Cyber Security Month – How Individuals and Businesses Can Better Protect Their Data

This October marks 'Cyber Security Month' – if you've visited Google's homepage recently, you may have already seen a small note indicating this, along with a quick message for you to think about performing a 'quick security check-up'.

Cyber Security Month is an awareness campaign that promotes the need to look after our online security, educating the public on the dangers of online attacks. Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report rated cyber attacks as the third top cause of global disruption over the next five years – only behind natural disasters and extreme weather events, indicating just how serious they are.

So in order to protect both businesses and individuals against cyber attacks, Cyber Security Month helps to increase awareness of potential risks and how they can improve their safety. In observance of the month, we are on hand to offer you some quick and easy tips to protect yourself online – as well as how a business can take steps to better protect the payments from its customers.

5 Quick Tips For Better Cyber Security

Whether it's through checking the windows, locking the doors, using wallets or shredding important documents – we take our security seriously in 'the real world'. With the instantaneous nature of the internet,it can be easy for us to forget that we need to take similar steps with our online security – our computers, phones and tablets can be broken into; our files, passwords and even our identities can be stolen.

So just like in the real world, security should be placed at the heart of our online journeys – this is precisely what events such as Cyber Security Month are trying to communicate. Here's some of our quick tips for keeping your online content safe:

• Ensure that you always use any device protection applications that are already pre-installed on your device.Common protection programs include passwords, key codes, fingerprints, face recognition etc. So if your device is lost or stolen, it won't be immediately accessible.

• If you have many passwords to remember, consider storing them securely in one place with a password management application. These programs are encrypted and offer a safe harbour for you to return to in the event that any of your devices are lost or compromised.

• One of the biggest concerns for online users, is the security of their online banking accounts. With mobile banking growing vastly within the last decade, it's never been as easy for us to manage our money. Which makes them targets for cyber criminals.

Always ensure that you use a secure password in the manner instructed by your bank – and if you happen to receive any e-mails from 'your bank' requesting you to log in to your account from the message, check the address it has been sent from. Your bank should not be instructing you to log in directly from your e-mail account. If in any doubt,contact them via the official numbers listed on their documents.

In the event that you believe your account(s) have been compromised, you should also keep a list of online banking numbers should you need to contact them to suspend your account and to eventually gain access again.

• Always ensure you are able to regularly update your software and any other applications to keep your devices secure.Updates will often contain vital fixes to recent security vulnerabilities –without them, new viruses will be able to get through the gaps and infect your device. Close those breeches with updates.

• Finally,always be sure to back-up your data on a regular basis. In the event that you need to restore anything that you may have lost, you will at least have a recent version at hand. It may be worth investing in a virtual or external drive (keeping it in a safe place when not used, of course) to keep your back-ups on – in the event of a device malfunction or security breach, the data may prove difficult to get back if kept internally.

Those are just five simple steps that everyone should take when protecting their own data against loss, breakdown or theft – but what can you do to ensure that the vital data of others is protected? If you run your own online business that takes payments directly, then ensuring that the details of your customers is protected should be of paramount importance. This is where we can help.

How Advansys Can Help Your Business To Safeguard Customer Information

Not only does a secure payment gateway make for a safe, seamless transaction, it will also increase customer confidence, leading to repeat custom and a reputation boost that will attract even more customers.

As a professional web agency here at Advansys, we are able to help you to establish that safe and secure reputation. As an example – we are one of very few eCommerce vendors who have achieved PCI DSS Level 1 accreditation;a scheme approved by credit card companies, including VISA, MasterCard and American Express. PCI DSS ('Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard') refers to a set of requirements that ensure that companies store, transmit or process credit card data to the highest standards – Level 1 being the highest level of compliance.

It's important to be aware of the issues that some merchants may be subjected to if they do not guarantee that their practices are protected by the steps outlined in order to be PCI DSS Level 1 compliant. If any breach of security comprises any aspect of their operation, then they may be liable to pay a fine for a minimum amount of £10,000.

So aside from the need to provide a safe and secure service to your customers, not ensuring that your operations are compliant with the requirements of PCI DSS will see you hit with potentially crippling fines –this is where we help. As we are a fully PCI DSS Level 1 managed service provider, we can take any worries or concern away and build an assured payment system that abides by every single requirement set out by the PCI DSS scheme.

Throughout the last decade we have assisted a large number of different business types and merchant services to improve their online protection. Our roll out of PCI DSS Level 1 managed security includes:

• Building and maintaining a secure network(including firewalls and password parameters).
• Cardholder data protection (secure storage and encryption of cardholder data).
• Latest anti-virus software to detect, neutralise and remove threats.
• Implementation of strong access control measures(strict access to cardholder data and unique ID's).
• Monitoring and testing of networks.
• Maintaining an information security policy.

Why not get in touch with us to learn more?

Get In Touch With Our eCommerce Security Experts Today

If you would like further information on how we can help you to protect the vital data of your customers, please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of our expert eCommerce security team today. Call us on 0845 838 2700 or send an e-mail to sales@advansys.com and we'll be in touch as soon as possible.