Professional services company Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) was widely quoted in the press last year after saying that 70 percent of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year. This stat may be 18 months old now, but the reality facing small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) is no different today. Even if PWC’s business bankruptcy claims were too strong, serious financial losses in the case of a data breach are a near certainty.

The IT security landscape has experienced a seismic shift. Malware in its many forms has propagated and proliferated into new forms to attack every size and shape of connected computing device from smartphones to PCs right through to industrial engineering systems. Combating this tide of malicious content requires a new mindset, a new rationale and a new appreciation for IT security protection software.

When Australia’s Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) is not trying to reveal foreign secrets, it likes to protect our own secrets by providing advice and assistance on information and communications security. To this end, back in 2010 the DSD released a list of its “Top 35 Mitigation Strategies” against targeted cyber intrusions.

The problem with today’s computer operating systems is that sometimes we, as users of all levels of technical proficiency, just allow things to happen automatically and we don’t stand back to question what is going on. Actually, this in itself is not a real problem. Anti-virus protection that just works is not a problem — and this just happens automatically if we have made the right choice of protection.

Britain's usually ultra-proficient (but very occasionally hapless) MI6 agents have been known to mislay documents, laptops and dossiers in manner that has sent shivers down the spine of self-respecting professionals everywhere. The American CIA service hasn't gone uncompromised either over the years, so should we be looking to these high-profile gaffs and drawing a few comparisons for the business sector?

The travel industry has been kind to the software application development industry; the diversity of 'apps' that have been designed to aid the IT-conscious business traveller is almost as broad and colourful as our precious planet's many destinations.

Think back with us for a moment and consider the options for travel gadgetry that were available just one generation ago. The "modern" traveller at the start of the 1980s could consider themselves to be well kitted out if they were sporting a Polaroid camera for "instant" image processing, a map and compass, a language phrasebook and a possibly a Game & Watch unit from Nintendo to play the latest video games.

From WiFi hotspot security concerns, to finding a power socket in a crowded departure hall and getting enough space for your laptop on the plane — there are ways and means to use an airport effectively if you have to work before, during and after your flight. AVG outlines some obvious and some not so obvious advice points to be aware of.

It's a plain and simple fact, working on the go can involve a lot of technology. Every application (or "app") these days seems to have migrated to a mobile version of software that used to be confined to the desktop PC arena as recently as a decade ago. Today we are never much more than a short skip away from a keyboard or touchscreen of one form or another, so the question of how we stay secure while working on the move has become a popular talking point.