Technology moves at a breakneck pace, and as the years move on, the pace of technological innovation only seems to grow faster.
Just a few decades ago, computers were barely present in any businesses at all, and certainly not in the ubiquitous way that they are today. What’s more, the rise of the internet has completely and totally transformed how we do business, both in terms of how we communicate, and also in terms of how we market ourselves, store and manage our data, and even process payments.
Of course, the rise of technology, and of the web, have brought various security risks and hazards into prominence. Hackers are highly active online, and many businesses are robbed or defrauded due to the activities of online criminals — sometimes to such a cataclysmic degree that recovery is all but impossible.
Keeping that in mind, here are a few tips for protecting your work in the internet age.
Rely on professional and comprehensive web security services
Where there’s a demand, a supply will inevitably develop. That’s one of the fundamental laws of market forces. Unsurprisingly, the rise of hackers and assorted scammers and online crooks of various sorts, has fed the demand for security services to combat them.
Managed Security services can offer your business a level of professional and focused protection that serves the needs of a business, in a way that run-of-the-mill “civilian” security systems and services might not be able to manage.
As a business owner, you should make a serious point of browsing through the various professional security services available, and taking full advantage of the benefits of such services, in terms of protecting you from web-borne threats.
Backup your work in offline locations
It’s become increasingly popular for individuals and businesses alike to back-up their work and data on “the cloud”, for the sake of ease and efficiency.
When something is saved “to the cloud”, it is essentially uploaded to an online storage database, where it can then be retrieved from any number of different devices that connect to that database. So your work can sync between your home PC and your work PC.
Of course, many highly publicised security breaches have taken place, in which “the cloud” is hacked into and information is either stolen or destroyed.
If you choose to back up your work online, be sure to use a very secure service. Alternatively, consider backing your work up primarily in offline locations, such as portable hard drives.
Be especially mindful of how online transactions are conducted
Perhaps the area where most fraud is committed online, is with web-based transactions.
It’s important to understand that there are innumerable different ways to transfer money online, but only a few of them are actually reliable and have a high standard of security. What’s more, various scams exist that you need to be mindful of — such as people manipulating the terms of service of a service like Paypal to retrieve their money after sending it.
Be especially mindful of how online transactions are conducted, and only use trustworthy payment processing services.