EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
For hackers, Cyber Monday is an all-you-can-eat buffet, where the volume of options to choose from includes all of the spam, Raspberry Pis and cookies available this holiday season.
On Cyber Monday, more online shopping translates to more opportunities for cyber crime, although hackers are admittedly relentless in their pursuits all year long. In one sense, everyday is Cyber Monday, and we often underestimate the level of risk that we face.
For Cyber Monday and beyond, has your enterprise followed these security best practices?
- Learn to identify fraudulent orders. Fraudulent charges can squeeze your bank account, and lead to high payment processing rates. Common red flags indicating fraud include: suspicious emails and/or texts (aka phishing and smishing), an IP address that differs from the region where the order will be delivered, unresponsive customers, repetitive orders, and odd looking shipping addresses. Keep your eyes peeled.
- Deploy encryption software that safeguards financial data during financial transactions. In addition, encrypt each page of your online business. Add a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to your store.
- Ensure that you’re using hardware and software firewalls. Firewalls can proactively prevent attacks, and segment your network based on access requirements and other rules. As one business journal writes, “Without firewall security, it’s just a matter of time before a business is successfully attacked.”
- Keeping your software up-to-date. For hackers, vulnerabilities are like candy; they’re always secretly searching for more. It can be tough to keep up with a barrage of updates. To circumvent a haphazard approach to update installations, consider a security system that automatically installs software updates. This enables you to aggregate all updates at once, and to uniformly extend them to all components of your business.
Avoid the trap of being penny-wise and pound foolish. Invest in your cyber security architecture today.
