canada. 

RICHARD MASSON

To have a government intervene in a free market, which will create winners and losers, is just such a big step from the past 30 years of a deregulated marketplace. 

An executive fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy who has three decades of experience in oil sands development, energy marketing, and finance. 

He said, “It’s right up there with the most difficult things Alberta has ever had to do”. In recent years, the oil industry has aired complaints about government policies driving away investor confidence. Now, it’s the majority of the oil patch wanting government intervention, precisely what investors traditionally dislike.

It’s like inviting poker players to a casino where the dealer might change the game on the fly. It seems free-market beliefs are set aside when tens of millions of dollars are being lost every day and job losses are set to mount.

Make no mistake, the financial pain was already starting to hit the oil patch and experts say widespread say-offs, spending cuts, and company bankruptcies were on the horizon. 

GOVERNMENT HAS TO ACT ON WHY CUTTING OIL PRODUCTION?

There is a feeling in Alberta that the economy is fragile. While the province has slowly climbed out of a recession. It’s hit associate degree slick with the recent oil worth collapse. Therefore the economy could fall straight back into a downturn. 

PETER DONOLO

There are times when the government has to act. Vice-chairman of public relations firm Hill Knowles Strategies Canada. He points to former Prime minister Stephen Harper putting aside his free-market beliefs to bail out General Motors in 2009. 

THE QUESTION NOW IS, WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS?

The fact about why cutting oil production is. Canadian oil costs fall so much below costs elsewhere in North America somewhat oftentimes. Former premier Alison role player represented it. Because the “bitumen bubble” in 2013 as oil prices were about $35 US lower per barrel in Alberta compared to the U.S. benchmark.

In January 2018, the outage of the Keystone pipeline was one reason the differential swelled to recently. Canadian oil sold-out at a reduction of over $50 North American nation per barrel. However, it’s narrowed in recent days to around $30 North American nation.

Over the last decade, the oil discount has become more than $20 US per barrel at least 10 different times. 

PAST INTERVENTIONS

Alberta does have a history of government intervention, whether it was former premiers William Aberhart printing money during the Great Depression of the 1930s or Peter Lougheed’s government owning several Crown corporations including an airline during the 1970s and 1980s.

Lougheed, too, mandated boring cuts in his battle with the central. Still, the newest boring cut by the government would seem to run counter to the Canadian province psyche.

Free markets area unit the answer to each drawback that society faces. That’s simply not true. Even a few months ago, most observers would not have guessed the majority of Alberta’s. Oil-patch would lobby the provincial government to meddle with the market.

It looks everybody needs government out of their method, till there’s one thing. The government will do to assist them, even in Canadian province.

(In October 2018), Uber’s CEO mentioned grocery delivery as a possible area of expansion in the Pay Think Supermarkets. Its during a talk at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit 2018 where he addressed. In theory, Uber is well positioned for this and its Uber Eats business is strong. Furthermore, it has a huge number of drivers and cars, with capacity in its network. But Uber Eats works well because restaurants have the operational efficiency to assemble meals quickly and Pay Think for faster payments. Amazingly, this is usually within 10 minutes. Hence, get them out to the curb to waiting Uber vehicles in another one to two minutes. A huge question mark being the Pay think Supermarkets that are still not ready for Uber’s Grocery Service (UGS).

Grocers simply can’t do that. Why? There are two main reasons:

Grocers aren’t organised for e-commerce delivery

Traditional grocery formats rely on large stores laid out. This is in a way that increases the number of items customers put into their shopping cart. Hence, at the expense of customers’ speedy experience at the store. Over time, grocers built larger and larger stores to attract customers. In addition to this, it refined the economics of their businesses. Mainly, based on the assumption that customers will always be happy to drive to them. Therefore, a critical but nowadays much riskier assumption.

OPERATIONAL STRATEGY OF GROCERS:

Grocers’ operational efficiency is typically low when picking online grocery orders

Focused on keeping the shelves full is the aim of the grocery store staff. However, the grocers are more focused on merchandising. They also make sure customers can find what they need. Therefore, they also focus on pushing high-margin products such as prepared foods. That’s why traditional grocers have partnered with companies like Instacart, a Pay Think technology, which specialise in grocery picking using outside staff. A smart pay think option making it highly convenient and less time consuming. Of course, the problem with that model is that the labour has to be factored into the prices customers pay for those groceries, pricing many customers out of the delivery market.

In our on-demand, instant-gratification society, consumers want rapid delivery, which requires rapid picking. Virtually no traditional grocer could meet Uber’s high bar of perfectly packing orders within 10-15 minutes, and then getting them into waiting Uber vehicles within another one or two minutes.

UBER EATS & THEIR PROMO STRATEGY:

Uber Eats promotes restaurants that are closer to you with deep cuts in delivery fees, because they know they can deliver it fast and keep you happy, and also because their contractor drivers’ income is entirely contingent on utilising every minute of their drive time effectively. Waiting time is not calculated as compensations that are made per trip or per delivery for the drivers in Pay Think. The longer they have to wait, can make the driver more frustrated. It take minutes for an order to be ready as the traditional holds for the restaurants. Therefore, the problem is not for the restaurants. However, it is extremely problematic for traditional grocers operating delivery out of storefronts. Since, their staff finds it challenging to accurately pick orders at that speed.

And that’s why we won’t see Uber delivering for traditional grocers anytime soon.

Today’s retailers understand the ability of mobile phones once it involves connecting and human action with customers, and knowing. However customers utilize mobile to move with retailers is essential to making an eminent mobile strategy.

There are 5 major teams that client interaction falls into the followings. Like shopping for, saving, discovering, paying, and human action by sensible devices.

BUYING

When it involves shopping for, customers look to either utilize mobile payment with a store or order ahead. The quantity of customers utilizing mobile payment continues to extend, with fifty-nine p.c of e-commerce purchases happening via mobile.

People are not using cash and shopping from their phones ever before.

Related: Restaurant Website Need.

SAVING

When it involves saving cash, providing discounts, coupons, Associate in Nursing. Saving once employing a mobile app or being a part of a loyalty program. That runs through a mobile app is an incentive for purchasers to move with retailers during this method.

Noting that c-stores will deliver coupons through SMS electronic communication. They use mobile app, and lots of smart devices fastening this into loyalty programs.

Related: The Alternative C-Store.

“Loyalty programs driven from the smart device still grow, and that we see plenty of this happening within the c-storehouse over the last 5 years.”

DISCOVERING

Using mobile phones for discovery is targeted on checking out regarding products or services. This might embrace checking costs for product or fuel or finding the closest location of a store.

PAYING WITH MOBILE PHONES

Mobile payments still grow and happening in a very unique style of paying. The Payment method are associated in the Nursing app, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Chase Pay and a lot of Walmart. Even created its own branded payment possibility referred to as Walmart Pay.

Related: Instagram Marketing.

The emergence of Apple Pay and Google Pay continues to require hold, and a few c-stores. Victimization mobile payment in conjunction with a loyalty providing or cashback providing around fuel purchases. This may be a player within the decades to return.

COMMUNICATING WITH SMART DEVICES

The final method customers are victimization mobile to move is through direct communication with retailers. Whether or not it’s causation feedback, asking queries or searching for other forms of support.

Related: Convenience Store.

This includes recent developments with computer science.

There are opportunities for c-stores to drive business outcomes altogether 5 of those are as today mobile could be. However, c-stores got to understand United Nations agency their client is and what their objective is with utilizing mobile. Then, it’s regarding however they will move that forward.

A year after Amazon opened its first cashier-less store, startups and retailers are racing to get similar technology in stores throughout the world, letting shoppers buy groceries without waiting in line.

If they work, cashier-less stores will not only save time but maybe money too. From cameras and sensors, the stores will know when shoppers pick up a product and put it down, and can send them a discount to tempt them to buy it. Merchants will receive more insights into how people shop. They can create more space for merchandise, better track when shelves need replenishing and draw more business from the hordes of customers who detest long lines.

But the monitoring system underlying cashier-less technology is bound to raise new privacy issues and worries about customer data falling into the wrong hands, especially if stores deploy facial recognition software in the omnipresent cameras watching shoppers.

“It could be scary, and it could be creepy” says Peter Trepp, the CEO of an LA based company that so far has only sold its facial recognition tools to retailers trying to identify shoplifters and other criminals. “But if it’s used to give people a 30% coupon on something they want that is going to be a nice benefit. That kind of experience will help people embrace the technology.”

Amazon has a head start in the U.S, opening 10 convenience stores in three cities: Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle. The stores sell salads and sandwiches for lunch, everyday items such as toilet paper and Advil, and groceries such as Cheerios and raw ground beef.

Shoppers scan an app to enter the Amazon Go store, grab what they want and walk out. Cameras and sensors on the ceiling track what’s taken so their credit or debit cards are automatically charged when they leave. Shoppers will know how long it took to shop, since Amazon sends an alert with their shopping time.
A consumer who runs a technology startup said it reminded him of the first time he rode an Uber. “You just know it’s going to be the future,” he said.

Amazon doesn’t say how much money its cashier-less stores make. But analysts from RBC Capital Markets recently visited Amazon Go’s two San Francisco stores to come up with a number. Based on their observations of traffic patterns, they estimated about 400 to 700 customers per day will visit each of the roughly 2,000-sq.-ft. Amazon Go stores, generating sales of $1.1 million to $2 million annually, assuming an average purchase of $10. At the high end of that range, it works out to twice the sales of a typical U.S convenience store, RBC calculated.

Catching-up surrounding the idea
Several startups are pitching technology to retailers who want to create Amazon Go-like stores of their own. One of the companies, called AiFi, said it had signed deals with the Carrefour chain in France and Zabka convenience stores in Poland. Others, including Zippin, Grabandgo, Trigo Vision and Inokyo, said they were negotiating deals with retailers in the U.S and other parts of the world, though none were ready to identify them yet.

“Once a few big retail chains begin to deploy this technology, it’s going to snowball and we will see more and more of them doing it,” says Michael Suswai, co-founder of Standard Cognition, another cashier-less technology startup.

So far, companies working on the technology are finding ways to do without facial recognition. Their systems rely on cameras for identifying objects rather than people.

Amazon appears the most likely to make cashier-less stores a more common sight, partly because it can afford to open stores with the technology already built into them, given its current market value of about $800 billion, ranking among the most valuable companies in the world.

But the country’s biggest retailers are also trying to speed up the shopping process. Sam’s Club, the warehouse-style club owned by Walmart, opened a test store that has no cashiers. Instead, shoppers use their smartphones to scan products and pay. 7-Eleven is testing something similar at 14 stores in Dallas.

As cashier-less stores become more common, there will likely be more political pressure to ensure they still offer an option to pay by cash to avoid discriminating against lower-income consumers without bank accounts and credit cards. In anticipation of that likelihood, Standard Cognition already has set up a separate kiosk for all-cash purchases in its test store.

RBC said it believed Amazon would eventually introduce its cashier-less technology in its Whole Foods supermarkets, though Amazon said it had no plans to do so. For now, Amazon seems to have its eye on smaller stores: Late last year it introduced a 450-square-foot version of Amazon Go that can be plopped into office buildings or hospitals.

We can assume a possibility that within five years, just about everyone will have experienced what autonomous checkout is. And within 10 years, regular checkout stands might be very rare.

7-Eleven Inc. announced that participating stores in Canada will now accept Chinese mobile payment systems Alipay and WeChat Pay. The world’s largest convenience retailer is collaborating with cross-border mobile payment company and market leader CITCON. Alipay and WeChat Pay will now be available at 35 select locations. These are different locations in Vancouver and Toronto, with plans for expansion in next few months.

7-ELEVEN & DIGITAL PAYMENTS:

“Digital Payments are on the rise and consumers across the world are embracing them for convenience. 7-Eleven is redefining convenience for our customers across the globe which includes providing mobile payment solutions,” said Gurmeet Singh, Chief Digital Officer & Chief Information Officer of 7-Eleven. “With 67,000 stores worldwide, Alipay and WeChat Pay are just one of the many solutions that we provide. Our global consumers so they can enjoy a frictionless experience in our stores. 7-Eleven is the first convenience retailer to provide Alipay and WeChat Pay mobile payment solutions in Canada. In addition to this, we continue to drive digital transformation with the latest in consumer-facing mobile technology.”

Wei Jiang, President and COO of CITCON, explains, “Consumers today are increasingly relying on mobile to meet their needs. The explosion of mobile usage and QR-based mobile solutions offer opportunities for retailers. These are opportunities to provide an engaging and new retail experience. Redefining Convenience in Canada, we have a huge thrill of working together with 7-Eleven.”

7-ELEVEN GIVING A UNIQUE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE:

In an increasingly digital world, 7-Eleven continues to push for solutions that elevate their customers’ experience. For Chinese consumers, mobile payments are the norm—cash and even bank cards are a thing of the past. By implementing Alipay and WeChat Pay, China’s leading mobile payment platforms. The company 7-Eleven is providing residents and tourists with an easy and familiar way to complete transactions abroad.  Also, setting a new standard for Canadian retailers.

“7-Eleven is no stranger to firsts,” said Doug Rosencrans, VP and General Manager of 7-Eleven Canada. “7-Eleven has always sought out innovative ways to provide customers with convenience. Its Customer satisfaction, How they like it, and when they like it. Alipay and WeChat Pay are just another way we are enhancing the customer experience.”

HOW MOBILE IS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF CONVENIENCE?

Mobile is shaping the future of convenience every day. 7-Eleven is working to stay ahead of the curve by focusing on its services. This is around mobile pay apps and other innovative convenience solutions. Facilitating transactions through mobile technology will provide an enhanced convenience experience for 7-Eleven Canada’s customers.

“Alipay looks forward to supporting 7-Eleven in providing a seamless experience for Chinese consumers as they visit North America. Also, offering further convenience in the food and beverage space along their routes so they can travel with ease. We are extremely excited to be part of this activation. Hence, we look forward to collaborating with 7-Eleven and CITCON,” said Yulei Wang, General Manager, Alipay North America.

7-ELEVEN & THE E-COMMERCE COMPANIES:

About 7-Eleven, Inc.

7 Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Based in Dallas, Texas, 7 Eleven operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 67,000 stores. These 7-Eleven stores are in 17 countries. These countries include 11,800 in North America. Find out more about 7-Eleven Canada at www.7-Eleven.ca CIO, CTO & Developer Resources About CITCON

About CITCON
CITCON is a cross-border mobile payment and marketing solution leader, enabling merchants to accept QR-based mobile wallets in-store and online on a global scale. Among the payment options supported by CITCON, Alipay and WeChat Pay. These are two of the most popular wallets with over one billion active consumers. On top of payments, CITCON also allows merchants to run marketing and loyalty campaigns through their partner network. Find out more about CITCON at www.citcon.com

About Alipay
Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world’s leading mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers over 40 countries and regions across the world and supports 27 currencies currently. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers. They enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas. As well as for overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Connect with Alipay on Twitter.

Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight heading to Zurich from San Francisco. Aiming to clean up the skies, a biofuel created by a Quebec company will be propelled in part.

The company Agrisoma Biosciences Inc. is the firm behind the biofuel manufacturer company. Carinata Mustard is the key source behind it. The company founder and President Steve Fabijanski believe it could help dramatically decarbonize the aviation industry.

“For me, this is a very good example of Canadian innovation. Especially, innovation from Quebec. These are innovations in terms of looking at green solutions,” he said in an interview from Paris with The Canadian Press.

The biofuel will be replacing 30% of the jet fuel used in Boeing. This will be leading the company to proclaim the plane. It will emit 30 per cent fewer greenhouse gases than a regular flight.

Ever used in a plane to date, i.e. the greenest biofuel. This is what Fabisjanski believes about his company’s product. Also, partnering with United Airlines will serve as a showcase for attracting new projects.

With a flight time of 11 hours, the California-to-Switzerland flight will be the longest transatlantic trip to date. Used for the second time shall be the mustard-based product from Agrisoma’s. A commercial flight shall be the one where it will be used.  Also involving the usage of biofuels more comprehensively.

Used between Australia and The United States in the Aussie airline known as Transpacific Qantas Airways. The flight was 15 hour and operated last Jan 28th. In that instance, the biofuel replaced 10 per cent of the jet fuel.

Currently, the technical and regulatory rules limit to 50 per cent. Used in a commercial flight by the quantity we are talking about 50% of the amount of biofuel.

“Fifty per cent is the goal (for the company). You are definitely making a significant impact in terms of the greenhouse gas emissions, i.e. at 50 per cent.”Said Fabijanski

As the number of air passengers has steadily grown. The aviation industry has set as a goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 50 per cent compared to 2005 levels. The industry is responsible for two to three per cent of global emissions.

Steven Guilbeault, an environmental activist and co-founder of Equiterre, says Agrisoma’s biofuel paves the way for air carriers to take a significant step in reducing their carbon footprint.

“As an ecologist, what matters to me is that this type of technology is spreading and, as a Quebecer, I won’t hide the fact it makes me proud that it was developed in our backyard,” he said.

The head of Cycle Capital Management, one of Agrisoma’s principal investors, didn’t hesitate to promote the virtues of biofuel.

“If we put just 10 per cent of this fuel in all the planes around the world, we would accomplish great things,” said Andree-Lise Methot, the founder of the clean-tech venture capital fund manager.

Growing on the land not meant to feed people, Carinata Mustard can grow on such land. As according to Methot this is one of the main qualities, i.e. on top of the aviation industry. Not at the expense of food, for example, the cultivation shall take place. This is unlike ethanol

Something that can be used as a feed for the livestock, the residue transforms into a protein-rich byproduct. Hence, this is done once the extraction of oil is made from the plant.

“Known as a seed adapted to climate change and grows in difficult conditions. The Carinata grows when nothing does. Biofuel and Organic food for animals are the two beautiful products that it yields” She Said.

Cyber security is an everyday issue, and the measures you put in place at the beginning of the year are now stale and in need of a tune up. It’s time to bring tprocedures into the shop! With so much new technology, and so many new risks, it’s important to continue updating your security measures every so often. Here is a checklist on how to re-invent your cyber security measures:

Educate your staff/re-introduce your procedures
The employee is still the biggest weak link. You can have the greatest security measures on the planet but if your employee clicks the wrong link
on their computer, you’ve still become infected. Cyber criminals are becoming smarter by impersonating higher level authorities in companies. For example, a criminal will impersonate your CEO and email finance, asking to wire money. It’s important to educate your staff on what the proper procedures are in your firm, and what security risks they may face day-to-day.
Change your passwords
Every 90 days, you should be changing your password and it’s also important to have secure passwords. A brute force attack – an attack
designed to discover a password through trying every single combination of letters/numbers/symbols – can now check 8 BILLION combinations per second. A password should NOT consist of simple words or phrases.

Create a separate Wi-Fi network for IoT devices and guests
A huge new security risk is the emergence of the Internet of Things. Everyday appliances are now being connected to your wi-fi network, without
proper security to prevent it from being hacked into. Many will think: “So what? If someone hacks into my fridge, what are they going to do? Turn up the heat?” It’s true that a hacker won’t be able to do much from the initial device, but from that device, it gives access to the whole network and every device connected to it. Through your fridge, a hacker can now access servers, computers, etc. It is best to create a separate network that your non-essential devices can connect to, to separate the risk of a major data breach.

Perform a security scan on your Wi-Fi network
It’s important to know what devices are connected to your network and manage the ones that pose a security risk. Many employees and guests
connect their personal devices to the office network, so it’s important to do a security scan on your Wi-Fi network to see who is connected, and then disconnect the non-essentials and security risks.

Bring in the experts!
Chances are, you don’t have time to be worrying about security measures all the time, and that’s okay. You need to bring in the security experts,
the ones who will think about your security and make sure you’re protected for you. Contact a managed service provider who can help make you feel secure.

how unsafe is the internet really? How much damage can be done online?

The internet is much more unsafe than it was 20 years ago. Cyber crime has risen year after year and has evolved every step of the way. Cyber
criminals are so smart, and modern-day technology introduces so many new innovative threats to be wary of. Cyber War is real, and we are engaged in battle. It’s important to know who you’re fighting against, what weapons they are using, and what you are fighting for.

Who Are Cyber Criminals?

Who am I protecting myself from? How much power do they have?

The picture to the left depicts the stereotypical image visualized when someone says “hacker”. Like all crime, there are many individually driven criminals. But also like all crime, it has evolved to become more organized. For example, some of the most recognizable organized hacker groups are Anonymous (although they commit crimes that are more activist in nature), and Morpho (known for hacking Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Twitter) [1]. These organizations are extremely powerful, enough to successfully attack governments and major corporations.

What Are Cyber Criminal’s Motives?

How much is my data worth?
There are many theories as to why people become criminals, but what is undeniable is the volume of opportunity cyber crime can generate for a common lawbreaker. A huge motivation is potential financial gain. Cyber crime has become so big and powerful that it is estimated that global cyber crime alone generates 1.5 TRILLION dollars annually[2]. It’s also undeniable that it’s harder to physically steal someone’s wallet and get away with it than it is to steal their credit card information online and get away with it. Criminals are much braver behind a screen, and there are many ways that they can keep anonymous and commit crimes.

What Are The Biggest Cyber Security Threats Against Me?

What are the ways I can be attacked? How can I be protected?

Phishing emails and social engineering attacks
Almost everyone has received one of these spam emails: an email requesting either information, login credentials, banking information, etc. You can see from the red texts that this is clearly a scam. Phishing emails often have spelling mistakes, incorrect email domains and suspicious links. Here, we tell you how to identify phishing emails. These attacks have become more sophisticated. Cyber criminals will impersonate someone close to you, a mother, a boss, etc., and email you from an impersonating account.

Distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDoS)

This is the technical term to overload an online service by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple sources. In physical terms, it’s like closing a highway because there’s too much traffic on the road. Cyber criminals will do this to shut down your network, and it’s even something that can be bought over the Dark Web to commit to someone else’s servers if you had the mind to.

Ransomware

Like a simple, physical ransom, criminals will take something of importance to you and demand you to pay them back. In cyber crime, what’s important is your data. Cyber criminals will encrypt your files on your computer making them accessible only to them, and demand you pay them to get your files back. This can be extremely costly for business, and in fact most 75% of small to medium businesses report a ransomware attack has led to business-threatening downtime. Discover how to protect your business from ransomware.

Cryptojacking

With the emergence of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple, etc., has created another way that cyber criminals can remain anonymous online. Cryptojacking is the unauthorized use of another’s computer to mine cryptocurrencies, or cryptomine. Cryptomining, in the simplest terms, is the process of creating new cryptocurrencies – and once completed, you are awarded with currency. This requires a large amount of computer processing power, so cyber criminals will trick you into downloading scripts onto your computer to use your power.

Data breaches

Large corporations fall at the hands of hackers seemingly every week. One of the biggest data breaches to date was Facebook, where 30 million users were compromised. You can find out here the 10 best ways to stay safe on Social Media.

Viruses & Malware

There are so much computer viruses and malware nowadays that modern computers are bought with a trail run of an antivirus software, like Webroot. Viruses and malware can attack in many ways, from deleting files, to shutting down your whole device. Ensure your antivirus programs are always up to date and do routine scans of your devices.

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