Guest post this week coming to you from Cassie Phillips of Secure Thoughts. Here’s Cassie:
There is so much that goes into creating a successful business—proposals, investment, content, marketing—that very often the considerations given to online privacy are somewhat less than they should be. Preventing disaster from striking is a practice that is left, far too often, to the last minute, as most business owners don’t believe it matters to them until it actually happens. For the less tech-savvy amongst us, the intricacies of setting up a functioning online security system may seem a little overwhelming, so it’s easier to ignore it until it becomes a significant problem.
However, when dealing with cyberattacks, if it has become a specific problem, then it is already too late. Fortunately, with a bit of research and insider information, it’s easy to gain an understanding of what is meant by privacy, how it is important and why protecting yourself and your company really matters.
Privacy Matters
The online threat continues to grow alongside our virtual and digital lives. As many businesses take to the internet to sell, share and promote, they are becoming frequently exposed to cyber crime.
There are many types of malware designed specifically to take down businesses and countless malicious hackers who are constantly searching for opportune moments to steal your data and personal information, so failing to take these threats seriously is a terrible decision for your business.Whether you’re facing a traditional “denial of service attack,” in which the server is overloaded in order to bring down your site, or you fall victim to the newest, prolific, nasty threat, ransomware, it’s bound to be a disaster for you and your company.
Many people fail to consider the repercussions of an attack until after it’s happened, but a breach of your website could be a disaster for your reputation. Many cybercriminals are aiming to collect details in order to commit identity theft and, if you or your customers end up falling victim, then getting others to have faith in you and what you’re offering may become nearly impossible.
Similarly, if your website itself looks as if it’s suffered an obvious infiltration, customers will avoid your domain in order to protect themselves. It isn’t just a case of fixing some coding or changing your password; if it becomes apparent that you haven’t put successful privacy practices in place, the name and face of your business could be tarnished forever.
Your Privacy
When it comes to securing your business, your own privacy is equally as important as anything else. As the owner, the amount of company data you store makes you the perfect target and by logging into the site via your admin panel you put your company website at risk if you fail to protect yourself. General good computing practices, such as having an up-to-date firewall and security suite installed are essential.
Similarly, it’s worth investing in storage encryption to protect customer details and business data. If you’re working on the go, be sure to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to protect yourself on public networks as these notoriously unsecured connections can be a hot bed for hackers. Using a VPN will encrypt all your traffic between your device and the internet and will allow you to browse securely. It’s also important to be stringent with your passwords; ensure every one is unique and complex to reduce the chance of infiltration.
Your Company’s Privacy
When considering your business’ privacy, it’s worth remembering that showing your customer base that you have a good security system in place is just as important as actually protecting yourself. Customers are extremely quick to leave websites and businesses that they don’t trust, so making sure you present a secure face is important.
One great way to do this is by using a secure sockets layer (SSL). These online add-ons encrypt traffic between the server and the browser and are one of the most common protection protocols worldwide. The SSL symbol has become so widely recognized that showcasing the badge on your site will immediately instill trust in users.
Another important privacy point to consider for your business is in payment transactions. Although using third-party companies, such as PayPal, automatically increases your customers’ privacy, those who want to handle their own direct debit payments should be sure to complete a PCI-DSS compliance test. Through this test, the Security Standards Council assesses your privacy systems and works with you to help improve them.
Good Practices
Although many business owners feel that creating a good, working, initial privacy set-up is all that it takes to ensure successful online security, this is far from the case. Internet privacy is an ongoing practice, and as the face of the digital world is constantly changing, the threats and ways we deal with them change along with it; therefore, it’s important to stay up-to-date and knowledgeable about potential threats. There are many websites and blogs that regularly post about new possible attacks so by doing the research you can stay ahead of the game.
More specifically, regularly updating all of the programs you use is also important. This is because new security holes are being discovered and exploited by hackers and, subsequently, companies release software updates with patches to resolve the problem.
Other good practices include enforcing strict password rules to any subscribers or members of your websites and using monitoring software to pick up on any suspicious activity or traffic.
Online privacy is extremely important for any business, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By taking these simple steps, you can easily start to protect yourself and secure your company. If you have any more tips for fellow business owners, then be sure to leave a comment below!
Cassie Phillips is an internet security specialist and blogger. She is delighted to share these tips with you and hopes that you will seek out more information on the matter to keep yourself and your company safe online.