Tag Archives: secure
Business Website Security Tips (Page 1 of 2)
Business Website Security Tips
Whether it’s a surfer who just unintentionally entered a prohibited part of a website or those who hack into a system deliberately, your goal is to prevent it before it happens. Once a hacker gains access to a they can cause a devastating amount of damage to a business website. There is however, an awful lot that you can do to foil any would be hacker by taking steps to prevent them gaining access.
Good Web Designer With Their Own Secure Hosting
The best preventative action that you could take is to have a great web designer/builder/developer who places your website straight on secure reliable hosting from the start. One who will have tightened up your site security as they built the site. Unfortunately, many web designers don’t supply their own secure web hosting for clients and don’t feel that it’s their job to ensure that your website is secured. A good design company will be mindful of site security as they build as they won’t want either your site or their hosting compromised.
Use Digital Certificates (SSL’s)
If you’ve an ecommerce business website, you should use digital certificates. This helps to protect sensitive data when passed using a form. This could include anything from customer credit card information, to address and contact details. It’s important for business website owners to be able to assure their clients that their website is secure. A digital certificate goes a long way towards countenancing clients to trust a business is legitimate and entrust sensitive information while making a purchase on your website.
Stay Up To Date
Keep all website scripts up to date and make sure your web host is keeping their software up to date e.g. with versions of PHP and MySql on the web hosting. If you don’t you’re bound to have your site hacked! Good script and software makers release updates and patches as soon as a new exploit is identified – apply them as soon as you are notified about them.
Keep Regularly Updated
Some of the most important security procedures include methods to make sure a Web site’s forbidden pages are inaccessible to anyone who lacks authority to view them. Never leave script config files as writable and avoid using scripts that must have 777 to function.
As criminals constantly devise new ways to elude modern security, security procedures are constantly being updated to ensure that the latest version includes protection against these new security threats and risks. It’s the business website owner’s duty to make certain that their security is up-to-date. This makes the correction of such problems, if they arise, simpler.
A business website owner should also regularly change all administrator passwords and not make passwords too easy to guess. It’s often astounded me when asked to work on a website to then be told the password I need is ‘test’ ‘or sitename’! Never use dictionary words as your passwords and never use names. Instead use a mix of upper and lower case letters plus numerals.
Business Website Security Tips (Page 1 of 2)
Business Website Security Tips
Whether it’s a surfer who just unintentionally entered a prohibited part of a website or those who hack into a system deliberately, your goal is to prevent it before it happens. Once a hacker gains access to a they can cause a devastating amount of damage to a business website. There is however, an awful lot that you can do to foil any would be hacker by taking steps to prevent them gaining access.
Good Web Designer With Their Own Secure Hosting
The best preventative action that you could take is to have a great web designer/builder/developer who places your website straight on secure reliable hosting from the start. One who will have tightened up your site security as they built the site. Unfortunately, many web designers don’t supply their own secure web hosting for clients and don’t feel that it’s their job to ensure that your website is secured. A good design company will be mindful of site security as they build as they won’t want either your site or their hosting compromised.
Use Digital Certificates (SSL’s)
If you’ve an ecommerce business website, you should use digital certificates. This helps to protect sensitive data when passed using a form. This could include anything from customer credit card information, to address and contact details. It’s important for business website owners to be able to assure their clients that their website is secure. A digital certificate goes a long way towards countenancing clients to trust a business is legitimate and entrust sensitive information while making a purchase on your website.
Stay Up To Date
Keep all website scripts up to date and make sure your web host is keeping their software up to date e.g. with versions of PHP and MySql on the web hosting. If you don’t you’re bound to have your site hacked! Good script and software makers release updates and patches as soon as a new exploit is identified – apply them as soon as you are notified about them.
Keep Regularly Updated
Some of the most important security procedures include methods to make sure a Web site’s forbidden pages are inaccessible to anyone who lacks authority to view them. Never leave script config files as writable and avoid using scripts that must have 777 to function.
As criminals constantly devise new ways to elude modern security, security procedures are constantly being updated to ensure that the latest version includes protection against these new security threats and risks. It’s the business website owner’s duty to make certain that their security is up-to-date. This makes the correction of such problems, if they arise, simpler.
A business website owner should also regularly change all administrator passwords and not make passwords too easy to guess. It’s often astounded me when asked to work on a website to then be told the password I need is ‘test’ ‘or sitename’! Never use dictionary words as your passwords and never use names. Instead use a mix of upper and lower case letters plus numerals.
Could A One Time Password Already Be Securing Your Industry?
Technology affects every aspect of our life, especially our security. Luckily there is always new technology being created to help keep our lives more secure. As our lives become digitized it seems that more and more sensitive information is being added to databases connected to networks or accessible from the web. This raises a red flag to anyone who has been affected by identity theft or fraud. With all of our personal data being stored in so many places it would seem that we more vulnerable to malicious attacks than ever. However this is not true, as technology begins to change the way we interact and share information it is also changing the way we secure our data.
Two- factor authentication utilizing a one-time password is technology that has been around for decades although the need for such security has risen lately. With many industries going paperless and wireless it opens the gate for hackers to siphon private data. Industries such as education, financial services and healthcare are all in need of higher security since they deal with important information that must be kept confidential.
OTP in Education
The education industry has been utilizing electronic records for a long time to manage students. These records are stored on a computer that is connected to a network for administrative use, the very same network that students are accessing from their laptops, tablets and smartphones.
Even on a password secured network these records are vulnerable since you do not need to be extremely computer savvy to use a key logger. Any student could simple attach a device to their teachers computer or install malicious software that operates discreetly behind the scenes to log keystrokes. Potentially stealing their teachers login credentials and gaining access to confidential information.
Any agency collecting, maintaining and storing sensitive information is responsible for managing that data responsibly as stated in “The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act” also known as FERPA. With security being their government appointed responsibility and malicious attacks becoming easier to perform, many education agencies are securing their confidential information with two-factor authentication through a one-time password.
OTP for Financial Services
Identity fraud is most apparent in the financial services industry for a good reason, it deals directly with money. Just like everything technology has affected the way we bank with online banking being offered by almost every bank. However this poses a threat to client identities. To keep account holders secure a one-time password is used to keep online banking customers safe by authenticating a user when they log in from different IP addresses. Two-factor authentication is also used to identify an account holder at almost every point of transaction through a bank card and PIN.
OTP in Healthcare
The healthcare industry is facing many changes in the future from regulations demanding increased security of patients confidential information. With more sensitive data being readily available over the internet for physicians the need to secure that information is extremely critical. Authorization to access a patients medical record is crucial and a one-time password provides that security by identifying the physician, issuing the OTP and allowing a single sign on. Even on mobile devices such as laptops and tablets, zero footprint security can allow access to records without leaving any data on the device.
Transmitting data securely is the future of security in almost every industry. Info is power and with almost every industry moving over to wireless interaction between tablets, laptops and smartphones hackers are using technology against us to gain power. Securing that information through two-factor authentication and one-time password services is the future of technology in order to protect the same users it was put in place to help.