Consumers are generally wary of online transactions. They worry that companies will share their personal data with other corporations without permission or that hackers will steal their personal data submitted online. They may trust your company but are unable to trust your website or your payment processor. You have to work with your customers to help them build trust in your website.
Building Trust in Your Website.
Install a Secure Server Certificate on your server. Put a ‘lock’ on people’s browsers so the information remains secure.
Have a clear, clean privacy policy statement. Tell people you do not sell addresses; have a legal document as required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Secure your server. Pay attention to the Web server’s activities and best practices and to the software, they run. Keep up-to-date on patches.
Install an Intrusion Detection System. This will prevent the hackers from breaking into your system.
Turn off unneeded services and ports. Do away with unused software as well. Make your system invisible to Internet messages from other servers if you don’t need to access a database from other systems.
Fraud-Proof Your Online Business.
Secure your online e-business against the ‘phishing’ scams and direct e-mail campaigns to your customers posing as your business by unscrupulous hackers.
Protect your password. Change your passwords regularly. Never share password for sensitive applications with anyone. Change it after web designers or programmers finish their work.
Use proven service providers. For custom programming, use the services of only reputable companies to protect sensitive data.
Shred everything. Shred bank statements, check stubs, printed e-mails, name lists and other related items that can lead someone back to you, your customers, your accounts or your online address.
Fight the clone wars. Keep an eye out for illegal copies of your website posing as your business. Threaten their hosting company and their domain registrar, and tell them all to desist from illegal activity.
Troll eBay regularly. Sign up with eBay’s Vero program to get the offenders selling bootleg copies of your products to shut down. Set up automated searches to mail you any time a listing is placed with your name.
Do not share information. Never leave your incoming or outgoing mail in your mailbox overnight. Be careful of any shareware. Download only secure software to avoid spyware or viruses to steal or spoil your software.
Securing Your Computer
Keep your computer safe and running at top-notch speed. Maintain it properly, clean the unit and keep components in cool place.
Have a robust operating system.
Install secure anti-hacker and ant virus software.
Perform daily maintenance on your computer to keep it free from unneeded programs.
Have a backup drive to upload the information from one to another computer.
Keep important duplicate data off-line to protect it and you from hackers.
Keeping your online business secure from hacking is essential to gaining the trust of your customers and retaining them. Hackers are getting smarter by the day. Do keep updated on latest techniques to avoid being caught unawares.
Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.
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Thursday, May 29, 2008
Secure Your Online Business From Hacking
Labels: Secure Your Online Business
Posted by Hafisdn at 9:00 PM
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1 comments:
Thanks a lot for Posting a helpful article.
Information-technology security becomes even more important when operating a business online. It’s critical to take the steps necessary to protect an online business against hackers who could steal vital information, or viruses which could bring your computer system – and your business — to its knees. Of course no system is foolproof. If someone is absolutely determined to break into your system, given enough time and money, they likely can. But it’s wise to put as many safeguards in place as possible, so that hackers will look for easier targets. What follows is a few steps security specialists recommend that business owners take to protect their systems.
1. Change default passwords and account names in place when your computer system was installed. Installing a machine or software out of the box without reconfiguring it for security is one of the most common security mistakes that online businesses make, but it’s one that’s easily corrected. Failing to make these changes makes it simple for hackers to gain access since they know or can determine what these original settings are.
2. Update your computer operating systems. Manufacturers upgrade security safeguards often. Sign up for the automatic updates that install security patches. Hackers often are on the lookout for systems that don’t have the latest safeguards. And look into anti-virus software, again with automatic updates. Software should also be put in place to block spam and detect spyware, the programs that can be surreptitiously installed from outside a computer system and feed sensitive information to the intruder.
3. Use encryption software to protect customers’ financial information from theft during transactions. Visa USA and MasterCard International Inc. require most businesses operating online to verify that they have taken a number of steps, including data encryption, to protect customers who use their credit cards. If you meet those requirements, your online operation is likely to be fairly secure.
By the way for more Information check this link: http://www.eccouncil.org/certification/ec-council_certified_security_officer.aspx
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