The Internet is establishing itself as one of the best environments to develop a company, especially thanks to the rise of e-commerce during the last two years of the global pandemic. The need to restrict movement in cities during the most difficult months of Covid-19 made many people discover for the first time the advantages of doing their shopping online, incorporating millions of potential customers into a growing market.
However, new opportunities also bring new risks, and if you want to build your own online business, you need to be aware of the danger that the internet presents to your company and your private data. Properly protecting your online store costs very little and can prevent your business from falling into the hands of cybercriminals, with all the consequences that this entails.
That is why you have below some of the main ways in which you can protect your company on the Internet:
5 tips to learn how to protect your digital business.
1. Use unique and strong passwords
Your passwords are the key that gives you access to your digital accounts, so you should make sure that you use keys that are unique and out of the reach of anyone else. You wouldn’t close the door of a physical store with a padlock that anyone could open with a simple paper clip, and, in the same way, you should completely avoid easy-to-guess codes such as the typical ‘qwerty’, ‘1234’ or ‘password’. ‘.
Always make sure to choose a password that is strong, random, and impossible to guess. Avoid family or pet names, and take the time to set different passwords for each of your accounts. In this way, in the event that one of your accounts suffers a breach, all the information of the rest of the accounts will continue to be safe.
2. Always enable two-step authentication
Although strong passwords can be a great way to protect your online accounts, they are not enough to keep them 100 percent secure. This responds to the fact that your account passwords are stored on the servers of the platforms you access with them, so that if a cybercriminal accesses these servers, they can get hold of your passwords and access your accounts as well.
That is why it is essential that whenever you have the option, you activate two-step authentication to incorporate a second layer of protection for your online accounts. This way, even if a hacker gets hold of your password, they won’t be able to access your accounts without having a second device like a phone or tablet that you own.
3. Use a VPN to access your online store
The information you send over the Internet can be intercepted if a cyber attacker accesses the servers of your Internet provider or any platform you are using online. This includes your credit card numbers, your email messages and even your access credentials to the main online platforms.
To prevent this type of leak, you should use a VPN to protect your communications on the network. A VPN for Chrome will take care of encrypting your data so that it is inaccessible to anyone who has intercepted your connection in one way or another.
Four. Do not share your router password with other people
If you work from home, you probably use the same router to manage your online store and to watch Netflix or check your social networks. And the most normal thing is that we share the router password with friends or family who come to see us from time to time. However, this is something that you should not do in any case.
It’s not that your friends or family are untrustworthy, but that their devices may have been exposed to malware elsewhere, and that malware could affect the cybersecurity of your business. That is why it is important that you do not provide your password to visitors.
5. Always keep a backup of your critical data
All the security measures mentioned so far will help you protect your online accounts as much as possible and make your business have a better chance of success. However, there are no security measures capable of protecting an online account one hundred percent, so keeping a backup copy disconnected from the network is a great way to prevent greater evils.
Ultimately, if something goes wrong with your online accounts, you can always restore them using the data from your backup and continue operating as normal.
And remember, if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can read our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
