South by Southwest Interactive was full of amazing technological innovation and new releases. It was also full of hype, much of which we need to approach with careful thinking before adopting. (Alexandra Samuel at Harvard Business Review wrote a great article about “Staying Immune to the Hype Virus at SXSW.”)

New social networking, software, cloud-dependent resources, geolocation and other innovative tools, offer fantastic solutions for businesses, which makes them all very attracive. However, they also pose security concerns and you need to consider how to adopt them without putting your infrastructure, data, business and brand at risk.

We’re here to answer your questions about using new technology safely. Here are a few of our top points to ponder:

• Data processing tools -- new tools to collect, scan and analyze data are constantly hitting the market. The biggest risk your pose in using these is relying on them beyond their abilities. At the end of the day, a human needs to be in charge of critical thinking, which means setting parameters and deciding which data is relevant and how. Let the tools remain tools...for people to use, and don't become overly dependent on them.
• Security tools -- forensic tools, like data processing tools, are hitting the market in miniature. New security scanners the size of a pin drive are useful, but like other tools, need an expert manning them. Using them to ensure that your data is secure and your business is uncompromised works, but if you encounter a problem, you need to call on a forensic expert to help collect evidence appropriately.
• Cloud computing -- cloud computing is cost effective, easy to setup and use, and portable. This makes it very attractive. However, any cloud hosting or cloud tool can't promise absolute security of your data (or your customer's data). Use the cloud wisely. While the cloud is great for work, communication, and applications that are fine for public, it’s not going to provide the security more confidential tasks require. For any profession in competition — and for the record, this is every profession — certain things such as new plans or ideas, client information, privileged data, and so forth are confidential and require higher security than the cloud can provide.

Every innovation that seems like it can help build your business can be a useful tool and you should consider implementing it, but so do wisely. Do your due diligence and ensure that when it comes to anything that could compromise your business, brand or data, you use caution and protection.

Do you have a forensic security, computer security, social media or other questions about safely using new (or old) tools? Are you worried about being hacked? Troubled by frequent Facebook or Twitter hacks?

Come ask our computer security expert your concern about risk. And you may even win a free consult.