guidetowebsecurity.com

A study recently showed that small businesses gets the most attack from web viruses. In fact, it is found that businesses with less than 2,500 employees were the target, gaining 50% out of all attacks last year. The problem is that small businesses do not think that they should be worrying about computer viruses. Majority of them are not investing on getting good web security.

The truth is that once a company is attacked by a virus, they can lose a lot of money. If the money isn’t stolen from them, then the information on their customers are stolen and that’s where the attackers steal money.

The solution to this problem is to invest on web security. Have a company or an expert set up something special that will protect all of the computers from potential virus or malware. Spending money on this will be worth it in the end because not only do you want to keep your money safe, but also have all your customers feeling safe too.

As of March 2013, Barracuda Web Filter was announced as the Best Security Hardware Product. It wins the gold honors at the recently concluded Security Industry’s 2013 Global Excellence Awards. Barracuda Network is one of the leading providers of security solutions. Their Web Filter has impressive features, enabling new technology and other online related services to function without being exposed to anything that will negatively affect the program such as viruses, phishing, spyware and other online threats.

There were more than 50 judges from the industry participated. The winners were announced in San Francisco last month. Steve Pao, vice president of product management of Barracuda Networks was ecstatic about the award and said “We’re honored that the Barracuda Web Filter was recognized as this year’s Gold winner for the best security hardware product, as we have continued to enhance social media controls and mobility features,” Expect bigger and better products from this company. After their current success, they’re more inspired to bring users more of what they can offer.

Windstream is definitely one of the leading service provider of both voice and data network communications in the United States. With so many subscribers, it was just a matter of time that they broadened their service and start providing their own web security. They recently launched Endpoint Security Protection by McAfee. Known for their quality performance, Windstream boasts of Security Protection that would eliminate the need for multiple security products giving small businesses a single solution to detect and block viruses, spyware, spam, phishing attempts, and hacker attacks. Though this seams mainstream, their focus is actually for small businesses with their solution that is very much affordable protection 24/7. Don Perkins, Senior VP for Windstream said “Endpoint Security Protection provides our small and medium-sized business customers with all-around protection, reducing the need for additional security management software, hardware, support and even dedicated IT staff.” For more information about their latest endeavor, visit their website www.windstream.com

With almost all business transactions can be possibly done online, people who put in personal information are worried that their details will be compromised. A survey done by 1 & 1 Internet said that 54% said that they feel that their information can easily be stolen and that is a cause of worry. 400 US citizens were asked and of that, 29% no longer buy anything online for fear of their safety. This is a good amount. At least 70% of people actually understand the risks they take when doing any transactions online.

More and more transactions online are done everyday with the amount of websites that can be accessed by people to purchase stuff. Online shops such as e-bay, Amazon and Etsy are just a few shops online. When purchasing, not only do you have to input your name and address, you also have to enter your credit card number. There are so many cyber criminals out there and people should definitely make sure that they think twice before anything else.

It’s very easy to know what is going on in a person’s life simply by going to the internet. Privacy is precious when it comes to the internet. Not a lot of people are smart enough to want to protect themselves from the public. There are companies who collect millions of information about the online activities and information of young people/children to help their growth in sales. These data gathering information is actually legal. But what people should be alarmed about is that this practice could be used to identify or locate individual children.

The US is tightening the internet privacy rules to protect the children and give limitations to what is allowed information to be gathered. Mary Engle, associate director of advertising in FTC said “Today, almost every child has a computer in his pocket and it’s that much harder for parents to monitor what their kids are doing online, who they are interacting with, and what information they are sharing, The concern is that a lot of this may be going on without anybody’s knowledge.” The new rules are expected to be announced next week. It’s about time!

The majority of Internet users are very much concerned with security, which is why businesses invest a lot in making sure that they do the best they can to guard against hackers – including adopting stricter authentication procedures.

The problem is that the same users that complain about the lack of online security measures are the very ones that sabotage the authentication process by stubbornly clinging on to easily remembered and easily hacked passwords. If you think that you’re not one of the guilty ones, check out SplashData’s List of Worst Passwords of 2012. And in case your password is “password”, do take the time to change it!

Don’t sit around muttering to yourself about your hacked email account or your failed job hunt, because you can be sure nothing will change. Go online and do something about it, and hopefully 2013 will find you with your online accounts secure and happy at a new job.

Image via Paul O’ Rear

A local celebrity once made headlines by going into an extremely posh shopping mall with 2 assistants, 4 ladies maids, and 9 bodyguards. Talk about protection! I, and the rest of the nation, think that what she did was just an overkill and most likely a one-time pass to popularity. However, when shopping and doing business transactions online, can we really say the same?

Whenever I do my shopping online I always ask myself, “Is someone out there waiting for me to type in my credit card number and security pin??” I don’t have that much for online thieves to target me in particular. But online pirates don’t operate that way anymore. They go for random users with a couple of bucks, victimize several hundreds of those every week, and boom! They got themselves a party going on.

So make sure you protect yourself from all kinds of internet threats such as spyware, adware, scam, phishing, spam, viruses and other activities that may interrupt your privacy. There are online tools and security software available that informs the user of potentially dangerous websites. They help you get the detailed information you need about the website like domain names, user reviews, and reports, so that you have the choice whether to leave of enter the website. Cool huh? Having security tools like this is like having your own personal online bodyguard for your computer. So the next time you shop or transact online, be cool, be safe, and be protected. The choice is yours.

If you use Firefox as your primary web browser and you’re concerned about your web security then download the NoScript add-on for Firefox.

NoScript is a handy tool that prevents JavaScript, Java and other executable content. A lot of malicious web sites have instituted programming that will automatically execute when you visit the URL. NoScript prevents this by giving you complete control on when these are executed. You have to manually give control when you visit web site and then it remembers the kind of permissions you give for each one. You should install it immediately if you have Firefox.

A cousin told me story of a friend of his who was robbed several hundreds of dollars in his paypal account. His friend had some online business thingy, and one of the clients was able to hack into his account. A few hundred dollars is not something a successful businessman would cry over. However, it made me think of the millions of dollars that are being robbed everyday from defenseless internet users. Although a lot of security tools and applications are available to protect people, there are still those that could be broken in by malicious, and often bored, internet thieves.

Securing a website is one of the biggest concerns of any internet user. Authentication, data encryption, password protection and server security systems are some initial defense applications you can use. Though a guarantee cannot be given through these tools alone, it is better to have them built in and added on to later. The Microsoft Business Server is one example we can look on to. The 2008 version has a Forefront Online Protection system that has features like email filtration. This filters out viruses and spam from your emails, which helps not just in the security of your business server, but in the overall improvement of your productivity.

Dangers like piracy and robbery has been linked to internet use for decades, in travel and tour websites, Europe and Australia business directory, American job search engines, etc. And they probably will remain forever. However, like in any regular kind of business, it is a risk that business owners can avoid. But being fortified with the right security protocols can assure any owner a good night’s sleep.

Many Microsoft Windows users are not aware that there are common security leaks in their network settings. Below is a common setup for Microsoft Windows’ network computers:

* Microsoft Networks’ Clients
* Microsoft Networks; File and Printer Sharing
* NetBEUI Protocol
* Internet Protocol TCP/IP

You have problems if your setup allows NetBIOS over TCP/IP:

* Your files can be shared all over the Internet
* Your logon-name, computer-name, and workgroup-name are visible to others.

You also have a problem if your setup allows File and Printer Sharing over TCP/IP:

* Your files can be shared all over the Internet

Even if computers are not connected to any network, it could be dangerous because the network settings were changed when Internet was installed.