With the current world running so fast, we can get almost everything online. From home services to gaming, from official digital services to entertainment services everything is online. You also have a budding aspiring business or a well-established business. It might be beneficial for you to take your business online to various digital platforms. It will help you to grow your global digital reach and will provide interactions from customers all around the world.
Whether you have a small aspiring business or a fully established business, it is very important in the present time to take your business online. Taking your business online will provide your global reach 24 hours a day and that to 7 days a week. your products and services will be just a click away from your customers. For establishing a known online platform for your business, you might consider many strategies such as digital marketing, content marketing, branding, web development, etc.
But with the technology comes certain drawbacks also. If you are planning to take your business online or have a well-settled online business, still you should be aware of how vulnerable IT systems ruin your business and hamper your professional growth.
What are IT systems in business?
In a business such as a web development companies and digital marketing companies and many others which run on an online platform use management information systems or IT systems. These IT systems include tools used for supporting processing, computer hardware and software, telecommunication, data warehouses, human resources, and procedures.
For example, while setting up your business and taking your business online, you need various services time-to-time such as digital marketing services for advertisements, web development services for your website and mobile application, financial data management services, services for stock maintenance, branding services, and many more. All these services and their particulate elements make up an IT system.
For your business to run successfully it is very important that you develop and adapt IT systems yourself or avail it from the one offered by various companies online or offline who provide your services for your business according to your need.
But with so much competition going on in the market your business can get potential harm from the vulnerability of these IT systems and can even ruin the progress of your business. So, you need to be very careful about the vulnerability of the IT systems related or connected to your business in any form.
WHY ARE IT SYSTEM VULNERABLE?
IT systems are very vulnerable to destruction, error, and abuse. The main reason for this situation is that these IT businesses there is a continuous exchange of data to and fro between the service providers and these data and files can be immediately and directly accessed through the computer terminals at the points in telecommunication.
When these large data are stored in electronic form, they are most vulnerable to the online threat and potential for unauthorized access, abuse or even fraud which is not only limited to a single location or organizational or any environmental factors.
AS computers and laptops which store our database are always connected to the internet there can be penetration by an outsider as radio frequency and bandwidth are easy to scan and one might get access to all the databases making these IT systems more vulnerable.
HOW CAN IT VULNERABILITY CAN AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS THAT YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF.
- SECURITY ISSUES: –
While taking your business online you might come across times when you have to share your data or give access to your data in order to get services from online companies or to get your work done. Sometimes it might happen that the company which you are working with is not verified, it can lead to fraud and online abuse. Sometimes these companies have themselves a very fragile security system which is prone to hacking and leading to fraud. Studies have shown that most fraud companies attract their customers with cheap and attractive offers and will make you fall in their bait.
- BAD BOTS: –
There are good bots and bad bots all over the internet. Bots are essentially the automated programs available online which are essentially designed to perform a specific task on the web. Good bots are designed to get benefited from them and they are harmless and help search engines provide an optimum rank for your business. But these bad bots are usually designed to cause harm to your business.
These bots can be programmed to steal your credit card numbers and figure out CVV’s repeatedly until they are successful. These bots can be price scaping also sent by your competitors to monitor your pricing, pricing strategies, marketing plans, inventory levels, and more, allowing them to undercut your prices or outrank you in search engine optimization.
- AFFECTING MALWARE: –
Malware refers to the piece of software that has been designed by the cyber-criminal running fraud online IT systems. These IT systems usually have the attention of gaining access or causing damage to your computer networks. MALWARE files usually can allow hackers to fake their identity, take control of your computers and networks, tamper with your database, send unethical emails from your account, and can even get complete access to your computer and database. IT systems with malware generally offer attractive and free services such as web development programs, digital marketing programs, branding programs, and many more to attract more companies to fall into their trap.
- ATTACKS by DDoS: –
DDoS refers to distributed denial of service. It involves sending your websites with requests from potentially thousands of untraceable IP addresses. These DDoS attacks can cause you to go offline, leaving it wide open to be more susceptible to more vicious attacks.
- UNINFORMED OR CARELESS EMPLOYES: –
There may be some unprofessional IT system companies that don’t have trained and experienced professionals that can be very vulnerable for your business. Employees who are untrained in security best practices may have weak passwords. They can visit unauthorized websites and/or click on the link in suspicious emails or open up the email attachment that might pose potential security threats on the database of your business. Usually, companies that do not have good reviews and those who only focus on their profit, often hire untrained and inexperienced professionals for providing services.
- E-SKIMMING: –
E-skimming refers to the method of hacking in which the personal data such as credit card information or any other important data base of your company. It is a potential risk when you share your credit card details or as the fact of the matter any other e-transaction details. This method will allow hackers to capture the payment option in real time as soon as you access the payment page. The websites which are unauthorized and unrecognised often carry the potential risk of e-skimming. In order to avoid this, you should always prompt to check whether a payment page is genuine or not.
- PHISHING: –
It is one of the most common vulnerabilities of the IT system in which the hacker masquerades legitimate business and can then subsequently send mails and messages to your clients tricking them to seek sensitive information from them such as identity proof, credit card details, bank account details, etc. These phishing IT systems generally present a fake copy of a legitimate website of your business that will allow your customers to believe that the frequency is coming from your end and they eventually trick into revealing their sensitive information.
Commonly phishing emails contain messages such as “You must take this action” or “your services are terminated”. This technique only works if your customers follow through with the action and provide them access to their login information or other personal data which the hacker can exploit as per his benefit.
- SQL INJECTION: –
SOL injections are the IT systems that intended to access your database by targeting your query submission form. They access your database by injecting specious code in your database, collecting the data, and then delete it later.
- XXS IT system: –
Some vulnerable IT systems allow hackers to target your website visitors by infecting your online stores with false code. These codes may even damage and alter your website.
- VULNERABLE TECHNOLOGIES: –
You might want to use up-to-date technologies for your business but before that it is very important that your systems are updated. Malicious software and hackers can take the advantage of the systems that are not well worsted with the latest security update. Vulnerability can be created by outdated antivirus and spyware definitions. Unpatched operating systems could be subjected to exploitation. Firewalls that are incorrectly configured can cause potential risk for your business. Hackers can even take access to your sensitive information such as identity proof, credit card details or banking information etc by taking advantage of your systems vulnerability.
TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS FROM POTENTIAL VULNERABILITY OF IT SYSTEMS?
- ASSESS RISK AND DETERMINE YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS.
It is very important for every business to estimate and plan their potential risk that they might encounter during their business journey. Whether it’s a small business or a big business, a startup or a full established, risk estimation is very important as it can help you to be prepared with your plan of action and will cause less harm to your business in case of any discrepancies. By implementing a risk assessment framework for your company, you can prioritize the most effective branches that need to be addressed first. This level of assessment can be done on a regular, recurring basis.
- CREATE A CENTRAL TEAM: –
In order to ensure security for your business, you can hire and make a central team for dealing with all the risks and vulnerabilities that your business might be prone to. This team can ensure that your websites remain secure and protected from hackers, phishing, and suspicious spam. This can also help you to ensure the privacy of your customers as well as will ensure their security for any kind of online fraud. This central group of employees will be responsible for risk management and determine the appropriate funding level for this activity.
- PAYMENT SECURITY GATEWAY: –
While it is more convenient to make payment with the credit card number stored in the phone, it could be potentially very harmful to you as well as to your business. The most important fact to remember to ensure your payment security is that never share your OTP with anyone. without an OPT hacker cannot cause any harm to your payment system neither can they access your credit card for any fraud transaction.
If you fall victim to a security breach, and hackers get their hands-on credit card data, all you can do is to say goodbye to your business because the heavy fines will force you into bankruptcy. In order to save your business from this terrible fate, you should never store credit card information on your servers and ensure your payment gateways security is not at risk.
- PREFER TRUSTED COMPANIES FOR YOUR SERVICES.
You might need to get various services in order to grow your business. These services include digital marketing services, web development services, branding services, etc. Sometimes these services are offered free or by companies that are a fraud. you should always hire trusted companies for getting your services done for your business as they are completely secured and will not cause any vulnerable threat to your business.
In addition to this, these companies provide qualified and trained professionals, who know how to do their work with perfection and safety. Your business will not only be email protected but will also exponentially grow if you get your services done from trusted and experienced companies.
Although taking your business online is very essential in current times, it is also important for you to stay aware of the vulnerabilities of the IT systems mentioned above that can ruin your business. You can also consider the tips provided above to ensure the safety and security of your business as well as your customers.
Read This Blog: WHY DATA BREACHES HAPPEN AND HOW CAN YOU TAKE CARE OF IT?