Best business
practices, especially when it comes to online safety and security, is something
all business owners should consider – regardless of the size of their companies
or the amount (if any) of online sales.
With an average of 5,000 new
vulnerabilities discovered each year, regular or continuous vulnerability
scanning is an essential security best practice.Recent studies show that over
70% of security threats are directed at web applications due to the quantity
and value of the information they contain, a problem that's particularly acute
for online merchants.
PCI
stands for the Payment
Card Industry. The main credit card companies all
got together and organized a Security Standards Council which in turn created a
data security standard. They require that all online merchants be compliant
with their standards. PCI compliant security scans check to determine whether
or not these web applications spoken of earlier have vulnerabilities. It checks
for other possible places where clients or websites could be compromised by a
virus or hacker.
Trusted website security companies
like Trust Guard provide a report after scanning the server or website. The
report gives business owners and/or their IT support staff the information they
need to repair the vulnerabilities, if any. When businesses scan their site
daily, there is a significantly lower chance that hackers or viruses will
infiltrate their website and servers.
Every business that accepts and
stores credit card data must demonstrate compliance with PCI DSS, but the
complexities of securing business networks present considerable challenges,
especially for smaller businesses with limited IT resources. However, security
scanning packages can be obtained for a reasonable fee. In fact, Scanning
companies that offer security seals for scanned businesses to display on their
websites will find that sales will increase and conversion rates will improve.
This is because online consumer trust scanned sites more than they trust
non-scanned sites – as well they should.
The PCI Scan Service requires no
hardware or software to be installed and managed. Inserting a small snippet of
code on the website page is all that is required to both scan the site and
display the trust seal and accompanying certificate. The
seal and certificate demonstrates the business’ commitment to keep their site
safe for themselves and their customers.
