Think about all the sensitive information passing across the web during the final quarter of the year: benefits enrollments, budget-tidying invoices, and the massive amount of holiday-shopping payments. And then tax season quickly follows.
This influx of private data makes October the perfect month to focus on cybersecurity and ensure you’re not opening your clients, your customers, or yourself to hacking threats. And so: Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
During Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the crew over at Sucuri spent the month digging into some of the most-common issues we see. To help you zero in on the most useful content, here are three areas they recommend addressing right away:
Securing Your Online Store
It should be clear that the increased transactions of the holidays make online stores an alluring target for hackers. Whatever the size of your business, you’re required to follow PCI-DSS compliance requirements to secure cardholder information – and plenty of other factors make an unsecured store a threat to your livelihood. If you’re not sure where to start, Sucuri broke down the essential information for you.
Managing Passwords
Everyone jokes about bad passwords, but the data indicates many people laughing at the jokes also bear the brunt of them. Just last year, the most commonly leaked password was 123456. To help your team – and your clients – get a better handle on passwords, Sucuri outlined ways to level up your password game without overwhelming yourself.
Offering Security to Clients
As a web professional, you’re a trusted party and principal contact for clients’ sites and apps. While security can feel like it’s “not my issue,” a hack can come back to you. After an exploit, that could consume time and effort from you. Or it could effect the perception of your work and cost you the client and their referrals. In this post, Sucuri makes the case for offering security as part of your service bundle.
Keep an eye on Sucuri’s blog and guides for continuing coverage on hacks and exploits as they arise. They provide an excellent resource for staying informed on threats and delivering a safe, secure experience for your customers and clients.