More and more you’ll hear about hacks and security breaches on the news. The issue is becoming more and more common as open source platforms are now commonly used, and often the lack of security updates are not out of the ordinary, making users vulnerable to malicious activity. Here are some tips to help you stay safe. Here are 7 tips for preventing breaches and hacks in your small business and on your personal computer.
Education
Users: Educate yourself and your employees about how to avoid email scams. Phishing scams are done by email spoofing and fraud messaging. Be careful of opening attachments. It only takes one click for malware, ransomware, or viruses to take over your system.
Businesses: For businesses who want to teach their employees, educate, give them exercises, and test them on identifying these types of emails.
Hosting
Users: Ensure that you use a trustworthy host who keeps an eye on security and maintenance of your email.
Businesses: If you are a small business, make sure you have a secure website. Make sure your host specializes in security and good support.) Remember, you get what you pay for.
Use a Secure Ecommerce or Gaming Platform
Users: Make sure to shop on websites that have a valid SSL certificate. If you are on a website that requires any type of transaction or important account information, make sure that the website starts in https://. Online Casino’s as casino.com are an ideal example of websites that need to be extremely secure.
Businesses: Many ecommerce platforms are open source, and if you don’t take the measure of updating your software, your online store is at risk. For those who cannot afford to take that risk or don’t have the resources, use a hosted shopping cart that is PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant. Hosted ecommerce has a full time staff patching security and ensuring your performance and uptime.
Utilize Anti-Virus and Firewalls
Users: Ensure that your computer anti-virus and firewall is turned on and up to date to prevent breaches in your PC security.
Businesses: Use firewalls and anti-virus in your business as well as utilize firewalls on your website. This is often a service that your host can provide.
Regularly Change Passwords and Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Users: This should be a common practice for keeping your personal information safe. Make sure to log out of public computers, or avoid entering sensitive information on such systems.
Businesses: Enforce your users to change their passwords and enforce strong password security. Use multi-factor authentication when applicable, requiring verification on mobile devices.
Update Applications Regularly
Businesses: Update your software regularly, especially if it is open source. Open source software is vulnerable if the latest security patches are not applied.
Backup Important Information
Users: Ensure that your important information is backed up regularly.
Businesses: Backup servers and critical information daily. Redundancy is crucial for businesses that require uptime.
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