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Have You Truly Secured Your Business?

September 30, 2016 by Thomas Leave a Comment

Whether you run a business out of an office space that you rent or own or direct your business from home, you know (at least you should) how important security is.

While cyber-attacks have gotten many of the headlines in recent years, physical break-ins are still as prevalent as ever. If this happens to you, it could turn your business upside down, leaving you in quite a precarious position moving forward.

With that being the case, what are you doing to make sure your business is as physically secure as possible?

From having it properly alarmed to making sure employees (and you for that matter) don’t leave an open invitation for criminals to break-in, you do have a lot of the say in whether or not you become a crime victim.

So, when you take time at the end of the day to think about it, have you truly secured your business?

Stay a Step Ahead of Criminals

In order to best protect your business (in an office or from home), remember these pointers:

Security packages – Perhaps your best line of defense is looking into protection security packages. With such packages protecting a home office or a building where you work out of, you have a much lesser chance of being broken into. Before buying such a package, be sure to do some searching online, along with asking others you know as to which company they put their trust in. One of the first things you want to know about a security company is how long they’ve been in business. A company with a track record of securing both home and business sites is one that should certainly get your attention. Also look into their customer service dealings, making sure they have the best interests of their customers in mind at all times. Finally, while nothing is essentially free in this day and age (other than advice), be sure that you understand all the costs, avoiding any hidden fees etc.
Not asking for trouble – Criminals have minds all their own, some better than others that is. In protecting your business, don’t leave the door open (literally) for them to come in and steal from you. For instance, if you have an office place in a building or even at home for that matter, you may have customers come to visit to purchase products or services, meet with you for appointments, pay you money for work you did for them etc. As a result, make sure you (or a secretary or other employee) doesn’t let people in to wander around until you get to them. It just takes a minute’s time for someone to steal property (including money) from you and your business;
Don’t announce you’re out of town – Another gaffe that business owners need to avoid is announcing to the world that they are out of town for a period of time. This is especially a problem in today’s world given the millions and millions of people using social media. For instance, if you are operating a company out of your home, one where you would typically have a fair amount of money sitting around for when clients come-and-go to do business with you, don’t then go on social media and tell the world that you are closed and out of town for a week’s vacation. If you work out of an office building and close down for a week or so, be sure all is secure before the lights are turned off and the doors locked until you return for business. Lastly, since there is the possibility you will have a cleaning person and/or crews coming in on occasion to clean your office, make sure their credentials are thoroughly reviewed before hiring them.

No matter what part of the country you are in, your business can prove quite vulnerable, be it in an office building or running it from your home.

Do your best to truly secure your business, keeping criminals on the outside looking in at all times.

In return, you will feel more secure at the end of each and every work day.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Show Customers How Secure Doing Business with You Truly is

August 5, 2016 by Thomas Leave a Comment

If you had to worry about one thing driving some of your customers away, what would it be?

In some instances, things are pretty much out of your full control.

When the economy is struggling, consumers tend to pull back on buying items, sticking to mainly those things they truly need. As a result, business owners can see their financial revenue streams start to dry up to a degree.

There are a number of ways that your business can be prepared for such issues, though there are certainly not guarantees that they will always work.

So, will you be ready the next time things appear to be heading south?

Keep Customer Satisfaction at High Levels

First and foremost, you need to make sure that customer satisfaction levels never dip dramatically.

One danger to steer clear of as a business owner is being complacent.

Yes, you may have great products and/or services, not to mention a great rapport between your employees (including you) and your customers.

That said don’t take those customers (current and potential ones) for granted. If you do that, you open the door to possible heartbreak.

So, what are some levels of customer satisfaction that should always remain high?

One of the most important is making sure customers feel secure doing business with you.

In a day and age where identity theft is a constant fear, many customers worry about how much time and money you invest into keeping their data and any transactions they make with you fully secure.

When it comes to secure credit card processing, it is important that customers feel safe and sound doing business with you.

Each and every credit card transaction with your business needs to be one where no glitches (notably identity theft) can rear their ugly heads.

If you’ve been having some doubts about your payment processing provider up to this point, look around to see if there are better options out there for you. Remember, keeping your customers happy and secure should always be a top priority.

Making Sales on the Go

Speaking of that happiness, more and more consumers are looking to make purchases when on the go. As a result, having ability to make mobile sales is also an important feature your business should certainly consider offering if not already.

For example, when is the last time you flew on an airliner?

If it was in recent times (even the last few years); you will notice that airlines no longer accept cash for alcoholic drinks or when purchasing snacks at 30,000 feet etc. It is easier for the airlines to conduct all their sales through credit cards, meaning flight attendants do not have to carry change on them when serving customers. A simple swipe of a credit card through a mobile app reader and the sale is complete.

For your business, make sure you can and do accept credit cards anywhere at any time, with an emphasis again on secure and safe transactions.

Finally, always be quick to respond to customers in the event their personal financial information is in fact compromised.

Yes, you may lose some customers over this for the long haul, but many others are more apt to stay with you if they see you have taken a pro-active and swift response to the problem.

This means identifying the problem as quickly as possible, finding a solution so that customers do not feel a major financial impact, and working to make sure (as best you can) that it does not happen again.

When working with a credit card provider, be sure to discuss with them the importance of coming up with safe and expedient purchases for customers.

Today’s world is predicated on the ability of businesses to serve their customers in a fast, courteous, and safe manner. When one or more of those traits are missing, the customer might ultimately be the one who ends up missing down the road.

Don’t be that business owner who doesn’t understand how important those three characteristics of a successful business truly are.

Be the business owner who is secure enough in what he or she is doing.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Your Business Success Depends on Protecting Your Assets

April 27, 2016 by Thomas 1 Comment

Is there anything truly worrying you about your business?

Some business owners fret over not being able to maintain a regular revenue stream.

Others, meantime, worry that their customer service initiatives will not always please some of their clientele. Still others have concerns over hiring the right talent (for those companies that are more than one person shows).

With those factors in mind, what (if anything) has you concerned about your brand moving forward?

Maintaining a Safe Business Identity

In order to keep your business humming along, it is imperative that you never take for granted how even one episode of identity theft can throw your company for a loop.

Stop for a minute and think about how potentially devastating it would be if an identity theft thief got his or her hands on your personal financial information. Imagine all the damage they could do in such a short amount of time.

Now turn that imagination to your business dealings.

If you think an identity theft thief can’t bring your brand to its knees, think again.

If customers see their data stolen and feel like your reactionary time and/or actions are less than acceptable, your business could suffer greatly.

With that being the case, are you making sure your business data (specifically that of your clients) is safe and sound at all times?

If you’ve been a little lax at times, you need to close those loopholes as soon as possible.

There are a number of ways to do this, so don’t feel like it can’t be done.

To start with, make sure you’re operating with a sound Internet server.

For the company providing you with a server, how thoroughly did you vet them when deciding to choose them as your provider?

Your server provider must be operating with a zero tolerance rule for allowing online mishaps to occur. If the server you are working off of is susceptible to being compromised, your company’s data (both personal and that of your customers) can be compromised too.

Are Company Financial Transactions Protected?

Another of area concentration needs to be on the transmission of sensitive customer data, especially financial transactions.

Whether you operate an online store or need a customer’s financial details for other reasons, make sure such transmissions are securely protected. If the information is exposed for even the least amount of time, it can end up in the wrong hands.

Just as you would use a site such as www.lifelock.org to monitor your identity, making sure it is properly being used, the same holds true for all of your business data.

Speaking of exposed data, it is also important that your employees handle customer data (and business financials etc. for that matter) in a professional and protective manner.

Only those employees that truly need to handle such data (accounting, customer call centers etc.) should he having access to it.

Unfortunately, there have been too many stories of business owners discovering that it was actually one or more of their own (including departing workers) employees caught stealing sensitive data.

One way to nip this problem in the bud is laying out the consequences of such actions the day they are hired.

All employees should know under no uncertain circumstances that your business does not for an instance tolerate identity theft amongst its workers. Anyone caught and proven to be guilty of of such crimes could not only lose their job, but also face criminal action by law enforcement.

It is also critical that your business reacts quickly and decisively to any identity theft breaches of your brand, thereby preventing a major hit against your long-term business success.

While you may lose some business due to such attacks, some customers will be more likely to stay with you if they see you are reacting in a professional and prompt manner, this opposed to being unable to handle the matter and/or looking slow to react.

Given the perils identity theft can cause to your brand, preventing it from happening in the first place is always your best line of defense.

When you take such crimes seriously, you stand to be better prepared against them.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

Keep Internet Thieves at Bay

January 20, 2016 by Thomas 1 Comment

If you run a business and think that you’re not a target, think again.

Whether your company is small, midsize or large, you have a target on your back simply by the fact that you are an entrepreneur. If thieves can get their hands on your products, services, and especially information that will lead to a financial windfall for them, you can be singled out at any moment.

With that in mind, it behooves business owners to make sure they have their backs and the backs of their customers covered at all times. Remember, it just takes one slip-up for a hacker to make your life and your financial life miserable.

Be Pro-Active and Not Reactive

In order to make sure your Internet security is protected as much as possible from hackers (namely identity theft thieves), keep these tidbits in mind:

Be Pro-active – The last thing you want to do as a business owner is always be reacting to things, notably hackers. It is no secret that hacking is a profession for countless men and women, many of whom don’t care if you play by the rules or not. In order to decrease the chances of being financially hit, make sure you update your Internet protection software regularly. Look for cracks and kinks in its armor, thereby hopefully seeing them before thieves do. Just as you would use the appropriate computer software to limit your kids’ access to reaching inappropriate websites on your home computer, the same care and concern must be done for your business site. The goal here is to make sure no one is getting through to your company website without your approval;
Watch for employee red flags – While it would be comforting to think that all of your employees can always be trusted with sensitive company and customer data, it has proven time and time again that that is not the case. Even though you might think that the attack or attacks will come from the outside, many businesses have unfortunately discovered otherwise. Lessen the chances your business will become a victim by making sure you hire the best and brightest employees. If during the interview process you catch any red flags (past firings from jobs for disciplinary reasons such as stealing from employers and/or hacking websites, run-ins with the law etc.), think twice about bringing on that applicant as an employee. Also be sure to alert all employees once they are under your employ that in no shape or form will you tolerate illegal activities, notably as they relate to misusing company or customer data. If someone is caught doing just that, let it be known they could lose their job and potentially face criminal charges;
Be careful with outsourcing – While outsourcing business tasks is something many businesses do on a regular basis, this is another area where one must proceed with caution. Let’s say you outsource some or all of your accounting or client marketing needs to save on some of the workload for your in-house staff. In doing so, you provide the individual or individuals who will be working on accounting and client marketing sensitive data etc. It could be weeks or even months before you discover someone is then using that data for illegal purposes. Along with the financial hit to you and some of your customers, the public relations mess now on your hands is just as bad. Make sure you thoroughly research who you might outsource work to in order to lessen the odds they will be a problem for you and your clients down the road.

Running a business these days of course carries risks, risks that you sometimes have little control over.

When it comes to protecting your business website (both from outside and inside threats), you do have more control than you might think.

Photo credit: BigStockPhoto.com

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business and technology issues on the web.

Can Logging In Be Fun? Clef Says Yes.

March 6, 2014 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

It was all fun and games until my purse got stolen.

We were on a great vacation, and visiting the Arizona Memorial on Oahu. In the parking lot, there was a sign that warned “High theft area, do not leave valuables in car.” So what did I do? Put my purse in the trunk of the rental car and went in to see the museum. A couple of hours later, you can guess what happened. Vacation ruined, checkbook and credit cards gone. Prescription glasses gone. Plane tickets home, gone.

It was a supremely painful lesson, but I took heed. Being smart about my personal security moved up several notches in my priority list.

Do you see the daily warnings about changing your online passwords frequently, not using your pet’s name, remembering to change the default? Are you taking heed?

The proliferation of sites that require a login has forced us all to find ways of remembering a tornado of passwords.

And it’s not fun.

Yes, there are good services like LastPass and 1Password that will help you generate random passwords and retain newly created logins. But still, not fun.

Enter a new service called Clef.

For now, it’s primarily a free WordPress add-on. Once you download the app to your smartphone, it allows you to log in to your WordPress site by waving your phone in front of your computer screen.

When you click “sync” on your normal login page, Clef generates a cool animated signal wave. Open Clef on your phone (there’s a PIN) and it generates a similar animated wave. Hold it up for a second, and it syncs, giving a haptic buzz when it succeeds. You can choose to stay logged in permanently, or set a time frame. Clef will log you out automatically when the time runs out.

What if you lose your phone? Clef has a remote “lockdown” key. Just let them know the phone isn’t in your possession, and they will disable Clef on the phone.

Looks like the team at Clef is expanding into payment systems and additional platforms (it works with Hootsuite and a few others right now).

The only drawback I see is that you currently have to manually open the Clef app on your phone. It would be super cool if the mobile app automatically launched when you clicked login on the desktop screen.

Give it a spin and tell me what you think! What are you currently using to help you deal with your tornado of passwords?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary OÂNeill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Disclosure: I have no affiliation with Clef, and received no consideration for this post. It represents my unvarnished opinion.

Guidelines for WordPress Security

December 17, 2013 by Rosemary Leave a Comment

By Charles Mburugu

With the increase of hacking incidences, security has become a major concern for most website owners. Fortunately, there are several precautions one can take to lower the risk of attack. Here are some tips which will help enhance the security of your WordPress site.

1. Avoid free themes

WordPress offers numerous free themes that you can choose from. However, using such themes is generally not advisable since many have been found to contain malicious code which would make your site vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. If you must use a free theme, make sure you select one which has been developed by a well-established company. This also applies to WordPress plugins.

2. Choose a secure host

Web hosting plays a major role when it comes to security matters. Therefore, when selecting a web host, don’t make the mistake of settling for the cheapest option available. Instead, take time to do your research and identify a provider that is well known for secure hosting. Though it might cost you a little extra, you won’t have to worry about your website’s security.

3. Update regularly

In an effort to enhance security, WordPress releases regular updates which are aimed at dealing with potential or real threats. Therefore, it is very important to keep your site updated with the latest WordPress version. Failing to do so will leave your site vulnerable to hackers who target outdated WordPress versions. Always be on the look-out for ‘Update now’ messages on your dashboard. Plug-ins and themes should also be updated immediately a new version is released.

4. Use a strong password

Using a weak and predictable password such as ‘123abc’, ‘wordpress’ or ‘password’ will make your WordPress site more vulnerable to attack. Therefore, you need to find a more complex password, but one which is easy to remember. Combine symbols, numbers and letters to make it harder to crack. However, avoid using the same password across different accounts.

5. Don’t use the default ‘admin’ username

Many people have ‘admin’ as the default username on their WordPress sites. Having such a username, combined with a weak password, will expose your site to all kinds of security risks. It is therefore very important to alter your username to something which is more unique. In addition, you need to ensure that the username is hidden from author archive URL.

6. Limit login attempts

Hackers and bots try to access your site by making repeated login attempts using different variations of usernames and passwords. WordPress offers great plugins which can help you limit the number of login attempts on your site. In addition, you can choose how long the specific IP address will be locked out before they can make another attempt.

7. Use security plugins

WordPress offers a wide range of plugins which can help enhance the security of your site. Some of the most popular include Bulletproof Security, Better WP Security, Wordfence, Sucuri Scanner and Website Defender. Most of these plugins are free and can easily be downloaded and installed on a site.

8. Backup frequently

Backing up frequently is something that should not be overlooked. Even when you have taken all the above security measures, your site might still fall victim to a malicious attack. If your content is backed up properly, it will be easy to recover your files and restore your site. There are several WordPress plugins which can help you schedule frequent automatic backups.

Author’s Bio: Charles Mburugu is a HubSpot-certified content writer/marketer for B2B, B2C and SaaS companies. He has worked with brands such as GetResponse, Neil Patel, Shopify, 99 Designs, Oberlo, Salesforce and Condor. Check out his portfolio and connect on LinkedIn.