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What Happens if You Don’t Properly Secure Your Website

July 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Website security is vital if you want to achieve success with an online business. Many things can happen if you don’t have the right security and one hacker can completely ruin your success overnight. Hackers prey on websites and blogs with very little security and use these web properties to steal personal information, college credit card numbers, and ruin the reputation of the webmaster that owns the site.

If you don’t take the right action to secure your website, you could end up being the victim of identity theft. Even worse, the hacker could use your site to steal information from your visitors, while making it look like you stole the information. You don’t want to wake up one day and find out you are charged with a felony because of someone else’s actions.

How to Ensure Your Site is Secure

There are many precautions you can take to secure your website or blog. It starts with your hosting type and the company you get your hosting from. If you choose a low quality hosting company, you may be at risk. It would be like getting your Mustang parts from a junk yard instead of a top company like CJ Pony Mustang Parts.

Make sure the hosting company you choose gives you the most recent security options. If they don’t offer top security options, they probably are not worth the money you spend for your package. Look into what they offer and compare it to a few other top hosting companies before you settle on the company for the foundation of your website.

You may also want to consider virtual private server hosting or dedicated server hosting. Both of these options offer custom security options you cannot get with shared web hosting. If you need a higher level of security, you will need more than just shared hosting. Compare all three types of hosting before making your final decision.

Once you decide on the right hosting to help secure your website, you need to take action. Make sure you take advantage of all the options offered from the hosting company like a dedicated IP address and a private SSL certificate. You may also want to consider using a content management system (CMS) for even more security.

A top CMS choice is WordPress. If you use WordPress, you will gain access to specific plugins that can help you secure your website or blog even better. This can give you the added security to make sure someone doesn’t hack into your site and steal information from you or those visiting your website.

It doesn’t matter if your site is titled “Click for Mustang Radiators” or something else. Security is very important and if you don’t take actions, even the smallest site can become compromised.

This post made possible by guest blogger CJ, a writer with varied interests, including CJ Pony Mustang Parts and internet marketing.

Filed Under: Financial Crimes, Identity Theft, Security Tagged With: , ,

Business Procedures to Dispose of Confidential Waste

July 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The word Confidential surrounded by some shredded papersMany businesses have personal and confidential information about their clients. It is important how businesses handle the confidential documents that they no longer require. The customer’s privacy and identity must be preserved. Businesses can be held liable if any information about customers is released or obtained from their location in any way, even by theft. This may include information such as address, phone number, spending habits, or credit card information.

Most businesses have policies in place that all customer information is shredded to protect their privacy and identity. However, in large companies this can be problematic. Not only could shredders be worn out very quickly and trash bins filled to overflowing, but employees could spend entirely too much time shredding documents and not enough time servicing customers.

There are solutions for dealing with confidential waste in these larger companies. One of the common procedures for handling confidential information requires several steps, and may require the hiring of an additional employee and a disposal service such as Shred it. However, the end results are very desirable.

First, employees are given recycling tubs, baskets or large trash cans in which they can put confidential waste. These bins are then picked up by an employee at the end of the day, and the contents are shredded in industrial shredders. Industrial shredders are much more likely to last a long period of time than smaller office shredders. In addition, this way employees’ time is better spent than in shredding documents throughout the day.

Whether the company is large or small, the problem of what to do with the shredded material is also one that must be addressed. It is not wise to simply throw out shredded materials, because they could easily be pieced together, destroying customer confidentiality. Again, there is a simple solution.

There are companies out there whose sole purpose is to help businesses dispose of confidential waste. These companies provide large trash bins for shredded materials to be emptied into. These trash bins are then collected weekly or biweekly by the company. The shredded material is immediately processed by first separating it so that it cannot be pieced together.

Different disposal companies handle the waste in different ways. Some of the companies burn the shredded material so that there is no likelihood that it is ever discovered. Other companies take the shredded material directly to a trash facility, which cuts out the possibility of trash being rummaged through at the curb or by trash company employees.

Regardless of the procedure that you choose, you should ensure the safety of confidential client information. You do not want your business held liable for information stolen from your trash receptacles. Be certain that your methods are solidly in place and cover every circumstance, and that all employees are trained and on board.

This post has been provided by Shred-it; Leaders in on demand and scheduled document destruction and paper shredding services across the globe.
Filed Under: Guest Posts, Identity Theft, Security Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How Much Is Your Identity Worth?

July 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Todays crims may not be after the families silver or the DVR and Telly in the corner, long gone are the days of some guy coming up to you in a pub and saying, ‘Hey mate I got a load of DVR’s you after one’?

It would be more like, “I have some fresh credit cards tested, if your quick you could get a couple of grand with buying some on line kit straight away.

This is big business, and I mean BIG business, so lets get some perspective.

In the USA alone in 2011 over 11 million adults fell victims to Identity theft, A massive increase by over 12% on the previous year and growing and growing.

Don’t think the UK is safe either, because it is on the increase here as well.

The postman drops a letter on your door mat, you see it is the water rates, a couple of days later, yep you guessed it, the telephone bill. OK we all hate bills its a fact of life, but the burglar is starting to love these bills. Nope, there not going to pay them for you, but the information, like account numbers, middle names, date of birth are all things that are personal to you and therefore, in the right/wrong hands which ever way you look at it, used correctly can request credit and can get things from others that probably are not that clued up.

Then guess what? yep thats right, all these bills are kept in a drawer in the kitchen along with the gas bill, electricity bill, spare key for the car, a probably the details of the car as well. So you can now imagine that before it was the TV etc, now a quick look around and a burglar could be out of your house in less that five minutes with the most important piece thing you hold dear and until now did not put a value on it. Your Identity !!!

To compound it if you are as sorted as my good lady is, then all these documents are listed in some sort of easy to sift through order in a filling cabinet. Giving the crim an index to see what is best to take and what he can do without.

Being in the security industry, we listen to peoples pains and anguish every day as they are phoning us up after the horse has bolted so to speak, so this is real and we, to keep our filing cabinet locked, and all our important documents in a safe, Passports, National Insurance numbers, and lots more are kept safely in a fire rated safe in a location that Im not telling :-)

We all need to wise up to ID theft it is very real, and if you have been a victim you may find credit reference agencies, could black list your name and address for years to come, getting a loan from a bank, buying on credit, all may come back saying thanks but no thanks, even Credit cards that you have, now could be calling saying when are we going to get paid for money that you did not spend.

For the Criminal it is easy to do, in and out in a flash, carrying paper is even easier than the TV!

Get decent locks, get a decent alarm and finally a decent safe. These should be considered as the bare minimum. Maintain a healthy security envelope around you, your home and your identity.

Hope this helps.

Written by Darrel Walters, Head of the tech department @Locks_Online
Managing Director and head of The Walters Group and have been for over 23 years
TRUST Security – Trust LocksOnline
Filed Under: Financial Crimes, Guest Posts, Identity Theft Tagged With: , , , ,
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