Securing Your Online Business is crucial, so ask yourself, “How can I secure my online business?” If you haven’t asked that question to yourself, you probably don’t know the risk and the danger ahead in online marketing. Apart from hackers, there are these problems you should be aware of. I’ll name some that I know. There’s cash flow fluctuation, computer crashes or theft, spam, lawsuit, insurance claims, insufficient back-ups, changes in Google algorithm, poorly coded software or apps, and a host of internal and external factors.
You may not yet familiar with those things yet, but I can tell you right now that those factors can damage or completely wipe out your business in an instant. But you don’t have to be afraid of it. I’m not writing this to scare you. In fact, I made this post so you won’t worry about being breached or whatnot. Here I’ll give you the best tips on how to secure your online business.
Security and Privacy for your Online Business
When it comes to security and privacy, there are two best practices in securing online business. Those are getting a private phone number and a private mail address/services.
Use a Private Phone Number
As a small business or a startup, the chances that you’re using your personal phone number for your business is most likely true. Offering it publicly to random people is not a good idea. Which means your personal privacy won’t be safe. Not to mention that it isn’t looking very professional to do so. But what do you need to do? Do you need to get another phone or another sim for that? Not necessarily. Thanks to technology! Nowadays, there are apps that you can install on your phone to get a private business phone number. With it, you can create a phone number and use it for business calling, texting, and voicemail purposes. No new phone or sim card required. And to ensure security and privacy, some of these apps charge a small amount monthly or yearly. Which is fair and a wise investment to secure your online business.
Use a Private Mail Address and Services
Legally or on some occasions, you are required (by law or necessity) to list your business address when starting an online business. These occasions are business registration, email list, and domain registration. And most likely, for an e-commerce small business, you’ll use your home address. If you do so, you’ve actually publicized your personal mailbox even your home address. It could potentially be a privacy breach issue. So, what to do? You may want to consider looking for a private business mailing address/forwarding service. For a reasonably small amount, you can get a proxy address to use for your business. Usually, they will compile and forward all your mails once a week to your home address.
Bonus Tip: Just in case you haven’t thought about it, it’s more secured and professional if you create and use a new email address for your business. Never use your personal one. Also, when trying new e-commerce platforms or any website, use an email address that you don’t usually use (a disposable email address). Doing so would prevent any information leak and secure your accounts in case the email address has been breached.
Protection and Encryption for your Online Business
Securing your online business doesn’t stop with securing your privacy. Here are some protection and encryption tips:
Domain Protection Tips
Registering a domain requires you to put some valid information like contact number and address. And FYR, if you used your business or personal info– those can be viewed on WhoIs online database by everyone if they happen to look up your domain name. To protect your online business from that, make sure that your domain registrar can protect your sensitive information from WhoIs.
Virtual Private Network for Public Wifi Protection
Online business tasks can be done whenever and wherever. At a coffee shop, mall, beaches, and anywhere that has a wifi connection. But the risk of using public wifi is bigger than what you thought. Hackers can get a hold of your emails even login credentials easily because of the connection’s low security. To protect you and your online business from prying eyes– install a VPN. It can encrypt your internet connection, thus protecting you from internet risks.
Add an SSL (Secure Socket Layer)
One of the responsibilities of an online seller is protecting their customer’s private information (especially their bank info). A website without an SSL certificate can easily be breached by hackers. Thus, divulging sensitive information that will result in penalties and liability claims. If your website is self-hosted, you need to get an SSL for all of your pages. If it’s hosted by Shopify or BigCommerce, no need to worry as it is already SSL enabled.
Prevention and Insurance for your Online Business
As the phrase goes, “Prevention is always better than cure.” But it’s also a good idea to have contingencies such as insurance if prevention fails. Here are tips about it:
Password Protection Tips
Your password is your first protection against any security breach. Especially for securing your online business. To secure your password, my first advice is to use one that is out of the box, difficult to guess, but easy for you to remember. And combine symbols, words, caps, and numbers. Next, make it a habit to change it every month or two. And don’t use it with your disposable email addresses. Alternatively, you can also use a password manager app as sometimes it is a pain to remember challenging passwords. It can keep and secure it for you. Lastly, if there’s an option to enable 2-FA or 2-Factor Authentication, do it! Hackers won’t be able to login to your accounts even if they have your password. Because your login will also require a code that is sent to your preferred email address or phone number.
Phishing Email Awareness
No matter how challenging your password can be, it won’t matter if you, not knowingly, gave it out. Phishing emails can do that by disguising their emails to be a legitimate email from a well-known company. For instance from your bank. They’ll make you click a link to put in your username and password or other sensitive information. They will tell you its urgent for securing your account. In that very instance, they just stole your important details. So be careful when opening a link on an email. They have other ways to do that, and awareness is your number one defense. If you think an email is suspicious delete it completely from your inbox.
Other Important Ways to Secure your Online Business
There are things you have to find out on your own in order to make your online business more secure. Right now, here’s a list. Let me know if you want me to elaborate on these things too.
- Back-up all your files in a secure cloud service.
- Learn to Identify Fraud
- Get an Insurance for Business Liability and Inventory.
- Invest in Copyright, Trademarks, and Patents.
- Diversify marketing channels, advertising, and revenue streams.
See Also: GETTING A DOMAIN
