It goes without saying that the invention of the world wide web has made our lives more interesting – digital entertainment is more innovative than ever before, and we can easily communicate with the rest of the world, and research anything we want with the aid of powerful search engines.
The one thing that we as a society seem to be most impressed with is from the internet is the ability to buy and sell almost anything with a few clicks of the mouse. Statistics have determined that approximately 200 million people in the U.S alone shop online at any given moment, and, as of 2013 there were approximately 102,728 U.S e-tailers in the U.S that generate at least $12,000 every year.
The beauty of e-commerce for the shopper is the luxury of making purchases without having to go to a physical location and the ability to compare prices and product details among the vast majority of e-tailers. For the online business owner, the beauty of managing an online business is the ability to reach a larger audience while increasing brand awareness and generating a livable income. However, as great as online shopping can be, the downside of cyber attacks is ever present.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, there were over 700 data breaches in 2014. Such unlawful attacks can be devastating for the business owner and the online shopper – personal information can be made present and the company can lose its integrity as well as revenue and customer confidence. However, even with the dark shadow of cyber attacks looming over the internet world, small business and e-tailers seem confident about business success for 2015 and beyond.
One of the reasons why companies are so confident is because they are beginning to understand how to effectively fight back and protect themselves from malicious attacks.
Protecting your Small Business from Cyber Attacks:
- Install high-quality internet security: Invest in high-quality security for your website as well as your company’s computers and mobile devices. This advanced security system should continuously scan your devices from viruses, malware, spam and other such attacks -prompting you of attacks and weaknesses and fixing them immediately.
- Lock your WIFI networks: Hackers can sneak into opened WIFI networks and scan for sensitive data, therefore, if your company uses wireless surfing, you should keep your networks locked and hidden and change your password routinely.
- Encrypt your data: Encrypting sensitive information such as passwords, routing numbers, social security numbers and credit card information will make it harder for attackers to breach the data. Additionally, customers will feel more secure to support your company if you protect their information with encryptions.
- Collect e-signatures: Collecting an electronic signature for financial services is a more innovative option than collecting paper signatures. Not only do e-signatures increase productivity and customer satisfaction, using this method also enhances transaction security and better protects sensitive information.
- Continuously back up your data: Backing up your data on a regular basis can a business lifesaver in the unfortunate event of computer crashes, hard drive failures and harmful infections. You can back up your data to external flash drives and on cloud-based backup services.
Online attackers are virtual bullies that make it their business to steal from hard working online companies. However, this constant threat of cyber attacks should not prevent you from expanding your small business to the online world. Instead, the possibility of cyber attacks should inspire you beef up your security tactics and make it a priority to protect your data.
