Tag Archive for: internet

Sales Consultant Adam Lamagna gives out best practices for keeping your website secure in an easy to understand manner.

Overcome Your Website Securities Worries

Make no mistake, if you own a website, however small or low-trafficked it is, you are a crucial piece to the overall internet ecosystem. How would it make you feel if your friend’s bank account was wiped out after they visited your site? Or if a self-replicating virus destroyed your visitor’s hard-drive after submitting a form to your marketing site? Again, that’s how critical you are to this environment and that’s how dangerous things could get if you’re not educated.

This talk will break down website security at its most fundamental level. However, it’s important to understand that there is no 100% solution out there, there never will be. Security is about technology, processes, and people, and we need to know how to mitigate risk in these areas.

Meet Adam Lamagna, Sales Consultant at Sucuri – top global website security firm.

Sales Consultant Adam Lamagna gives out best practices for keeping your website secure in an easy to understand manner.
Adam will discuss best practices for website security, let you know of your responsibility as a website owner, and hopefully make it less frustrating. We all know it can be difficult to understand the vast landscape that is website security, so this talk will cover:

  • Dispelling the myth of “why would anyone hack me?”
  • Understanding what a Firewall actually protects
  • Hosting and how it plays a role in website security
  • Different types of online threats (what is malware, DDoS, Brute Force?)
  • Essentials of website security (Passwords, updates, user roles, backups, etc.)
  • DIY tools to help mitigate risk and improve your online security posture
  • Resources for staying informed and being responsible

If you own or manage a website, whether it’s an e-commerce store, a blog, or just a simple marketing site, you need to know how to keep it protected and become a responsible steward of the world wide web!

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

 

Better Businesses With Better Internet

On Tuesday, June 25th, a panel of four local professionals spoke at the launch party for AIBPconnect at The Firehouse Theater. Each panelist explained how the project has the potential to grow the Newport economy and improve the quality of life for residents and business owners—NIM is recognized as a great center of leadership to get the people involved.

The Aquidneck Island Broadband Project (AIBP) aims to provide public access to the fiber optic network that is already on Aquidneck Island, bringing better, faster Internet to homes and businesses. It’s no secret that the Internet speed on the Island can be very slow, and it’s becoming more of an issue as the use of Cloud-based services rise and the number of stay-at-home businesses and work-from-home professionals increases.

To move AIBPconnect forward, the nonprofit needs to gather internet speed data from Aquidneck Island residents. Ron Corriveau of COS Systems explained that gathering a baseline of data can provide tangible proof that there is a need for access to the fiber optics network, OSHEAN or a comparable network. The more residents who take the speed test, the more evidence can be recovered, and the faster fiber-based broadband internet will boost the island’s economy.

The panelists — Corriveau,  the City of Newport’s Paul Carroll, CEO of OpenWide Networks Andrew Cohill,Town of Middletown IT Director Matthew Wainright, and Stuart Freiman of Broadband RI —supportAIBPconnect’s goals and expressed hope that the people and the City of Newport will support the project as well.

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From Left: Corriveau, the City of Newport’s Paul Carroll, CEO of OpenWide Networks Andrew Cohill,Town of Middletown IT Director Matthew Wainright, Stuart Freiman of Broadband RI, and Ron Corriveau of COS Systems

AIBPconnect’s success would address several business growth limitations on Aquidneck Island:

Lack of attention from business located over the bridges — Aquidneck Island needs to attract businesses to the area. An increased amount of businesses would result in a stronger local economy and would require stronger political will. “If you can get the political will to move forward, it’s not particularly difficult” to have officials support a cause, Freiman said.  To “position [Newport] ahead of the century,” Carroll says, “the Island must provide a competitive advantage and vital tools for businesses to flourish.”

Lack of support for Cloud-based services — As technology relies more and more on Cloud-based services, a better broadband system needs to be in place. One fact the panel reiterated was a percentage of businesses on Aquidneck Island are run from home and/or are international companies. According to Cohill, an estimated 5 to 10 percent of Newport residents work from home full-time and 15 to 20 percent work from home part-time. Cohill stressed “neighborhoods and businesses have to deliver “business-class services to individual homes.”

Measuring “asymmetrical speed” is one component of AIBPconnect’s speed test. Asymmetrical speed occurs when the download speed and the upload speed are different. It’s not a good thing, because it disrupts the efficiency of Cloud speed. If you use popular services like Skype, Google+ Hangouts, or web conferencing, this is the source of your lag and poor quality.

Lack of education among the community about Internet options like fiber optics — The main challenge of bringing fiber optics to Aquidneck Island is raising awareness about it. The problem exists, it is just a matter of letting people know that there is a solution.

Freiman pointed out that “expanding the quality of infrastructure and making sure everyone has access to the internet” is one of Rhode Island’s state goals. Some of the poorest communities in the United States have improved because they invested in better broadband systems. Across the United Statescommunities are seeing smart growth from high-speed broadband.

Although a fiber optics system would benefit Aquidneck Island, it doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘if you build it, they will come, ’you have to show them’ ” concrete evidence that it will improve the quality of life at home and increase efficiency for business.  “We need to start doing it all together,” by working with closely residents and officials, Middletown IT director Wainright said.“It’s a step in the right direction.”

Better Business With Better Internet

At this #NIMRI event, a panel of local officials and hi-speed broadband experts discussed the significance of bringing fiber optics to Aquidneck Island. The Aquidneck Island Broadband Project is initiating speed tests around the Island and raising awareness among the community about fiber optics. This alternative serves as a faster and more efficient system than older broadband networks.

Meet The Panelists

  • Stuart Freiman– Director of Broadband at the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, and Program Director of Broadband Rhode Island
  • Andrew Cohill– President and CEO of Wide Open Networks and Design Nine. He is a broadband architect who has worked with many communities to build out similar successful projects.
  • Matthew Wainwright– Technology Director for the Town of Middletown, 2nd VP on the GMIS International Executive Board, BostonSIM Providence CIO Roundtable co-chair. Also, a key stakeholder in the Aquidneck Island Broadband Project.
  • Paul Carroll– Economic Development Director for the City of Newport and supporter of the Aquidneck Island Broadband Project
  • Ron Corriveau– Vice President of Business Development at COS Systems AB,

In the United States, more than 1,200 communities have fiber optics. Plus, Google is deploying gigabit networks in over a dozen more communities across the nation. The panelist’s engaged the audience by expressing the benefits of fiber optics and encouraging others to support the initiative for better Internet on Aquidneck Island.

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

Francisco Samuel helps business owners become aware of the inexpensive web services available to them.

Know Before Paying for Web Services

In February, internet expert Francisco Samuel explained to NIM what we’re doing right, wrong, and what we could be doing better. We learned how to avoid being overcharged on development, domains, and hosting. We also found out the secrets to search engine optimization with quick tips on how to enhance your website without getting cheated out of your money.

Audiences learned all about:

  • Internet Consultants (Who is good? What is a good price?)
  • Mobile sites (my website on the iPhone, iPad, & other mobile devices )
  • SEO (search engine optimizations)
  • Domains & Hosting (Must I pay?)
  • Analytics (How to track your traffic)
  • Launch, Maintain, Blog, & Repeat (Ways to keep the flow of your site)

Francisco Samuel was a great guide to being web smart! #NIMRI better understand what services you should get for the price you pay and how to avoid spending $$$ for web services. This NIM talk was empowering and taught audiences to make better decisions for the future of their businesses.

Meet Francisco Samuel

Francisco Samuel helps business owners become aware of the inexpensive web services available to them.
BS Computer Science 1987 from UMass Dartmouth (SMU)

10+ years in software development and project management

5+ years in internet development & dot com

3+ years teaching CS and soft skills at ITT Tech

Started Abacus Software in 1995

Hobbies: golf, cycling, photography

Missed this great talk? Learn more about video & visuals and more via the NIM media library!

Become a NIM $upporting member, if you aren’t already, for access to the vast video library of past presentations and watch from your device at your convenience.

NIM Brings the Film Connected to Newport

 

NIMRI celebrates its overarching theme – connection – with a film showing of Sundance’s “Connected” March 29

It takes a really good movie to silence the smart phones of a room full of NIMRI-ers, but the only lights flickering in the Jane Pickens movie house March 29 came from the big screen. Premiered at Sundance 2011, the gem “Connected, an Autoblogography about Love, Death and Technology” held the attention of NIMRI members for 85 minutes.

Afterward, the crowd spilled into Yesterday’s across the street to re-connect to their phones and each other, reaffirming the filmmaker’s message that human beings function maximally both naturally – and synthetically – as interdependents.

About the Film

Organizational leadership expert Dennis Rebelo of University Business Consultants sponsored and introduced the film, which was written, produced and directed by Tiffany Shlain, founder of the Webby awards. Viewers anticipating a trek through how social media is overtaking the universe were surprised – and deeply moved – when things got more personal. Shlain had initially intended for the film to talk about technology and where the human race is heading. But the plot takes a sad turn when her beloved father Leonard, a renowned surgeon and best-selling author, is diagnosed with brain cancer as Shlain herself negotiates a high-risk pregnancy.

There couldn’t have been a better plot device than hospital visits to humanize this technological coup of a movie. Shlain’s father is so brilliant and charismatic that visits with him are part classroom and part favorite grandfather. Through him, Shlain’s larger message about where the human race is trying to go via technology is somehow made palatable even to those who fear and loathe technology. The takeaway from the movie is really that humans seek out connection naturally, and do their greatest work in collaboration with others — and technology is simply a tool to support that. Technology is so often accused of thinning out human interactions, but Shlain’s magnified look at a family dealing with crisis shows how it can also deepen those connections.

Unfortunately, Shlain’s father died before the movie was over, and viewers are bounced into a reality of technological limitations that reminds us that we are still more human than ever.

Part memoir, part documentary, “Connected” is packed with animation, home movies and statistics, narrated by Shlain in a fast-paced, upbeat style that keeps the viewer running to catch up, mimicking the social media exercise of being everywhere, all the time.