These days, there are many ways to protect yourself online. Yet this only adds to the confusion; as a business, how do you know where to focus your resources? The right choice can make your business much safer, run smoothly and appear favourable to customers.
If you choose the wrong option, you can simply end up wasting valuable time, money and effort. Even if we focus on a given country, such as the UK, you have to compete with other businesses that also conduct business there. So, it is important to look into what security measures you should be taking, here are a few:
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
API security is a key component of modern web application security. API allows software applications to interact with each other by controlling how requests are made and handled. It has become the backbone of our digital society and successfully executing an API strategy is essential to securing any organization’s future revenue and growth.
The goal of API security is to ensure API requests are authenticated, authorized, validated, cleansed and can still be processed when the service is under load. The characteristics of API security differ from standard web servers, which only need to protect a few standard ports and requests. APIs create countless opportunities for organizations to improve and deliver services, engage customers, and increase productivity and profits — but only if you securely implement them.
SSL Certificates
As a business, you have a legal duty to guard any secure information you take from clients. For this purpose, you need to secure the data sent between your server and their computer. SSL – or Secure Sockets Layer – refers to the encryption used to hide sensitive information. This can come in many forms, but the strongest, 256-bit encryption is usually the best.
Additionally, you might want to look into SSL EV. This is an extended validation license and further showcases your security. Web browsers often represent this with a green padlock symbol, which reassures customers and clients about the lengths you’ve gone to protect their data. You can find out more about SSL by speaking to the experts at Symantec.
Firewalls and E-mail
Do you communicate with others via e-mail? Although it seems harmless, this is a giant risk involved if left unprotected. While you don’t want to receive harmful malware from your customers, imagine what could happen if you were the one sending out such scripts.
A firewall will ensure you do not end up sending such harmful e-mails to your entire database of customers, which could have catastrophic implications. For instance, your public image could break once people learn they can’t trust your e-mails. This is one of the reasons some websites favour online forms, since it is much harder to be attacked by a malicious program.
Online Payments
Do you run an online shop or business that involves taking credit or debit card information? If so, you also need to meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS. This is a certificate that shows you’ve met the right level of security, such as data encryption, to safely take such valuable data. This is a legal requirement, so it is not something to be taken lightly.