THE IMPORTANCE OF WEBSITE SECURITY

We’ve all heard the stories of the US Pentagon and other seemingly impenetrable websites and servers being compromised by hackers and outside attacks.  Oddly, the percent of website owners who perform daily vulnerability scans to keep hackers out, is remarkably low.

Is it because we’re eternal optimists – “That will never happen to me!” or is it because we do not fully understand the potential disastrous results that could come from our website being compromised? How long have we worked to get our websites up and running? How much money have we spent to get our websites to work the way they do right now?

When we consider the relatively low cost of protecting our sites from hackers and outside attacks, it’s easy to see why more and more level-headed website owners are getting their sites scanned daily to keep safe and to be compliant with the Payment Card Industry and its Data Security Standard. Having said that, today, online security isn’t only about protecting our websites.

Now it’s also about staying in business!  That’s because more and more often, our potential customers will not buy from us if we do not show them that our sites are clean and have passed daily vulnerability scans.  Online Consumers are more savvy than ever when it comes to website security, privacy, and business identity.
If our sites aren’t protected with an SSL, and there is no visible evidence that we run daily vulnerability scan, the majority of shoppers won’t do business with us.  The same goes for our sites that don’t provide evidence of a privacy policy compliant with local and national regulations.  Online visitors also consistently shy away from our websites if we don’t show them how easy it is to contact us by phone, email, chat, or a physical address.

HOW DO WE AS WEBSITE OWNERS GET PEOPLE TO TRUST US?

There are many ways for a business to get visitors to trust them on the internet.  One of the most consistent and effective ways to build trust is to display a trust seal on your website that informs our customers that they are visiting a legitimate business that has been checked out by a qualified and respected third party.

Online visitors can click on the image of the trust seal and view the certificate associated with that website.  If the certificate is valid, and the visitors feel safe, there is a high probability that they will do what we as website owners want them to do.  Test show an average increase in conversion rates of more than 15% when using trust seals, than without. McAfee, a security seal, Truste, a privacy seal, and BBB, a business seal, all have respectable products.

However, if you review the options, Trust Guard, The Leader in Website Security and Verification, has a better, more convenient, less expensive product than all of these products combined! Click on the side bar at the top left-hand side of the page for tons of good information (pages and posts) concerning all areas of PCI Compliance.

Here you will find Website Security articles including: Effective Passwords, SSL Certificates, and much, much more like how to make money by keeping your site safe! You can also read The Online Adventures of Harold the Hacked!

Once we become PCI Compliant, we need to show our online visitors that we are trustworthy by displaying Trust Guard Security and Verification Seals!

The Payment Card Industry requires that websites perform routine vulnerability/security scans.

Trust Guard fulfills a requirement of the Payment Card Industry to scan sites for vulnerabilities. They perform a scan of more than 30,000 points, and grow online business better than their competition at a fraction of the cost! Trust Guard truly is the leader in Website Security.

HOW DO TRUST GUARD’S SECURITY SEALS HELP WEBSITES?

1. Trust Guard checks websites to see if hackers can get in.

2. If hackers can get in, Trust Guard sends a report so that the website owner and their hosting company know how to make their website safe.

3. When the website is safe, Trust Guard puts a seal on the website to show visitors that they are safe.

4. When visitors see the Trust Guard seal, they feel good about doing business with that website.

5. Visitors that feel good will do what website owners want them to do.

The major credit card companies created the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council.  Among other things, the Council created the Data Security Standard (DSS) to reduce credit card fraud.  If someone steals our customer’s credit card information while we are not compliant with the DSS regulations, the Payment Card Industry holds us financially responsible for the theft.

For the safety of our online visitors and our websites, we must run daily vulnerability scans as outlined by the Council in their DSS.  These security scans, offered by Trust Guard, can protect our sites and servers from hackers. Some mistakenly confuse SSLs (Secure Socket Layers) with scanning – although both are required by the DSS.  SSLs encrypt data during the credit card transaction. Security scans checks for vulnerabilities that hackers use to compromise data, files, and folders.

This website includes valuable content about all twelve requirements for PCI compliance that the Council has organized into six related categories, called “control objectives” with more data being added weekly.  When we satisfy all of the Council’s requirements for a safe website, including vulnerability scanning by Trust Guard, we will become PCI Compliant.

Turn more or your online visitors into valued customers! www.go.trust-guard.com Watch This Video!

HAROLD THE HACKED

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