Houston expert: 5 tips for improving your company's cybersecurity

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Tap into these tips to make your company safer from cyber attacks. Photo via Getty Images

Imagine waking up tomorrow to find out that all of your critical information (trade secrets, financial data, customer lists, etc.) is gone. While working to find out what happened, you order lunch online, only to find out your bank account has no balance.

That scenario happens every day to business leaders just like you. Here are 5 tips everyone should know, which will help reduce cyber security risks.

Tip 1: Know what you need to protect

If you don’t know where your data is kept, how can you protect it?

From hardware like laptops and cell phones, to critical software including accounting and HR, spreadsheets used to calculate financial reports, OneDrive accounts, Google Drive, and “C” drives, there are numerous places your critical data could be kept. Work with your managers to identify every piece of hardware, software, and where the critical data is kept.

Tip 2: Turn on multi-factor authentication for everything you possibly can.

Whenever possible, someone should need a username, password, and a code from an authentication app, text code, e-mailed code, something that’s a unique identifier that randomly changes in order to access critical company information. Alternatively, you can rely on biometrics (fingerprints, facial recognition, etc.) as your third line of protection.

Tip 3: Know who has access to the data and implement basic user access rules.

Everyone should have their own username and unique password. Generic admin accounts, shared user accounts, etc. should never be allowed. If you’re only paying for five licenses but have 10 people accessing the software, stop being cheap and pay for more licenses.

Log in to your bank’s website (or go to a local branch) and run a report which lists who has access to the online banking system and what they can do within it. While you’re at it, get a report of everyone with signature rights for checks and make sure it’s properly updated.

Run a report of all users for each software you listed above which includes what level of access they have. Does their access match their job requirements? Remove all access that isn’t required for their job. You can add access back later if they need it. This can also help you identify employees who might have too many responsibilities.

Now go through the rest of the software, network folders, and the other items you listed above and do the same exercise. Going forward, whoever “owns” the data in each system (banking, accounting, HR, etc.) should approve all access to that data.

Tip 4: Back up that data — often

You most likely have a folder on your computer that has important information in it like Financial spreadsheets, HR files, customer data, and marketing plans. If you selected that folder and hit the delete key, then you opened the recycle bin on your desktop and the folder wasn’t there, how bad would your day be?

Now that you know the location of files, folders, software, and other important data points, turn on an auto-backup process and test that process about once a quarter. If you use something like Google Drive, Microsoft’s OneDrive, or similar cloud services, most will provide free backup support. However, before you do that, require all employees to move important files off of their “C” drive and into network folders.

Tip 5: Implement antivirus software

I’ll be the first to say that I hate antivirus software. Why? Because it typically slows down your computer while it runs in the background and flags items like the spreadsheet you use every month as a “potential threat”.

Even so, the aggravation is worth it in the long run.

There are tons of antivirus software options. If you think about protecting your home, you don’t need armed guards, attack dogs, and a feral cat. You do need someone to glance out the window to see who is at the door. If it’s a group of zombies trying to eat you, then you need to have the ability and resources to protect your home. Pick an antivirus software that matches your budget and get it in place. Don’t overthink it, just get it going.

One last bonus tip I’ll leave you with — have random test “phishing” emails sent out to everyone (including yourself) in your company. The number one cause of cyber security issues in businesses is internal users clicking on fake emails.

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Thomas Mullinnix is the founder of Houston-based Re-Vision Management Consulting LLC.

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Rice scientist earns $600K NSF award to study distractions in digital age

fresh funding

Rice University psychologist Kirsten Adam has received a $600,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award to research how visual distractions like phone notifications, flashing alerts, crowded screens and busy workspaces can negatively impact focus—and how the brain works to try to regain it.

The highly competitive five-year NSF grants are given to career faculty members with the potential to serve as academic models and leaders in research and education. Adam’s work will aim to clarify how the brain refocuses in the age of screens, instant gratification and other lingering distractions. The funding will also be used to train graduate students in advanced cognitive neuroscience methods, expand access to electroencephalography (EEG) and for public data sharing.

“Kirsten is a valued member of the School of Social Sciences, and we are thrilled that she has been awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER,” Rachel Kimbro, dean of social sciences, said in a news release. “Because distractions continue to increase all around us, her research is timely and imperative to understanding their widespread impacts on the human brain.”

In Adam’s lab, participants complete simplified visual search tasks while their brain activity is recorded using EEG, allowing researchers to measure attention shifts in real time. This process then captures the moment attention is drawn from a goal and how much effort it takes to refocus.

According to Rice, Adam’s work will test long-standing theories about distraction. The research is meant to have real-world implications for jobs and aspects of everyday life where attention to detail is key, including medical imaging, airport security screening and even driving.

“At any given moment, there’s far more information in the world than our brains can process,” Adam added in the release. “Attention is what determines what reaches our awareness and what doesn’t.”

Additionally, the research could inform the design of new technologies that would support focus and decision-making, according to Rice.

“We’re not trying to make attention limitless,” Adam added. “We’re trying to understand how it actually works, so we can stop designing environments and expectations that fight against it.”

12 Houston climatetech startups join Greentown Labs' growing incubator

Startup Talk

More than 40 climatetech startups joined the Greentown Labs Houston community in the second half of 2025, 12 of which hail from the Bayou City.

The companies are among a group of nearly 70 total that joined the climatetech incubator, which is co-located in Houston and Boston, in Q3 and Q4.

The new companies that have joined the Houston incubator specialize in a variety of clean energy applications, from green hydrogen-producing water-splitting cycles to drones that service wind turbines.

The local startups that joined Greentown Houston include:

  • Houston-based Wise Energie, which delivers turnkey microgrids that blend vertical-axis wind, solar PV, and battery storage into a single, silent system.
  • The Woodlands-based Resollant, which is developing compact, zero-emissions hydrogen and carbon reactors to provide low-cost, scalable clean hydrogen and high-purity carbon for the energy and manufacturing sectors.
  • Houston-based ClarityCastle, which designs and manufactures modular, soundproof work pods that replace traditional drywall construction with reusable, low-waste alternatives made from recycled materials.
  • Houston-based WattSto Energy, which manufactures vanadium redox flow batteries to deliver long-duration storage for both grid-scale projects and off-grid microgrids.
  • Houston-based AMPeers, which delivers advanced, high-temperature superconductors in the U.S. at a fraction of traditional costs.
  • Houston-based Biosimo, which is developing bio-based platform chemicals, pioneering sustainable chemistry for a healthier planet and economy.
  • Houston-based Ententia, which offers purpose-built, generative AI for industry.
  • Houston-based GeoKiln Energy Innovation, which is developing a new way to produce clean hydrogen by accelerating natural geologic reactions in iron-rich rock formations using precision electrical heating.
  • Houston-based Timbergrove, which builds AI and IoT solutions that connect and optimize assets—boosting visibility, safety, and efficiency.
  • Houston-based dataVediK, which combines energy-domain expertise with advanced machine learning and intelligent automation to empower organizations to achieve operational excellence and accelerate their sustainability goals.
  • Houston-based Resonant Thermal Systems, which uses a resonant energy-transfer (RET) system to extract critical minerals from industrial and natural brines without using membranes or grid electricity.
  • Houston-based Torres Orbital Mining (TOM),which develops autonomous excavation systems for extreme environments on Earth and the moon, enabling safe, data-driven resource recovery and laying the groundwork for sustainable off-world industry.

Other startups from around the world joined the Houston incubator in the same time period, including:

More than 100 startups joined Greentown this year, according to an end-of-year reflection shared by Greentown CEO Georgina Campbell Flatter.

Flatter joined Greentown in the top leadership role in February 2025. She succeeded former CEO and president Kevin Knobloch, who stepped down in July 2024.

"I moved back to the United States in March 2025 after six years overseas—2,000 miles, three children, and one very patient husband later. Over these months, I’ve had the chance to hear from the entrepreneurs, industry leaders, investors, and partners who make this community thrive. What I’ve experienced has left me brimming with urgent optimism for the future we’re building together," she said in the release.

According to Flatter, Greentown alumni raised more than $2 billion this year and created more than 3,000 jobs.

"Greentown startups and ecosystem leaders—from Boston, Houston, and beyond—are showing that we can move further and faster together. That we don’t have to choose between more energy or lower emissions, or between increasing sustainability and boosting profit. I call this the power of 'and,'" Flatter added. "We’re working for energy and climate, innovation and scale, legacy industry and startups, prosperity for people and planet. The 'and' is where possibility expands."

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCaptialHTX.com.

Intuitive Machines forms partnership with Italian companies for lunar exploration services

to the moon

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure and services company Intuitive Machines has forged a partnership with two Italian companies to offer infrastructure, communication and navigation services for exploration of the moon.

Intuitive Machines’ agreement with the two companies, Leonardo and Telespazio, paves the way for collaboration on satellite services for NASA, a customer of Intuitive Machines, and the European Space Agency, a customer of Leonardo and Telespazio. Leonardo, an aerospace, defense and security company, is the majority owner of Telespazio, a provider of satellite technology and services.

“Resilient, secure, and scalable space infrastructure and space data networks are vital to customers who want to push farther on the lunar surface and beyond to Mars,” Steve Altemus, co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machine, said in a news release.

Massimo Claudio Comparini, managing director of Leonardo’s space division, added that the partnership with Intuitive Machines is a big step toward enabling human and robotic missions from the U.S., Europe and other places “to access a robust communications network and high-precision navigation services while operating in the lunar environment.”

Intuitive Machines recently expanded its Houston Spaceport facilities to ramp up in-house production of satellites. The company’s first satellite will launch with its upcoming IM‑3 lunar mission.

Intuitive Machines says it ultimately wants to establish a “center of space excellence” at Houston Spaceport to support missions to the moon, Mars and the region between Earth and the moon.

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