When you operate your own business, you will know how important it is to get everything organized. You may be so focused on meeting deadlines that you forget about the other important aspects of your business, and this happens more than what most business owners would like to admit. One area that a lot of businesses overlook is their security. If your business is not secure then you are putting your team, your customers and everything that you have worked for at risk, and this is something that you will want to avoid at all costs.

Authentication

A lot of companies don’t have a solid authentication process in place. This gives hackers the chance to access their network with ease. If a hacker is able to get into your network then it is very easy for them to impersonate other users and they may even be able to steal your business data as well. They can wreak havoc on your network and this can shatter the trust that your customers have in your company. If you want to avoid all of this then there are things that you can try and do. The first thing that you need to do is make sure that you have encrypted passwords. If a hacker is able to get into your network, they won’t be able to access your accounts as easily, and this should always be your first line of defense. You also need to watch out for reusing session tokens or URLs that contain information that relates to the ID of the user. This is simple stuff, but a lot of business owners don’t quite realize how much they are giving away by just having their information listed on their website address or pathway.

Injections

When you send data to an interpreter that isn’t very trustworthy, you are then opening yourself up to an injection flaw. This can make you very vulnerable and this is one of the main causes of data loss and theft as well. if you have an LDAP, XML or SQL database or any other type of coding then you have to make sure that this is as secure as it can be. It is always worth hiring a programmer so that they can go over the whole thing for you, and also make sure that you are not opening the door to anyone who is unexpected.

Malicious Employees

You may trust your team more than anything else, but if you were not the one to hire them or if you weren’t as diligent as you could have been during the interview process then this can cause you a world of trouble. System administrators have a very high level of access when it comes to your business and it is more than possible for them to install a backdoor or even a gateway for hackers. They can easily steal passwords and generally make your life way more difficult. For this reason, you have to trust in your system administrator more than anyone. If you think that you don’t really know them at all then this needs to change. A lot of businesses get targeted by their own employees, but the problem is that there were always warning signs of this happening, they were just never noticed. On top of this, your employees may be responsible for leaking inside information. It is very easy to make money by selling information to competitors, so this is something else that you need to be super diligent about. The best way to avoid this is to be careful when appointing an employee to a job or temporary position, and to also look into security as a service.

DoS

So many companies are hit with this every single year. A DoS attack is also known as being a denial of service and they can easily overload the servers that you have. Not only can this lead to some serious downtime, but it can also make your entire customer base doubt your business as well. if you want to avoid this then you have to make sure that your IT structure is solid. The best way for you to do this would be for you to hire a professional to look over the system that you have now, while also asking them to point out any entry points as well. This will really save you time, money and effort in the future.

Lost and Stolen Data

Your employees all have sensitive data on their laptop. This could include conversations that
they have had with your customers or it could even include phone numbers and contact details of suppliers who you would rather keep under-wraps. If you do happen to give out a device to your employees so that they can work from home or if you have work phones for your employees then make sure that they password encrypt these devices. It also helps to make sure that you ask them to change their password every 5 or 6 months, as this will make it much harder for a hacker to try and get access to your data. At the end of the day, there really is no excuse not to encrypt your data and this is especially the case when you look at your own business server. After all, the last thing that you need is to have your customer bank details leaked. If you want to get around this then you need to follow all of the right HTTPS protocols and you also need to look into encryption as well. Everything should have the right certificate, as this will make sure that your sensitive data isn’t as easy to steal.

So the best and the easiest way for you to avoid all of the above would be for you to respond to your own flaws. You have to make sure that your employees have all of the right training and you also have to make sure that you have audits done on a regular basis as well as this could help your team to really stay safe while also protecting your business.