Site Security

Site security is becoming more and more of a concern with the increase in ecommerce.  If you have a business online it is definitely something you will want to concern yourself with.  When you are looking for site security there is a number of different types so it is important to do your research and find which ones will work best for you.  These are just a few:

1. Using a different service to process payment.  This is just an easy way to increase your site security that also makes less work for you, all though it does cost a little.  Rather than taking payments on your site, you can use a secure service to be your shopping cart for you and take all your payments for you.  This way you’re not holding anybody’s names, adressesses, credit card information, or any other sensitive information.  A great example of this type of service that is especially well known is Paypal.
2. PCI Scanning.  This site security method goes just a little bit farther than trust seals do and is often required for your business by the credit card companies.  In order to get PCI Certified you go through an Approved Scanning Vendor and they will help you go through a few steps such as a Self Assesment Questionnaire, the actual scan as well as a few others.    The scan they perform just checks your firewalls for possible holes or vulnerabilities that would make it possible for hackers to get in, and after they perform the initial scan they will determine how often you must have scans.
3. Trust Seals.  These are a security service that’s provided by a third party.  This third party will check out certain parts of your online business such as your privacy policies, security practices, and validate things about your online company including your business phone number and address, as well as a lot of other things.  Trust seals are mainly showing your customers that you are not only doing your best to make your site as safe as possible, but that you also have a third party that will vouch for your site security as well.
4. SSL Encryption.  This is a basic type of site security that takes any sensitive information that you’re storing such as credit card information, names, addresses, phone numbers etc. and encrypts them so that people who get ahold of the information won’t be able to read it.  Unfortunately, there are many people that are able to find ways around the encryption and so it is recommended that you pair SLL Encryption with another type of security.