European Cyber-Gangs Target Small U.S. Firms, Group Says

A task force representing the financial industry sent out an alert Friday outlining the problem and urging its members to implement many of the precautions now used to detect consumer bank and credit card fraud.

“In the past six months, financial institutions, security companies, the media and law enforcement agencies are all reporting a significant increase in funds transfer fraud involving the exploitation of valid banking credentials belonging to small and medium sized businesses,” the confidential alert says. The alert was sent to members of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, an industry group created to share data about critical threats to the financial sector. The group is operated and funded by such financial heavyweights as American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Fannie Mae and Morgan Stanley.

via European Cyber-Gangs Target Small U.S. Firms, Group Says – washingtonpost.com.

Coupons You Don’t Clip, Sent to Your Cellphone

Mobile coupons — usually text messages with discount codes sent to a cellphone — are becoming the blue-light specials for the digital age, promoting last-minute clothing sales, two-for-one entrees and cheap tickets to the theater.

While some mobile coupons are sent directly from a retailer to a customer who has signed up for mobile updates, the other way for bargain-seekers to get up-to-the-minute deals is to subscribe to a mobile-coupon aggregator. At Web sites like 8coupons, Cellfire, Yowza and Zavers, users can sign up for different retailers’ promotions in one place. The opt-in model means subscribers get only offers they want to receive, making each one worth reading.

via Coupons You Don’t Clip, Sent to Your Cellphone – NYTimes.com.

How-to Guides for running your business from Work.com

Here are four factors that improve the odds of success for anyone who wants to start a business:

1. People. If you can afford to hire employees or can bring in partners when you first start a business, DO IT. Studies show that well-staffed business startups have better survival rates than solo operations. If this won’t work for you, at least seek out experienced mentors. (See the resources below to find advisors on how to start a small business.)

2. Startup capital of at least $50,000. Not easy, perhaps, but studies show that businesses starting with less than $50K have higher failure rates. That’s just the way it is. The key is to have enough financing so your business can take root.

3. Training. If you can, attend seminars on how to start a small business offered through a local Small Business Development Center (see below), or enroll in a college-based entrepreneurship program to learn the ropes. You might be the smartest geek in the world, but if you have no business sense, you’re in trouble.

4. Home beginnings. To keep costs low, start a home-based business. Businesses that begin this way and then move into bigger digs later have higher success rates on starting small business.

via Resources for Small Business Startup | How-to Guides for running your business from Work.com.

Rethinking How People Run Businesses

In the following video, career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

via Rethinking How People Run Businesses.

Unmasking DLP: The Data Security Survival Guide

Unmasking DLP: The Data Security Survival Guide

Need a data loss prevention (DLP) strategy but have no idea where to start technologically or culturally? Here’s a series of articles and podcasts to help you find your way.

via Unmasking DLP: The Data Security Survival Guide – CSO Online – Security and Risk.

PCI Council Releases Recommendations For Preventing Card-Skimming Attacks

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) today unveiled best practices for retailers to defend themselves against the growing number of credit- and debit-card skimming scams.

via PCI Council Releases Recommendations For Preventing Card-Skimming Attacks – DarkReading.

Information Supplements – PCI Security Standards Council

Information Supplements

via Information Supplements – PCI Security Standards Council.

Apple admits iPhone apps not suitable for business • The Register

Apple is reminding customers that applications sold through the iTunes store are strictly for non-commercial use: business use is forbidden, which makes one wonder what that section of the store is for.

Apple certainly gives the impression that the iPhone is suitable for businesses, and the Business section of the iTunes Application Store lists 78 pages of apps that we presume are aimed at business use. This makes it all the more surprising that Apple advised one customer that: “The iTunes Store sells only to customers as end-users for personal, noncommercial use.”

via Apple admits iPhone apps not suitable for business • The Register.

POS to O2S for ROI… The Evolution of Measurable Media Investments

Could POS (Point of Sale) and O2S (Online to Store) be related? Absolutely!

Remember ‘back in the day’ prior to 1978 when there was no Point Of Sale data. Retailers would spend millions of dollars on advertising with no link to what was selling at the cash register. There were no bar codes, scanners or the like to help understand inventory levels, what sold, what day, how many, and from what medium. Well, when bar codes and scanners debuted, it changed business as we knew it – creating accountability as it relates to what products were selling, when they were selling, and if advertising had an effect on how many were sold. This led to increased investments in research from the POS data and shifting media spend to higher performing channels once the advertising results could be measured at the store level.

via Google Retail Blog: POS to O2S for ROI… The Evolution of Measurable Media Investments.

Social media has taken the marketing world by storm. Major agencies and internal divisions are hosting think tank sessions to try and come up with witty ideas to market their products and drive customer loyalty. Some of the ideas they come up with  are great. But others, let’s face it, are serious thuds. Let’s take a look at nine of the worst social media marketing campaigns  so far in 2009 (in no particular order):

via: ZDNet.com