As an online
business owner, you face treacherous Internet security risks every single time
you're online. Viruses, hackers, and spam await you at every turn. The reality
is that these threats are always going to be a component of being online and
doing business online. Unfortunately, they seem to be here to stay.
Given that, there are a number of precautions you can take to make
yourself, your business and the visitors to your site as safe as possible. Here
are 8 tactics proven to enhance your Internet security:
1.
Virus Protection.
Make sure you have the latest virus updates installed on your computer and let
the software thoroughly scan your entire computer daily to ensure that no
viruses successfully planted themselves on your hard drive. Set your virus
checker to scan your email when it downloads, as well.
I use AVG
Free to scan both my computer and my email, They also have a fee-based
version that provides complete Internet protection. McAfee and Norton also offer
similar products.
For spyware and malware protection, I use Counterspy. The company that makes this software also has a
new product to protect against viruses and spyware called
VIPRE.
2. Spam Blocker. I have a spam blocker that I use with Outlook
called Cloudmark Desktop
that does a great job of helping me train my email program to recognize spam.
What I like about this program is that the program users tell Cloudmark what
spam arrives in their inboxes, and the programmers update Cloudmark accordingly
to recognize those kinds of emails. Other spam blocker programs include
IHateSpam and MailWasher.
3.
Web hosting Spam Blocker. To block spam before it even hits my Outlook inbox,
one of my hosting accounts offers Postini spam blocking on my server. I pay a
few dollars extra each month to add this service, but it is well worth it, as it
routinely blocks at least 100 emails per day that are spam. I always have the
option to log into that account if I am missing an email that may have ended up
there accidentally, and I can "whitelist" the sender so that it goes though
without a problem the next time. Every night this service sends me a list of
emails that are questionable (i.e. the service isn't sure if it's spam), and I
quickly scan them to approve any that have been misidentified.
4.
Email Address Spam.
One of the easiest ways your email address gets added to massive lists of
spammed email addresses is by including a clear link to your email address on
your website. Spambots routinely patrol the Internet looking for readily
available email addresses to harvest online. Even if you have the link "cloaked"
by saying "click here to email", which will bring up your email address in the
visitor's email program, the spambot is able to read the HTML sourcecode and
harvest the email address.
Instead, remove your email address off of all
of your websites. Use a contact form for people to email you that incorporates
CAPTCHA technology (where the form filler has to read a graphic representation
of a word or set or numbers to prove that s/he isn't a spambot). I use the free
version of Freedback for this task.
5. Discussion
List Spam. If your email address must
appear on any discussion lists, blog posts, or forum postings, use a free email
address like the ones available at Gmail or Yahoo. In this way, you protect your
"real" email address from being picked up by spambots.
6.
Catch-All Email Address. If your web host company permits, create a catch-all
email address that receives all email not specifically marked for a set POP
email address or email forward you may have set up. When you sign up for
someone's free giveaway, for example, that will add you to their marketing list,
you can then enter an email address that reminds you of the site or giveaway
where you used it.
For example, if
I'm signing up for Jane Smith's free dog training tips report, I might use
dogtraining@mydomain.com, which will then end up in my catch-all domain email
address. In this way, you don't have to give away your "real" email address, and
you can determine if the list holder sells or rents your email address to
another. So, then, if you suddenly begin to get emails to your
dogtraining@mydomain.com address from
a dog food company you've never heard
of, you'll know that Jane sold or rented your email address to them.
7.
Firewalls and Hackers. Make sure that you are using Windows firewall
protection, at a minimum, to protect your computer from being hacked while
you're online. Or, use a free firewall like ZoneAlarm. You can also upgrade for a fee to get enhanced
protection.
If you use a wireless router, be sure to set a password to
secure it so that anyone passing by your home or office cannot hijack your
signal and potentially hack your computer. I was resetting the wireless
connection on my laptop just last week and discovered that there were 3
unsecured wireless connections in my neighborhood. I live in a residential
section with no businesses, so I know that these were unsecure wireless routers
in my neighbors' homes.
8. Secure Server. If you're selling something online, either your
website hosting account or your shopping cart provider needs to have a security
certificate so that any monetary
transactions can be made over a secure
server. You can check to see if your checkout process is secure by looking for
https:// in the address window of your browser when you are on the payment page
of your site/shopping cart. Some browsers will also show a gold locked padlock
icon when you are on a secure server.
I had to purchase
a security certificate from my hosting company for my membership site, as the
secure server wasn't built into the shopping cart that is integrated into the
membership site software. If you use Paypal or some version of
1ShoppingCart.com, you are safe, as your customers' transactions are being
carried over a secure server.
When you make sure that your computer and
email are protected from spam, viruses, malware and the like, your customers are
then safe when you email them or upload something to your site for them to
access. Responsible online business owners need to take every precaution
available to them to enhance Internet security for all
involved.
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Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby
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