How To Keep Your Online Business Financially Secure

The internet has made payment very easy. No longer do you have to trek down to the bank every time you want to cash in money or pay a client. That said, there are dangers to dealing with money online. All the crooks that used to plan their time breaking into banks have now moved onto the web. Protecting your business against these hackers and scammers can be easily done by following these steps

Be careful of suspicious emails

One of the main ways fraudsters get people to divulge their account details is through emails posing as charities, loan companies and sometimes even your bank. Having a spam filter should filter most of these out. If an email seems suspicious, avoid clicking on any links as these could lead you to virus-filled pages.

Install digital security

Some people will try to get away with not having to pay the cost of anti-virus software. You shouldn’t do this with your personal computer and you most definitely shouldn’t do this with a computer that you’re using for business, which is likely to not just have your details but the details of staff and clients too. Buy yourself the latest internet security and make sure that it is constantly updated and renewed. Most reliable antivirus software will update and renew automatically.

Protect yourself against all types of payment

Some forms of payment can be more risky than others. Cash should be exchanged in person when possible to prevent receiving counterfeit money. When dealing with credit cards, look into merchant services to ensure a secure transaction. Some companies have been recently accepting bitcoin, which can come with extra added risks. Don’t accept this form of payment unless you’re familiar with bitcoin already.

Regularly change passwords

An obvious one, regularly changing passwords will put off hackers. At the very last, you should have different passwords for different log-ins and different PIN numbers for different accounts. This way of a hacker does discover one password, they cannot get into the rest of your personal information. If you have colleagues or employees of whom you communicate with online, do not share passwords with them online.

Encrypt financial information

Encrypting files is the best way to put off would-be hackers, as the effort of then having to decrypt them isn’t generally worth it. Some services such as VISA USA and Mastercard, will only work with companies that have taken the step to encrypt their files. Encrypting files can be done simply on most Microsoft and Apple computers although you can download additional software to do it too. All files can be encrypted including those stored on the Cloud. Make sure that other staff members are aware of necessary passwords to decrypt these files if they need them, but again tell them in person – not in a message.