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4 Proactive Security Measures Your Online Business Needs To Succeed

4 Proactive Security Measures your online business needs to succeed and protecting your business from Security Breaches and Cyber Attacks.

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4 Proactive Security Measures Your Online Business Needs

As a website owner, it’s crucial for you to take an active approach to cybersecurity. After all, security breaches were estimated to cost businesses a staggering $11.7 million in 2017 alone.

Yet still, companies continue to underestimate the power of cyber criminals and overestimate the effectiveness of their reactive measures to protect their enterprises from malicious activity.

In other words, businesses tend to wait for something bad to happen before they take action, rather than try to prevent the cyber activity from occurring in the first place.

If you’re in charge of protecting your business from security breaches and don’t want to rely on the “wait and see method,” check out these preventative measures you can implement starting today.

Cybersecurity

1. Use a Secure Platform

The platform your business is built on will make all the difference when it comes to how protected it is from outside threats.
In fact, many of the most reliable website platforms on the market, such as WordPress, Shopify, and Wix come with built-in security measures designed to keep your data safe (not to mention loading fast to help boost sales).

Adding to that, WordPress comes with plenty of additional security plugins you can install and activate on your website as added layers of protection.

For example, there are free and premium plugins to combat spam, brute force attacks, malicious code injections, malware, bad IPs, and more.

Brute-force attack

Better yet, some solutions offer site monitoring that will identify suspicious activity immediately so that your website doesn’t come crashing down after the fact.

2. Train Your Employees

There’s a good chance that your business becomes vulnerable to outside attack because your employees don’t understand the importance of site security.

In fact, nearly 90% of cyber attacks can be traced back to human error.

Whether your business is attacked due to negligence, a lack of education, or outright malicious activity from the inside of your corporation, the fact is, it happens.

In response to this, you can implement mandatory employee training that not only teaches people security protocol but outlines the consequences for not following the rules.

Here are some of the most important lessons to teach all employees that have access to your business data:

1. That logging off every time they leave a computer, or another device that requires a login is required at all times

2. Any web application not approved by upper management for use during company time and on company devices is not allowed to be installed without approval, regardless of how much time it saves

3. BYOD (bring your own device) policies will be in place, meaning no one is allowed to use their own devices to save company data, even if they need to work outside the office, and only approved devices assigned to employees will be allowed for use

4. Encourage those performing work outside the company building to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt their connection, rather than the free public WiFi

5. Use online storage platforms like Dropbox or Google Drive, rather than removable devices, to store sensitive company data

Lastly, you can enforce the use of strong passwords, or better yet, assign all employees strong passwords for logging into devices using a free tool such as LastPass’ Password Generator:

Password Generator LastPass

You’d be surprised how many people still use passwords like “12345,” especially on work devices, leaving your business vulnerable to brute force attacks, malicious code, and stolen data.

3. Perform Backups (Just in Case)

Even the most vigilant of companies will fall victim to malicious activity now and then. And, depending on how severe that cyberattack is, those businesses stand to lose a lot of money.

After all, anytime your company’s site is down, whether it’s an internal system that employees use to work or an eCommerce website processing customer sales, you lose money when your site goes down.

That’s why having a recent backup of your site, including its files and database, is critical for those times you experience downtime.

Luckily, if you use the reliable WordPress platform, you have many backup solutions to choose from:

● BackupBuddy
● UpdraftPlus
● BackWPup
● VaultPress

Also, it’s likely the hosting provider you use to host your company’s files provides an offsite backup solution that can easily be restored.

hosting provider

Here are some of the most common ways your business can be negatively affected when a cyber attack occurs:

● A computer crash and accidental deletion of all site files and data
● Malware hijacks with changes made to your website
● Stolen equipment that held data needed to run your operation
● Online storage accounts (such as those stored on your host’s servers) hacked
● Ransomware attacks that demand payment in exchange for data returns
● A decrease in CLV, or customer lifetime value, which can hurt sales in the long run
● And much more

If you have a backup of your entire corporation’s data on hand and ready for the unthinkable, the damage done from some site downtime will be minimal.

4. Invest in Professional Security Services

You might not have any idea how to protect your business websites, or you may not have the time to take on another task. But that’s no reason to take a reactive approach to site security.

If you need help with preventing malicious cyber activity within your corporation, look into working with a company that offers managed SIEM services to ensure your business is protected 24/7 against attacks.

professional security services to your online business

Not sure what to look for in cybersecurity services?

Take a look:

1. Penetration Testing Services: have your network tested from the inside out so all weaknesses can be exposed and solved before an attack occurs.

2. Security Scanning: regular and automated scans to reveal vulnerabilities.

3. Real-Time Monitoring and Fixes: 24/7 site monitoring, intrusion detection, data loss prevention, traffic monitoring, and more

4. Detailed Reporting: you should always know the status of your network, even if everything has been proven to be safe and secure.

5. Effective Communication: your service professional should be able to effectively communicate with you, your IT team, and even your employees to make sure policies are being followed and everyone understand the importance of proactive security measures.

Hiring an experienced professional to make sure your business is always protected is the key to maintaining your success and continued business growth.

That way, should anything happen that threatens the security of your company’s data, someone is on hand immediately to put a halt to the attack.

Final Thoughts

Cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of any online business.

Whether you rely on the business your website generates to make you money or the internal systems for your employees to get their jobs done, a security breach stands to do a lot of damage from the inside out.

If you want to make sure your company stays up and running the way it should at all times, make sure to invest in some of them proactive defense measures mentioned above.

If you don’t, you stand to lose revenue, customers, and the reputation you worked so hard to build in this competitive online world.

We are an Instructor, Modern Full Stack Web Application Developers, Freelancers, Tech Bloggers, and Technical SEO Experts. We deliver a rich set of software applications for your business needs.

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HTTP vs. HTTPS: How to Select the Best Option for Your Website

HTTP vs. HTTPS: An HTTP is a HyperText Transfer Protocol, whereas a WWW is a World Wide Web that connects clients and servers.

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HTTP vs. HTTPS for Your Website

Can you even imagine that a single letter could make much difference with your website ranking? Confused by what I am talking about? Straightforward, it is the HyperText Transfer Protocol.

1. What so important about HTTP?

If you have noticed since 2014, Google announced that websites that hold the HTTPS on it would obtain a hike in its search ranking. You might have wondered, what would this “S” does with the website’s ranking. I would say it has a lot more than you think.

In today’s post, let us investigate HTTP vs. HTTPS and what is the best option to select the HTTPS for your website. Would you be interested to know more about it?

Let’s get started!!!

HTTP vs. HTTPS How to Select the Best Option for Your Website

2. What is HTTP?

An HTTP is a HyperText Transfer Protocol, whereas a WWW is a World Wide Web that connects clients and servers. Now clubbing these two techniques together makes some sense. It is done by establishing a communication between the client computers and web servers by sending an HTTP request and receiving an HTTP response on the other end.

An HTTP being a stateless protocol does not save or store any of the previous web sessions. As the protocol is stateless, there is less usage of data; therefore, increasing data transfer speed. There are several other benefits of using HTTP. A few of them are as follows,

  • Helps in accessing HTML pages
  • Websites without confidential data use HTTP to access
  • Functional and efficient

3. What is HTTPS?

The HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) security is the essential thing that is very much needed these days. In recent times we face a lot of security breaches, especially when it comes to eCommerce websites, there is a lot of complaints from the customers that they have issues, or their money is stolen at the transaction. All these are referred to as security threats. In order to avoid such discrepancies, the HTTPS was introduced to ensure security among users.

SSL and HTTPS

4. Select the best SSL Certificate for your website

Before we could move into choosing the right SSL certificate for your website, let us investigate the types of SSL certificates that exist.

The types of SSL certificates are as follows,

  • Single Domain SSL Certificate
  • Multi-domain SSL Certificate
  • Wildcard SSL Certificate
  • Organizational Validation SSL Certificate
  • The extended Validation SSL certificate

5. The Extended Validation SSL certificate (EV-SSL)

The Extended Validation SSL Certificate promises you with the highest level of security to your website and the most top validation done by a Certificate authority. The brand that involves the certificate will have to undergo a rigorous background check and various confirmation process in order to get it validated.

To be more authentic, EV-SSL is the best form of security and a cost-effective certificate that can be added to your website.

Benefits of having an EV-SSL Certificate:

  • EV SSL is intended to obviously convey the dependability of the site to its users by offering a green bar that assures client certainty.
  • EV decreases cart abandonment and improves client conversions. You get higher revenue per exchange and higher lifetime client esteem.
  • Demonstrates your site has passed similar security checks as the other significant sites.
  • It isn’t merely the best SSL certificate for WordPress and the best SSL certificate for internet business yet for every single other sort of site.
  • Most elevated SSL security levels – 2048-bit digital signatures all through the whole certificate bind and up to 256-bit encryption as standard.

6. Organizational Validated SSL Certificate

Organizational Validated SSL certificate ensures high-level web security. The OV-SSL certificate adds up validation of the complete business details, which includes name, address, domain name, and any other sensitive information of the website holder.

The installation of an OV-SSL certificate to your domain shows a green padlock symbol at the front. The certificate provides warranty assurance and 100% security with secure data encryption.

Especially when it comes to eCommerce websites, a customer can be hassle-free on noticing the HTTPS on the address bar as it ensures the sign of security to its customers.

HTTP and HTTPS

7. Domain Validated SSL Certificate

A domain validated SSL does not authenticate or validate business information. The certificate still ensures high-level security, but low level of validation compared to EV and OV SSL.

8. Single domain SSL Certificate

The single SSL certificate allows a customer to secure only a single domain/sub-domain on one single certificate. The single-domain SSL certificate ensures strong security against data theft and security breaches.

A single-domain SSL certificate can be used to protect a single domain, individual sub-domain, hostname.

There are other cheap SSL certificates that can help you protect your website from security breaches. They are as follows,

  • Multi-domain SSL certificate
  • Wildcard SSL certificate
  • Unified Communications certificate

9. Why do you need an SSL certificate for your website?

On the off chance, you need to demonstrate your character and authenticity to your site users; at that point, you certainly need to add an SSL certificate to your site. SSL security is, for the most part, used to protect clients’ data. In this way, they are must for website pages if,

  • You’re selling something on the web (you are assuming acknowledgment card, standardized savings numbers, and some other individual information during the request procedure).
  • You are enabling clients to make accounts with your organization.
  • Your site is encouraging login and enrollment options.
  • You are accepting clients’ data, reports, and photographs by means of the form(s).
  • You give secure administrations like web banking and online email (where complete protection is required).

10. Wrap up:

The most valuable thing you need to know about website security is portrayed in this post. This helps you to have a better understanding of HTTP, HTTPS, and the importance of having an SSL certificate for your website and your online business.

The different types of SSL certificates are mentioned above for your convenience that you may choose the right one for your business. Finding the cheapest SSL certificate and an authentic one would never be a typical task for you. Install the best certificate for your online business and skyrocket your business with trust and authenticity.

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