One of the biggest concerns small business owners have is legal protection. How do you protect your online business? What steps do you need to take to ensure that it’s protected?
Fortunately, there are plenty of simple things that you can employ to bulletproof your business.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how you can ensure that your business remains legally sound and secure from the majority of cyberthreats you’ll likely face.
The number of ransomware variants is increasing. It means that cybercriminals are continuing to modify their ransomware, penetrating what software developers built and created.
You must ensure that you update your entire security program and all the software programs installed on your computer and website.
Better yet, make sure that you automatically set software programs and install updates as soon as they’re released. Doing so protects you from hackers that can exploit and infiltrate your network and website.
In the same way, you should also ensure that a PCI-compliant host your online store or site, a trusted web hosting service provider. This ensures that the payment and checkout processes of your site are safe and secure from hackers which are digging up possible loopholes which they can exploit later on.
Choose a secure hosting that will provide your site with an SSL certificate. Doing so will mark your site with HTTPS, standing for HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure.
Having this certificate ensures all communication between the browser of the user and your site is encrypted.
Another excellent way to protect your online business is to have a great backup strategy. When you have all your files backed up, you can quickly restore them and get your business up and running as soon as your system is cleaned up.
Rather than storing your files on a cloud drive, take your time to download these and save them on CDs. That way, you’re sure that your backup files aren’t infected with ransomware when you get hit.
Firewalls monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic to permit or block data packets.
To secure the internal network from threats, make sure that you install firewalls on servers on the office devices that you’re using, from your desktops, laptops, to your smartphones.
Passwords are the first and most important defense against malicious attacks on your brand and business. You need to ensure that you regularly change passwords or have strong passwords even if you have no reason to suspect that your security is compromised.
Let’s say you’re like most people who use the same email log-in and passwords to most services that you’re subscribing to online. You signed up to a site or service that doesn’t follow all the basic security procedures, like not storing passwords on an encrypted database.
Then, weeks or months later, this site was hacked, and all the user registration was stolen, including yours. Then, your data is entered into a program that’s designed to try the same username and password combinations on different services online like Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, etc.
You’re easily vulnerable to these things using the same username, email, or password. A great solution to this is to use a password manager, so you don’t always have to develop new passwords for various online services. Another best line of defense is enabling two-factor authentication to your most important accounts.
You’re provided with a unique, one-time code each time you log in. So, even if the hacker manages to get hold of your email and password, they still can’t access your account without the code.
Finally, it would be best to educate your employees about cyber safety. Even the best software won’t work if your employees do not know basic things about security risks that might happen.
They could be unaware that all the pop-ups, emails, or links they’re getting damage your online business. You need to educate them about the different anti-virus programs to ensure that their devices are clean.
A VPN is an excellent solution for securing your business data. If you have remote employees and you want them to access applications and sensitive data even if they are at home, you’ll need a VPN to keep them secured.
By using VPN as part of your cybersecurity solution, you can develop your private network. It allows you to create more secure communications, which prevents cyberattacks that might change or steal sensitive business information.
Knowing how you protect your online business from possible security threats is crucial to your business’s success. The last thing you want is to lose precious time and money or repair something that hurts your business’ reputation. That’s why you must pay attention to security.
By just doing a few simple steps, you can ensure that all your business’ data, network, and devices are safe and secure from any possible security threats. These strategies let you have a healthy business that you’ll be able to grow for years to come. Good luck!
Author Bio
Kenneth Sytian is the CEO of Sytian Productions Web Design Philippines, one of the leading web design services in the Philippines. He has been designing websites and developing web apps for more than a decade.
