The government has just released data suggesting that businesses could lose £21 billion every year because of cybercrime. Cybercrime is any criminal activity relating to a computer or network. This includes criminals stealing private data that is being stored by companies on behalf of their customers, including sensitive information like names, medical reports, addresses and other details.

Cybercrime has become such a problem that the government has pledged to invested £650million in their National Cyber Security Programme over the next four years. A new cyber infrastructure team will also be installed in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.

What can you do to protect your business?

It’s essential to put to take steps to protect client information. Security software manufacturer Norton offers some smart advice on what you need to look our for and what to do if you suspect an attack. It’s also important to take steps to protect against the worst case scenario.

Getting Professional indemnity insurance can help cover you against claims of professional negligence. This may include losing confidential data and other breaches of confidentiality. However, check what cover you need because not all policies cover you for hacking risks and/or virus attacks on your systems.

A millionaire is donating the profits from the sale of a mansion in Northumberland to charity.

Brian Burnie, 64, sold Doxford Hall Hotel and its ten-acre estate for £9 million and hopes to invest the money in funding cancer care for people in the region.

The millionaire originally bought the property, which includes a 25-bedroom hotel and spa, from Northumberland County Council in 1993, but now hopes the funds generated by the sale can be used to pay for a Macmillan cancer nurse and specialist vehicles for cancer patients.

Mr Burnie made the decision after his wife won a battle with breast cancer.

He commented that he aims to counteract the “me, me, me society” in Britain by thinking of the needs of others.

“We can all do something by leaving money to charity when we die, but why don’t we do something while we are still living?” Mr Burnie stated.

Over £45 million was donated to Macmillan Cancer Support through legacies in 2008 – more than a third of the total of £126 million donated to the charity.

It took only a few weeks of research for Romanian entrepreneur Emi Gal to decide to base his digital media firm in London, and his choice confounds a fairly enduring set of stereotypes about Britain’s global appeal.

International experts agree there has been genuine progress in the country which a few decades ago was fast fading as a magnet for the science, health and technology brains and entrepreneurship that also drive the knowledge economy.

‘London is pretty much the centre of the world if you want to work in media and advertising,’ Mr Gal, 23, told Reuters.

As the Labour government campaigns for re-election this year in the face of headlines predicting an exodus of financial brains if bankers’ bonuses are more heavily taxed, voices like his may be heard with increasing frequency in some national media.

Besides Mr Gal, whose software allows media companies to make money from online videos by adding ‘hot spots’ to outlets for consumer products, other new businesses are increasingly choosing Britain as the place to be.

Another newcomer is Compound Photonics, which started in a laboratory in Phoenix, in the United States, and moved to Cambridge to develop extremely high-definition screens for next-generation cinema goers and television audiences. Co-founder Jonathan Sachs said it was attracted to Britain partly by a world-class photonics lab at Cambridge University.

In response to a set of policies put in place, data from the British government’s department for trade and investment show new businesses from countries such as the US, South Korea and Israel relocating to or setting up new headquarters in Britain.

The pace has accelerated from nine new foreign entrepreneurs in 2005/2006 to 58 in the first nine months of 2009/2010.

Mr Jean-Christophe Dumont, a migration expert at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said Britain is now well placed in Europe on a number of indexes that measure factors such as taxes, red tape, the dynamics of internal markets and how they are connected on the world stage, as well as the ability to access a qualified work force.

Seeing Britain’s success, he added, countries like France and Japan have recently drawn up policies to attract foreign entrepreneurs or wealthy investors who might plough large sums into job-creating businesses and boost economies.

According to the Legatum Institute, an investment-led think-tank, Britain is second only to the US for entrepreneurship and innovation – ahead of Canada, Sweden and the Netherlands.

‘The best thing that Britain does at the moment is to provide an infrastructure for small and medium-sized businesses to grow and reach not just Britain, but Europe, the US and the rest of the world,’ said Mr Gal.

‘To reach a global audience from just one location is not something you can get from many cities in the world.’

The entrepreneurs say they are lured by a range of factors – from a common language, attractive geography and London’s status as a global hub, to less tangible assets such as cultural diversity, openness to foreigners and enthusiasm for new ideas.

Many also cite pools of highly qualified scientists seeping out from universities, and a sense that Britain offers a dynamic business environment.

The government initially set out policies to attract or poach entrepreneurs by offering advice and support on everything from drawing up business plans, recruiting high-calibre staff, to attracting investment and getting visas.

‘We couldn’t sell Britain on the language and location alone if the science base and the ecosystem were not also very supportive,’ said Mr Eric van der Kleij, a ‘senior dealmaker’ at the Global Entrepreneurs Programme. He and his company work to bring together entrepreneurs with experts who can guide and act as liaison with the authorities and potential investors.

Mr Arup Chatterjee, an Indian scientist who runs a nanotechnology business called I-Can Nano, said Britain had pipped even the US with less tangible extras.

‘People are very open-minded here,’ he said. ‘And if you want to start your business quickly in an innovative and new area of science, clearly you choose to turn to a friendly, warm and welcoming face.’

Retailers will be delighting in the fact that something wicked this way comes at Halloween, as it will signal almost a decade of growth in sales for the period.

In fact, the date has been gaining in so much popularity in the UK that it is expected to be worth an estimated £235m to the retail sector this year, according to independent retail analysts Planet Retail.

The phenomenal growth in sales of fancy dress, treats, tricks and dressings for the home mean that the season now is third only to Christmas and Easter.

Emma Angel has run her family’s retail operation for the last 14 years and has been best placed to see the change in fortunes of the ghoulish festival.

“It was kind of crazy last year, I’ve been doing this for 14 years and it’s just grown and grown,” she says.

Murderous make-up

The hive of activity that is Angels’ retail store attests to the fact. Spread over three floors, the store is crammed with outfits – both to buy and hire – as well as the extra accessories needed to spruce up the attire.

The suitably gruesome Dr Death is even on hand to dole out make-up tips to create the right effect, be it a slashed throat or a bullet wound.

“Last year we were mobbed. People were queuing round both corners of the building and we had four security guards for the crowds. We’ll be having five this year and we’re expecting it to be bigger,” Ms Angel adds.

And Angels, one of the country’s biggest independent fancy dress retailers, is well placed to talk about the growth in the business.

Ms Angel has been working at the store in London’s Shaftesbury Avenue for almost 15 years and during that time, she has seen a distinct change in trends, from hire to retail.

She was the first in the group to bring in clip-on fangs, selling out of the first 50 sets she ordered in. Angels now sells more than 2,000 sets of the gnashers in store and a further 1,000 to 1,300 online.

She was also the first to revolutionise the retail side of the business, bringing in 30 pre-packed costumes eight years ago – 15 for men and 15 for women.

They sold out, the range expanded and the store also opened up online. As Ms Angel says, the rest is history.

How’s tricks?

The changes at the London store also show just how much the Halloween market has changed in the past decade.

Years ago, consumers were happy to buy a simple mask and make their own costumes, simply heading to the shops to stock up on treats to hand out to visitors.

Now you can head to almost any store on the High Street and grab outfits, accessories and even bags for children to collect their booty in as they head door-to-door; a development that makes it scarily simple, and cheap, to make the most of the night.

Even Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer have launched extensive promotions for the occasion – starting as cheap as £3.50 for a natty little spider handbag.

As well as the increasing availability of cheap goodies, Planet Retail cites a further two trends in the market.

This year, 31 October falls on a weekend, allowing revellers to make the most of the night.

According to Jacqui Parr, editor of Party Party Magazine, many industry insiders were afraid that after a record year last year – with sales up almost 80% across the board – sales would suffer this year.

“People generally were saying that because it was a Friday and the credit crunch was just starting to hit that they were afraid 2008 was a freak blip,” she says.

“But this year, retailers and suppliers are saying it’s even better than last year. Independent retailers are expecting a bumper year.”

Familiar haunts

Angels also points to the trend in consumers looking for “inexpensive socialising at home”.

“Halloween is big, it’s an escape. You can do it at home, not a bar or a club is needed and its very kid-oriented. It’s taken over from Bonfire Night, firework parties in the garden are seen as dangerous now. People can do apple-bobbing and so on at home, it’s a family fun time of year,” adds Ms Angel.

According to Tarlok Teji, head of retail at Deloitte, “in-tertainment” is becoming a key trend in the UK, as families and friends get together for a cheaper night of fun at home.

“There’s also so much doom and gloom in the media that people do occasionally want to dress up and have a party,” he adds.

But he adds that retailers have become “fairly smart about celebrations”, and not just Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

“They make any excuse they can find to sell products and put them in front of consumers, Halloween is just another example.”

Yet the festivities in the UK are nowhere near the terrifying scale seen in the US.

In 2008, Halloween was worth a dizzying $55.7bn, according to the National Retail Federation, with the average American spending $66.45, up from $64.82 a year earlier.

However, the recession is expected to make an impact this year, with the NRF predicting Americans will spend 15% less this year – an average of $56.31 per person – with overall Halloween sales expected to drop to $4.75bn.

Sales gruesome

While the UK appears to have picked up the US’s lead on the scary celebrations, the economic impact is very different.

Smiffys, which supplies retailers, says that over the past three months, it has sold just under 124,000 costumes – or 206 an hour.

At Angels, like-for-like sales are already up 7% on 2008 and the big day has not even arrived.

Last year, the group raked in about £1.5m during the period, adding that around a third of its annual sales fell during the period.

In fact, 31 October has gained so much in popularity that Angels is now scarily busy in the run-up to the big day.

“Halloween used to last four days – now it’s a 10-day window. We work 12 hours straight,” says Ms Angel.

“The shop is open 10am to 7pm, staff redress the floor order and tidy first thing in the morning, they get in at 9am to dress and restock, we close the queue at 7pm, then don’t shut until the last customer is served.”

All Angels has to do now is wait to see whether the big day was as “thrilling” as they hoped.

ITV has sold Friends Reunited for £25m four years after buying it for £120m.

The buyer is Brightsolid Limited, which is owned by DC Thomson, Dundee-based publisher of comics such as the Beano.

The announcement came with the release of half-year results, which were hit by the worst decline in UK television advertising on record.

ITV made a pre-tax loss of £105m in the period. There was no more information given on the recruitment of a new chief executive to replace Michael Grade.

Mr Grade is due to stand down by the end of 2009, following a regulatory review.

The £105m loss compares with a £1.5bn loss in the same period of 2008, although last year’s figure was hit by a £1.6bn charge, reducing the value of investments made in 2000 and 2004.

ITV’s advertising revenues fell by 15%, which was slightly better than the 17% fall in the overall market.

Its chief operating officer, John Cresswell, told the BBC that advertising revenues were improving.

“We’re down 15% in the first half and in the third quarter the decline is still pretty tough at -12%,” he said.

But September for us is at -7% so the direction of travel is good.”

The broadcaster’s pension fund deficit had ballooned to £538m by 30 June, compared with £178m at the end of 2008.

ITV is in the middle of a cost-cutting programme, which aims to deliver savings of £155m this year and £285m a year by 2011.

Spare bedroom

ITV paid an initial £120m for the Friends Reunited website in 2005, but was due to pay an additional sum of up to £55m this year depending on the performance of the site.

The company buying it, Brightsolid, already owns findmypast.com, which operates the official 1901 and 1911 census websites.

Friends Reunited was launched in July 2000 from the spare bedroom of Steve and Julie Pankhurst’s home in North London.

Its model of helping people to find old friends from their old schools, colleges or clubs attracted millions of users to the site.

But more recently, it has been overtaken by social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

The ostentatious show, which started in 2006, used to offer yachts, solid gold jacuzzis and diamond-encrusted mobile phones to China’s elite. Admission was strictly by invitation only.

This year, however, it will host a more modest sounding “roundtable on China’s well-being and charity”. Organisers have also dropped the word “Millionaire” from the title, which has become simply The Fair.

Instead of its “millionaires’ party”, there will be a forum run by the China Philanthropy Network. David Zhong, the organiser, played down the change, saying that the focus on wealth in the past has distracted from the show’s intended message: to help people lead an “elegant lifestyle”.

However, he suggested to the Oriental Morning Post that Shanghai is now so overburdened with luxury shops that his event might have become redundant.

“I’m very unhappy with the last two years of the Millionaire Fair. I think there’s no need to arrange yet another luxury goods exhibition, it’s quite meaningless,” he said.

He added that the buying spree may now be over for China’s nouveau riche. “A recent survey showed that Chinese millionaires are paying closer attention to wealth management than to luxury goods. And it is essential for China to form a public charity system of its own,” he said.

The makers of luxury goods will be permitted to stage exhibits at this year’s show, which begins next month, but they will only play a “supporting” role, according to Zhong.

The Millionaire Fair started as an idea in Europe in 2002 and was thought up by Yves Gijarth, a Dutch media executive. There are similar events in Amsterdam, Moscow, Cannes, Dubai and Courtrai in Belgium.

PART of the property group owned by former Leeds United director Simon Morris has gone into administration due to the slump in the housing market, it was confirmed last night.

Administrators from insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, in Leeds, have been appointed to Leeds-based residential and commercial property firm SRM Holdings, together with 37 of its subsidiaries.

The main creditors are said to be most of the major UK high street banks and debts are reported to be in the region of £50m.

SRM Holdings has its headquarters in Brewery Wharf, Leeds.

It owns a portfolio of more than 500 properties, mostly flats in the city, and employs about 30 people.

A statement issued by Morris Properties said: “Due to the severe downturn in the property market coupled with the lack of liquidity in the financial markets, the group finds itself in a position where it can no longer service its debts and has had no choice other than to call in the administrators for parts of the group of companies.

“We are providing as much assistance as possible to the administrators to protect our creditors and staff.”

A spokesman for Begbies Traynor confirmed that Bob Maxwell, John Kelly and Rob Sadler had been appointed as joint administrators.

It is not known what will happen to the staff employed at the businesses which have gone into administration.

In 2007, property entrepreneur Mr Morris was named among the top 10 richest people under 30 in Britain, with an estimated fortune of £69m.

Mr Morris was the leading shareholder in the Yorkshire consortium that was in charge at Leeds United for 10 months from March 2004.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that almost 60 property investors were taking legal action against the firm run by Mr Morris. The house buyers blamed Morris Properties for them losing money on properties now valued at less than they paid for them.

At the time, Mr Morris said the investors had bought at the height of the market and now wanted someone to blame.

He said the company had a low number of customer complaints, adding: “We have always talked to customers but we get some incredibly greedy people who spoil it for everyone else.”

In August 2007, Mr Morris suffered minor facial injuries in a shotgun attack while driving in Moortown, Leeds.

ONE of TVs Secret Millionaires – who helped community projects in Salford – has been snubbed by the city’s business bosses.

Invitations were sent out to 400 companies to attend a fundraising event at Loaves and Fishes, a homeless and day care centre in Pendleton.

Chek Whyte, who has a construction empire, donated £20,000 to the centre after going undercover as a labourer for the Channel 4 programme last year. He travelled more than 100 miles from his home in Nottingham to deliver a speech at the centre – but no one turned up.

Chek, 43, said: “The purpose was to raise cash and awareness. I was in the middle of finalising a business deal – taking over a £50m business – but I put the centre first and drove to Salford.

“I did the deal on the phone from Salford because I did not want to let down Loaves and Fishes. The only people who turned up were the Rotary Club, plus the people who use the centre.

“Apparently, 400 invites went out to businesses, but they ignored them.

“I was very disappointed with the response.”

Chek’s cash has been used to install a new kitchen and a garden at the centre.

“Maybe the firms didn’t turn up because they thought it was for down-and-outs,” he said.

“It is far more than that. It provides food for those who have lost their way a bit, but it is also somewhere for lonely members of the community to watch TV and see their mates

“It does a great job and needs support. It is run by a couple of ladies and 100 members a day use it.”

In a heart-rending scene in the TV programme, the centre made Chek reflect on his own childhood and how a place like it could have been a help to his mum when life was getting on top of her.

Since his show was screened, Chek has made a huge effort to return the hospitality he received from local people in Langworthy and Seedley when he moved into Nansen Street as ‘Anthony’.

He made a hefty donation to Salford Lads Club, sponsored Ordsall FC football team and paid for the renovation of a young asthma sufferer’s home.

He has also bought two tower blocks in Salford, renovating them at a cost of £3.25m so they can be sold as affordable housing, and is turning the former Brass Handles pub into a mum-and-baby facility.

His company is finishing the construction of a Langworthy church on a not-for-profit basis.

After a tough childhood, expulsion from school, and bankruptcy three times, Chek built his construction company and now owns two stately homes standing in more than 500 acres.

Happy New Year readers! As a little gift to my most loyal of readers I am giving away a great read, my best read of 2008, the book Sex.com. If you want a chance at winning this, simply leave a comment on this post about what you think about UKpreneur!  

Ok so this book was brought out some time ago, doesn’t matter, the story is awesome!

On the face of it, Kieren McCarthy’s Sex.com was a book that could have written itself: a notorious, well-publicised feud over the most valuable domain name in existence, between two charismatic men—one a serial entrepreneur with a weakness for hard drugs (Gary Kremen), the other a gifted con-man with delusions of grandeur (Stephen Cohen). It’s a story replete with vicious acrimony, multi-million dollar lawsuits, and rumours of gunfights between bounty hunters in the streets of Tijuana.

Thankfully, McCarthy wasn’t content to just bundle together all the articles he’s written about Sex.com over the years and slap a cover on the front: the level of detail in his book, and the range of people interviewed, demonstrate that a great deal of painstaking research went into its writing. The result is that Sex.com is the best book on the subject of “internet history” (for that is surely what this story will become) since Where Wizards Stay Up Late, and certainly the best book about the Domain Name system that I’ve ever read. The narrative is compelling, well-informed and highly readable.

McCarthy is not afraid to tackle the quasi-political implications of the Sex.com story, in particular the stranglehold that the old Network Solutions (now VeriSign) had – and continues to have—over the domain name system, and how some of its then employees treated the suspected hijacking of Sex.com with pure contempt—allegedly, even up to the point of threatening physical violence against an expert witness. We’re probably lucky that this book was actually written last year—given his current occupation (as ICANN’s general manager of public participation) it seems unlikely that McCarthy would have produced such a no-holds-barred version of events as he has, had it been written during his current employment.

Apart from all the legal to-and-fro, ultimately this is a story about two men—both intelligent, ruthless and driven – and McCarthy does an engaging job of telling this story from both points of view. Ultimately, Cohen is the villain of the piece, but he’s no cookie-cutter bad guy, and Kremen is by no means an innocent. This book could easily have been a hatchet-job on Cohen, but McCarthy doesn’t make that mistake, and the book is better for it.

A couple of remarkable coincidences are worth mentioning: first, Stephen Cohen attended the Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles at around the same time as Internet pioneers Jon Postel, Vint Cerf and Steve Crocker. Second, one of the reasons that Cohen was sucessful in hijacking Sex.com was that Gary Kremen’s registered e-mail address had been broken into by Kevin Mitnick, the notorious hacker who has himself been the subject of several books.

One final remark: Gary Kremen recently sold Sex.com for twelve million dollars, the largest sum ever paid for a domain name!

So if you fancy a chance at winning this book, which was my best read of 2008 then simply leave a comment on this post about what you think about UKpreneur! Its that easy!

Happy New Year UKpreneur readers around the world! May I wish you all the success in 2009!

UKpreneur