Protecting your online information
Security is just as important to an online business as it is to a high street shop. In the same way that a shop will fit secure locks, shutters and more commonly, CCTV, so it is important that an online business takes steps to protect itself from internet crime.
There are significant benefits associated with putting your business “online”, such as:
- Access to a wider marketplace
- Open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Lower cost of sales
However, being available to your customers in this way is not without risk, so it is good business practice to minimise the risk by investing in robust security technology.
Recent research, carried out by IP communications provider Mitel, revealed that, in the event of a major disaster, 68% of businesses felt it would take two days or more to become operational again. Many very small businesses leave themselves particularly exposed and unfortunately there is evidence that all too many simply do not survive a major outage.
Minimising the risks
Creating a Security Plan. It is important that you have some idea of the value of your digital assets, where they reside, who has access to them and what level of access you allow to your different classes of users. Once you know this, you can start to evaluate the impact of a serious network outage on your business.
Do you sell from your website? How long could your website be offline before it had a serious financial impact on your business? Would a security breach disrupt your supply chain? Do you have insurance against security breaches? Think about what your business needs now and for the future. What security training do you provide for your employees? How likely are you to employ remote workers in the future?
Installing a firewall. These can be large-scale hardware devices or a simple piece of software downloaded on to your PC or server. A firewall isolates a computer or network from the public internet and inspects incoming data to determine whether it should be allowed through or blocked.
Installing Anti-virus software. This is used to protect your PC or network from attack from viruses, Trojans, etc. Computer hackers are constantly seeking new ways of attacking networks, so it is important that your anti-virus software is regularly updated. Many anti-virus packages will download updates to your software automatically, thus keeping your anti-virus software up to date and minimising the risk to your business.
Backing-up your data. This should be done regularly. If your PC or network suffered a major fault, your business information would be locked inside or possibly lost, so it is important to back-up regularly. The back up file should, ideally be stored at a separate location from your computer or network. This would allow you to carry on trading, in the event that you could not access your premises, for any reason.
These hints are intended to give some helpful advice, but you should discuss this in more detail with an experienced IT advisor.