Securing your online services

Internet security has hit the headlines recently, with various attacks on major institutions perpetrated by a variety of individuals and organisations to whom cyber crime seems easy.

It is difficult to know where to start when it comes to shoring up your defences against cyber criminals, but it should be one of your top priorities going into 2012 as security experts predict attacks on online businesses are set to increase as criminals attempt to make a fast buck.

Is your data valuable?

Of course, the likelihood of a cyber attack on your business will be linked to precisely how valuable the data you have is to cyber criminals. If it is confidential information, such as card details, then opportunist thieves know they can sell it on for a profit to the right people.

The amount of money that can be made through online crime is attracting more people to the dark world of hacking and malware and therefore it is more important than ever to boost your security, particularly as the number of transactions carried out online using credit cards is increasing dramatically as people look to the internet for bargains.

Make staff aware of the risks

While you may be aware of the risk of cyber attacks and implementing measures to prevent them, your staff may be oblivious, so it is crucial to educate them as well as you can.

They need to know that everything they do online while at work has the potential to be a risk to the organisation. Therefore every website they visit and every message they send must be seriously considered and thought about carefully to limit your business' exposure to the threat.