After weeks of great work from writer Mark Humphries, Illustrator Simon Spilsbury and Animator Simon Deshnon - the first Backup Direct animation is ready. Here is a sneak preview of the result before it's rendered and displayed properly on the website.

Phishing email scams have become increasingly popular over the past year. In 2008 alone there were allegedly 285 million personal records exposed as a result of phishing hackers. Early reports from 2009 show figures are only getting larger.

Here is an recent example that I received the other day - and I highlight the main things to look out for.

Have you ever found yourself happily browsing away; clicking innocently through various websites, when suddenly, you are confronted with a pop-up claiming your computer is riddled with viruses? Impossible! You claim. No matter what you select, the program continues to scan your computer, reveal a vast multitude of nasty files you had no idea where there. Then you are offered a very convenient way out of this disaster situation. An unknown 'anti-virus' program can cure it all for you. And all they need, is your credit card details.

With the latest scare surrounding phishing attacks on people's free mail accounts, it has to be time that people stopped using these services for business. You won't keep a business running very long if your customer contact and private invoice details get posted all over the internet.