Yes, the online world has evolved by a large margin, but at the same time, so has online theft. While it can be quite a complex topic to discuss, it’s something we should be concerned about, especially if we run a business.
Furthermore, legal requirements have posed new challenges, so you can no longer stick to the same old methods. Increased cybercrime has encouraged legal authorities to incorporate new rules to protect online privacy.
You’re probably thinking of doing the same thing, so let’s not waste any more time and discuss the top eight measures you can take to improve your businesses’ online privacy.
8 Measures you should undertake to improve your online privacy
Install a firewall
A firewall is the first line of defense an online attacker must use whenever they try to access sensitive information. However, online attackers can simply insert malware into your terminal and gain access to a range of sensitive information you may have on your site. Furthermore, there’s no location barrier, so that they can do this from around the world.
Firewalls are excellent for protecting your desktop from malware and other online attacks. They can detect whenever something isn’t right and if an authorized user is using the data or not. If the firewall sees an unauthorized user use your data, it’ll completely shut down the process.
Encrypt browser connections with SSL/TSL
Encrypting communication between your site and browsers is one of the most effective ways to protect online privacy. In order for this to be successful, you need to obtain a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). The HTTPS will encrypt communication between your browser and your site.
HTTPS operates through two protocols, the first is a Security Sockets Layer (SSL), and the other is Transport Security Layer (TSL). SSL encryption’s objective is to prevent any third-party interventions and protect customers from any third-party interventions. TSL ensures that no external intruder can gain access to your business data.
Above all, SSL certifications maintain online privacy within a business, and site owners must update their SSL certifications continuously. If you don’t have an SSL certification, you can buy them from GeoTrust, Entrust, or any other online provider you know. After all, if you don’t buy these SSL certifications and aren’t concerned about your online privacy, no one will do it for you!
Have a robust privacy policy
Your privacy policy will say a lot about you. Since privacy policy regulators have increased their requirements and are making new regulations each year for companies to comply with, it’s always important you stay updated with the latest requirements made.
Privacy policy compliment will depend on where you operate and what kind of citizen you are. For example, if your business deals with EU citizens, you must set up privacy policies that comply with the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR). Alternatively, we have the Californian Privacy Regulation Act (CPRA), which accounts for all businesses that are doing business within Californian boundaries.
Moreover, if you don’t have a privacy policy, you can create one from scratch or use a privacy policy generator to create one automatically. Nevertheless, you can try using platforms to help you collect private data from your visitors.
For instance, Osano is a consent management platform that serves billions of consents per month on more than 700,000 websites! It helps you ensure you are complying with data privacy laws without allowing you to worry if you are on the right path or not!
Set up a separate network for online payments
One of the most brilliant things you can do to protect your users from online attackers is to separate your payment network from your website. Thus, it’s an effective way of reducing cyber-attacks. In fact, according to statistics, 25% of malware attacks hit banks and other financial institutions.
By hacking into an employee’s computer, online attackers can steal all the sensitive user information they hold. Thus, they will easily access financial details if your payment network is on the same network as your website.
However, if your payment network is separate, it’ll be much harder for online attackers to succeed in this case. This means that they need to work much harder to get into these types of information and will probably think it’s a better idea to abandon the operation and start attacking other businesses, hoping they will succeed and find an easier target.
Even though most sites you visit will allow cookies, you should know that cookies will collect large amounts of data, login and registration information, and shopping cart information. This type of information is excellent for retargeting your marketing strategies, but at the same time, it won’t be too pleasant for your customers.
While this type of information is for marketing purposes, your customers will most likely appreciate it much more if you keep their personal information safe. This will not only help you increase revenue but also help you increase customer retention. Moreover, investing in security systems is always a good idea to ensure you provide maximum security for your customer’s data.
Furthermore, you can try to balance things out. For instance, even if you want to collect cookies, you can avoid collecting social security numbers for identification purposes. The more identification requests you have, the easier for attackers to steal valuable information. In short, try deleting all the personal information that isn’t necessary.
Require users to change their usernames and passwords every three to six months
First of all, even if an online attack occurs, change the usernames and passwords as fast as possible. Other than that, requesting users to change their username and password every three to six months is a good idea.
Online criminals will gain the upper hand in frequently attacking your site, so continually changing your usernames and passwords will make things easier for you and your users. However, you don’t want to be a primary target for cybercriminals now, do you?
Use a two-way administrative authentication process
Another way to make online privacy more powerful and have a stronger payment protection system is to customize your admin login information through a two-way authentication process. Your online privacy protection can easily get breached if online attackers get a hold of your log-in details and passwords.
As you may know, similar to what we mentioned above about passwords and usernames, leaving administrative login credentials unchanged will allow online attackers to make you their primary target. They can do this through malware, phishing, using hacking software, and many more methods we may not know of.
However, the second action you want to undertake is to allow code authentications, where a code is generated and sent to admins through mobile devices or a special application. The code has a time limit, so after its set limit, it expires and doesn’t allow online attackers to intrude. Using a two authentication method makes it super tricky for online attackers to access your personal data.
Continuously scan your systems
As a final procedure, you want to run a set of scans frequently in your systems. Try scanning your system every day, every two days, or even every week. However, we recommend not prolonging it for longer than a week.
What kind of benefit do you get by running continuous scans? Well, it’ll inform you of any malware and other suspicious activities within your system. If you are too busy to deal with this, you can consider hiring a consultant or professional that will continuously run these types of scans for you. If that isn’t sufficient, you can try using web applications, other tech tools to debug codes, and much more.
Wrapping it up
That’s all for this article. These are the eight measures you can undertake to improve your business’s online privacy. But, of course, online attacks are a risky thing, and they don’t only cause trouble for you but also for all the sensitive information you store for all your users.
Nevertheless, whenever a breach occurs, it doesn’t only damage your business but also the reputation of your business. The last thing you want is this to happen, and your users doubt trusting you again.
Furthermore, it’s always better to ensure you have an extra layer of security, frequently changing usernames, passwords, and other important details and scanning your systems at least once a week. This way, online attackers won’t see your business as their main target, but get frustrated and skip to an easier target!