Most people have internet access through work, home and even cellular phones, providing a new resource for entrepreneurial opportunity. Starting internet-based businesses is much less expensive than in years past. As a result, new e-commerce businesses open daily. Many home-based and part-time business are joining the trend adding extra household income. A large number of these new business opportunities offer digitally-based products and services. Retail establishments and ship on-demand services have joined in and are reaching out to new and existing customers beyond their brick and mortar stores. Shipping products through orders created by e-commerce is a great source of new revenue with less overhead. Businesses have always faced security and theft issues. Cyber-access being so accessible this naturally creates a need for cyber-security to protect business proprietary information and products.
There are a number of cyber-security guidelines that every new and emerging online business should follow. Many business owners, particularly those with smaller operations consider themselves immune. Statistics gathered by the Ponemon Institute’s 2017 State of Cybersecurity in Small & Medium-Sized Businesses report show that cyber-attacks have risen from 55% of small business to 61% over the last 2 years. 58% of all malware attacks are directed at small business.
Obviously, the first security guideline is to know that your business is at risk of a security breach from an unwanted source. To top that off, new information security laws deem the business owner may be held culpable for client information if basic security measures are not implemented before an attack. Now is the time to review the potential threats and take appropriate actions.
Sources of Cyber-Attack Threats
Attacks may come from an internal source. Current or former employees with access to sensitive information, customer files and proprietary information can be a threat. There are easily acquired security programs to help track and protect sensitive areas of your information. These are used to track access times, duration and files for specific users. There may be a disgruntled or dishonest former employee trying to gain access. Systems should be in place to immediately delete access protocols and passwords any time an employee is terminated or moved to a position not requiring access to specific information. Most employees are honest and have a stake in company success. Yet this remains as a source of business cyber-attacks.
Phishing is another large concern for e-commerce business. This crime appears to have become advanced, organized and well funded. Unscrupulous characters will use phishing to try and get an employee to open an unsuspecting email link. Often these communications will appear to come from someone in the company or an important client or customer. Employees need to be trained to identify all suspicious or questionable email. These links will often contain malware as ransomware attacks. The viruses disable the computer and networks until a ‘ransom’ is paid to regain access. This can be very costly to any business.
Education Required To Repel Cyber-Attacks And Maintain Cyber-Security
Establishing educational guideline for your business is very important. Employees need to be aware of possible threats and trained in how to react. Stickman Cyber Security By Design is an excellent resource to prepare your company to repel any potential cyber-attacks. As a managed security service they stand as an excellent source of advanced education.
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) provides an information security standard for handling credit card protocols and security. The PCI Security Standards Council is a good resource for training to prevent breaches with this information and training employees in the proper handling of sensitive information. Consider using this training resource as an educational opportunity to help aid in your business security.
Malware – Undesirable Programming Attacks
Malware is any undesired software that gets installed on a computer or electronic system or network. Cyber-attackers try to get these unwanted specific task performing bits of programming on your system to harm you and provide them with a means to access your business operations. Malware may include ransomware, spyware, adware, bots and Trojans. To prevent these threats from taking hold in your system it is important to implement a good solid antivirus technology software program. Together with a properly functioning up-to-date operating system, firewalls and firmware the anti-virus system will help block and eliminate this unwanted programming.
SQL is another source of malware threat to e-commerce. Businesses rely on their website and the database files running in applications behind the scenes. SQL injection is when hackers try to steal or change the databases of a web application. Malicious SQL commands are sent to the database server. Login or registration pages are preferred sources for inputting their malicious codes. A web security team works to prevent these attacks for larger companies. A reliable web hosting service has teams to work on your behalf to prevent these attacks for you. Therefore it is important to only work with reputable providers.
Personal Cell Phone And Devices May Be A Threat
Yet another source of security breaches is personal cell phones and tablets. More and more companies are enabling employees to access company servers with their personal devices, referred to as BYOD, or bring your own device. Establishing set protocols for BYOD will greatly help reduce threats. Public Wi-Fi is unsecured, offering little or no protection against transfer of sensitive data. The employee can unknowingly infect your system by accessing your servers and databases through the personal device.
The solution to this problem is to establish VPN protocols for use with personal devices. VPN connections (VPNs) create a point-to-point private link to send data between two computers across the internet. To set a VPN from your phone simply refer to your phone’s instruction manual or check online for directions. The process is very easy.
As you can see, in today’s high technology, instant access, internet connected world cyber-threats are real and affect large and small businesses daily. It is important to educate yourself and your employees of potential threats to remain competitive in the business world.
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