Online Security Begins At Home

by: Scott Lindsay

It is important to make sure the computer you use to access your online ecommerce site is secure. Too often a site owner takes great care to ensure the security of the site itself and may fail to take precautions to protect his or her own computer.

If your website is not secure you may have difficulty accessing information, processing orders and securely accessing your own website.

Most netrepreneurs will place password protections on their ecommerce site to deter hackers, but interestingly a hacker might gain access to your information by another means altogether.

Personal Computer Security

Anti-virus software – There are thousands of viruses and mutations throughout the web. Some are implemented by visiting a website while others are downloaded through email. The use of anti-virus software is a good first step to securing your own personal computer. Make sure you set options that will allow you to gain updates at least once a day and be sure to scan your computer daily. In most cases this can be done automatically. Millions of files are corrupted and destroyed each year because of unprotected computers.

Automatic Updates – Your web browser will likely have a site for updates and security fixes applicable for your computer. Automatic notices can be requested when new updates are available. DO NOT ignore notices that inform you of needed downloads. Most of these updates address discovered weaknesses in a portion of the software. By maintaining the security of your website you improve the chances that your computer is free of present and future predators.

Spyware – This security risk is more personal than damaging. Spyware sets data miners in place that extract information about the locations you visit. They often access your email address information and can send emails to you based on the sites you have visited. Because the Spyware can uncover some personal data it should be eradicated regularly. Some anti-virus software includes spyware eliminators, but there are also several free versions of spyware eliminating software online. You should know that many freeware or shareware programs include spyware in the free-to use program (there’s always a catch). It is mentioned in some of the fine print of the site, but most users do not take the time to read all of the legalese.

By protecting your own computer you can also make it possible to protect the data of your customers by doing everything you can to ensure backdoor admission to the data is prohibited.