E-Newsletter

Savings / Safety Tips for November 2016 from All Safety Products, Inc.

Five steps employees can take to protect against cybersecurity threats!

No one wants to come into their office one morning and find out that their company has been a victim of a security attack. Losing customer data or having proprietary information revealed - these can be disastrous.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there have been more than 450 data breaches so far in 2016, which have exposed more than 12 million records that contain sensitive material.

Cyber security is a hot topic in the business world, but there are things that employees can do to lessen the likelihood or impact of a security breach.

Steps to protect from cyber security breach

1. Use a strong antivirus program and run scans at least weekly.

2. Use spam filters and ignore suspicious messages. Do not click links that seem questionable, and do not click links on websites that ask for personal information.

3. Back up all files regularly. In the event of a problem, you can get your computer up and running again with little loss of information.

4. Create complex passwords. When using passwords to protect files, make sure that you use a password people can't often guess. Mixing letters, numbers and symbols is often the way to go.

5. Learn to recognize a cyber attack and notify IT. There are different types of attacks that can put your company's systems at risk. A Denial of Service (DOS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) often presents with slow internet, slow or nonexistent access to the company's servers and websites that just don't work.

A virus attack can cause programs to run slowly, allow rampant and unexpected pop-ups, and crash systems.

HEALTHY TIP: No flu for you!

Flu season is upon us and one shot could save you two weeks of suffering, says the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This is recommended for everyone over the age of six months, except for those who may be adversely affected because of a weakened immune systems.

There are a variety of vaccine options available to help individuals avoid the virus, or to lessen its impact, and they come in multiple forms - typically a shot, or a nasal spray.

This year, the CDC says that the nasal spray vaccine should not be used during the 2016-2017 flu season. The CDC recommends the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) or the recombinant influenza vaccine (RIV). There are vaccines with three components (a trivalent shot) or four components (a quadrivalent shot).

No matter which you choose, it usually takes about two weeks for the vaccination to fully take effect. If you're interested in getting a flu shot, there are a variety of places where you can go to get that vaccination, including your doctor's office. A local health clinic, a pharmacy or even a drive-through flu shot clinic, if you can find one, are all places where you can get a flu shot.

If you're going to get a flu shot, now is the time to do it - too early and you may suffer later on, from waning immunity around the time that flu peaks next January or February.

Delicious Recipe: Red Velvet Cake: A Holiday treat

Red Velvet Cake wasn't always red.

In fact, in its humble beginnings during the early 1800s, it was an incredibly light treat that made use of cocoa, cornstarch or almond flour to make the protein in regular flour a little softer.

The resulting delicacy was an extremely fine-textured cake that was known, with somewhat of a Victorian essence, as velvet. Though the history is sometimes disputed, in the 1920s New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is credited with popularizing the cake made with red coloring.

The Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs (at room temperature)
• 2 ounces red food coloring
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 - 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 - 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions:

• Butter and flour two 8-9-inch cake pans and set them aside.
• Mix oil and sugar on medium for five minutes, then add one egg at a time.
• Wait for the first egg to be completely mixed in before adding the next one.
• Next, mix very well, the 2 ounces of food coloring with the cocoa powder. Add this mixture to the previous mixture, along with the salt and vanilla.
• Sift together the flour and baking soda and add one-third of the mixture to the above mixture, combining until mixed well.
• Stir together the buttermilk and vinegar and add half of it to the above mixture.
• Add another one-third of the flour mixture, combining well.
• Then repeat by combining the rest of the buttermilk, followed by the last one-third of the flour.
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2-3 cake pans, depending on how thick you want each layer and bake for 35-45 minutes, depending on the size of the pans used. They will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow cakes to cool 5-10 minutes before removing from pans. Allow them to cool completely before attempting to ice them.

The Icing

Ingredients:

• 3 packages of cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cups butter
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 - 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions for the Icing

• Fold together the cream cheese and butter until completely mixed, then add vanilla and mix well.
• Add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time for the best consistency.
• For best results, place in the refrigerator for a half hour before icing the cakes.

About All Safety Products

We are all about trying to save you money when we are able to. It is our shipping policy to only charge you the actual shipping costs. Sometimes there is a shipping error on our website. We do review all orders for accuracy and pleasantly surprise our customers when we notify them of an adjustment in their favor. We make money on products, not shipping!