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81% of Irish SMEs suffer SPAM
The Irish Internet Association Security Working Group have just released the results of the first IIA Internet Security Survey of SME organisations 24.05.05
Conall Lavery, the Chairman of the IIA Security Working Group, stated that “The whole area of Internet problems is riddled with FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) – this survey will hopefully be the start of a process where real information is gathered from Irish businesses about Irish problems. Good information is key to the management of risk.”
“Whilst the survey is not based on a statistical sample, it is a good indication of how smaller enterprises which use the Internet regularly feel about security. By and large these users use the Internet for quite sophisticated applications and they have the basic security measures in place. They are also reasonably confident in the security of the services they use. However, 81% suffered from spam, 52% suffered from spy ware and 48% suffered from viruses.
Headline Results:
Group Chairman – Conall Lavery, Chief Executive, Entropy
Group members
Richard Nealon: , Payments and Electronic Services, Bank of Ireland Group
Sean Reynolds: Chief Executive Officer, Rits.
Claire Whelan: PhD, DCU
John Brosnan: Chief Executive Officer, Netfort Technologies
Michael Brophy: Chief Executive Officer, Certification Europe
Conor Crowley: Programme Manager, HP Imaging and Printing Group
Brian O’Doherty: Herbert St Technologies
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eBusiness Survey Results for North West Region
Summary Results for the North West Region of the IIA eBusiness
Survey
Summary Results for the North West Chapter of the IIA eBusiness Survey
The IIA recently conducted a survey at a recent Ebusiness Seminar in Sligo. The questions covered included internet access, online purchasing, internet banking, SPAM, online selling and online marketing.
Respondents were from a variety of backgrounds –legal, tourism, IT, design, semi-state, arts, education, community and voluntary.
Most of the respondents, 54%, had a Broadband connection but only 7% had gone wireless. A further 32% had an ISDN line with only 7% having dial up connections. The broadband figure looks set to rise however with 64% considering it to be ‘very important’ and 18% reporting it to be ‘important’. When asked if they had access to the internet at home 82% indicated they did.
Online Purchasing habits showed that every respondent had purchased products or services online in the previous 12 months. Not surprisingly travel (86%) and books & CDs (61%) ranked the highest. Software ranked the next highest with 43% having purchased online and 12% indicating they conducted their grocery shopping online. The breakdown of how much is spent online each month is as follows, 25% less than €100, 7% between €100 and €200 and 11% more than €200. Internet Banking was used by 89%.
SPAM and viruses were significant problems for respondents with 93% indicating they had received SPAM and 71% reporting regular virus attacks. Three quarters said that half of their daily emails contain SPAM the average being 32% of all mails. With such a high figure receiving unsolicited mails the use of SPAM filtering software seems relatively low with only 79% usage. However when it comes to viruses 100% were using virus software.
When it comes to selling on line many businesses have been slow to exploit the opportunities the internet can provide. The fact that 13% had undertaken email campaigns or used internet advertising and only 8% of respondents had used search engine optimisation shows that marketing managers have yet to fully integrate the internet in the marketing mix. SMS uptake has been slower again with a mere 4% implementing campaigns. However 17% had undertaken integrated marketing campaigns incorporating all four methods.
For the 11% of respondents who are selling on line 20% reported a 10% year on year increase in sales while 10% are seeing a 60% increase.
The IIA would like to thank all respondents for completing this survey.
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Members of Legal Working Group
Chairman
Don McAleese
Matheson Ormsby Prentice Solicitors
30 Herbert Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 6199000
Email: don.mcaleese@mop.ie
Group Members
Rob Corbet
Arthur Cox Solicitors
Earlsfort Centre
Earlsfort Terrace
Dublin 2
Tel: 6180000
Email: rob.corbet@arthurcox.ie
Paul Lambert
Merrion Legal Solicitors
Clifton House
Lr. Fitzwilliam Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 6690523
Email: paul.lamber@merrionlegal.ie
Patrick Ryan
Kilroys Solicitors
69 Lower Leeson Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 4395600
Email: pryan@kilroys.ie
William Earley
McCann Fitzgerald
2 Harbourmaster Place
IFSC
Dublin 1
Tel: 8290000
Email William.earley@mccannfitzgerald.ie
Victor Timon
Wiliam Fry Solicitors
Fitzwilton House
Wilton Place
Dublin 2
Tel: 6395000
Email: victor.timon@williamfry.ie
Deirdre Ni Fhloinn
Reddy Charlton McKnight Solicitors
12 Fitzwilliam Place
Dublin 2
Tel: 6619500
Email: dnifhloinn@rcmck.com
David Hacket
Eugene F Collins Solicitors
Temple Chambers
3 Burlington Road
Dublin 4
Tel: 2026400
Email dhackett@efc.ie
Deirdre Kilroy
LK Shields Solicitors
39/40 Upper Mount Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 6610866
DDI: 6385866
Email: dkilroy@lkshields.ie
Overseas
Cynthia J Larose
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC
One Financial Centre
Boston
MA 02111
Email: cjlarose@mitz.com
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IIA warns over pressurised sales tactics
In light of a number of complaints sent to the IIA from members concerning pressurised and scare sales tactics of a Dublin based organisation selling domain registrations the IIA have issued the following alert. A representative from the company states that they are aware that a third party has placed an order for a variation of your company domain and that they can offer it to you for a high price to prevent the supposed third party getting it. This relates to sales of dot.com and dot.net domain addresses.
Eoin Costello, Chair of the IIA Domain Registration and Hosting Working Group recommends, “in all cases where unsolicited contact is made by email or phone using such tactics they should contact the IIA or a reputable domain registrar or their own current hosting provider and certainly not part with any money in advance of getting independent advice. The IIA will keep a record of all instances reported”.
This follows a year after a number of UK based companies operated the same attack marketing techniques on Irish based companies. The IIA advises that companies should be aware of the importance of protecting their company domain and the costs involved. There is a number of reputable domain and hosting companies listed on the IIA web site should consumers require assistance. http://www.iia.ie