Web Hosting Fan » Security

The Difference Between E-commerce and Conventional Site Design

gracechen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:15:25 +0000

There is a big difference between designing a website for visitors merely seeking news or general content and one geared towards selling items online. In the end, it is the design of the site that determines the conversion rate entailing how many visitors are converted into customers. When customers and money are involved, you need to give additional consideration to the design of your website. Constructing it in the same manner as the typical informational site simply will not do.

What’s in a Good Site Design?

An e-commerce site with a good design and strong marketing capabilities is established through a variety of complimenting elements. It consists of a quality shopping cart, comprehensive payment options, and a level of security that makes the customers feel safe. If the consumer does not feel comfortable when visiting your site, the chances of getting them to buy something are slim to none. The only way an e-commerce site can be successful is by having a structure in place that turns casual browsers into paying customers. Therefore, you should focus your design on an environment that comforts potential customers and provides them with enjoyable shopping experience. This cannot be stressed enough because no customer, not even you, wants to deal with unnecessary hassles when trying to shop online. A site that offers great security, convenient payment options, a simple navigation and easy accessibility has a much better chance of succeeding than one lacking these elements.

When creating an e-commerce site, you or your web designer should put a special focus on the following areas:

Effective Branding Message

To make it as an online business owner, it is critical that you gain the trust of potential customers and provide them with a sense of security and credibility when browsing your site. Accomplishing this is much easier when your site has been designed with branding in mind. A well branded site is one that has good logos, mottos, slogans and a solid foundation that exudes professionalism.

Comprehensive and Functional Shopping Cart

The shopping cart is an e-commerce feature you must have in order to sell products and services online. The system you want is designed with the best invoicing and inventory management practices, multiple shipping and payment options, as well as the ability to securely implement reliable payment gateway solutions. If you really want to enhance the customer experience, obtain a shopping cart that offers user-friendliness and ease of use.

Convincing Security and Safety

The speed, simplicity and mere convenience has made e-commerce a very prosperous industry. Any consumer can purchase virtually anything their heart desires online by using a credit or debit card. What you need to focus on is making sure these transactions are handled securely. To ensure the safety of customers and the integrity of your business, make it a priority to invest in a security solution that protects sensitive information when it is traveling over the internet or residing on a server. Fraud and identity theft are scary realities that could send your business plummeting should the security of your site be compromised.

The Security and Privacy Concerns of Cloud Computing

gracechen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:34:25 +0000

Businesses are rapidly adopting cloud computing solutions in order to save money and improve their overall operational efficiency. However, security risks and privacy concerns are issues that could outweigh the advantages by far should unfortunate situations come to light. In a time when mishandling confidential business information and customer data could lead to dire consequences, IT security teams must go above and beyond to ensure the best security and privacy practices of prospective cloud services.

Peeking into the Cloud Infrastructure

Elements such as data protection, disaster recovery and business continuity are all key areas that must be considered when opting for a cloud computing solution. And while a customer’s stored data gives the service provider potentially valuable marketing data for future reference, it could also result in the misuse use and breach of a privacy policy. One way to determine the overall effectiveness of the provider’s security and privacy policies is auditing, as it offers an internal glance at the firm’s internal operations. Since most cloud providers do permit internal audits, you should seek out one that allows for some type of external audits of their network and infrastructure.

Keeping Pace with Compliance and Regulatory Demands

Business customers who need to meet regulatory compliance must determine how leveraging a cloud service could possibly impact those standards. Data security and privacy are two of the most important factors of compliance as both state legislation and government regulations enforce strict stipulations on how data is to be handled. For example, privacy laws in Europe and Japan require that private data be stored and maintained in secure data center facilities located in those respective regions. In addition, the FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portably and Accountability Act) and PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standards are all government enforced regulations that demand the secure storing and handling of private data. A cloud service provider that cannot help ensure compliance under these guidelines does not have your best interests in mind and could put your business in grave jeopardy.

Legal and Contractual Dilemmas

Liability and contractual issues must also be considered when evaluating cloud services. Unfortunately, both can be very sketchy when the cloud is involved. In some environment, aspects are well defined where it is understood that the provider owns the applications and infrastructure while the customer has ownership over their data and intellectual property. In other instances however, it can be difficult to determine just what rights the customer has verus the service provider, especially in a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) environment. This could lead to a very grueling dispute should you choose to break off the partnership and host your data elsewhere. To avoid such issues, it is highly recommended that you understand liability and the terms of the contract before entering an agreement.

Cloud computing offers a range of benefits, but companies should not hop on the bandwagon without having a clear understanding of the security, privacy and legal consequences involved. By drawing up a complete assessment strategy outlining these key areas, you can get the answers you need and find out if this type of service is right for your business. When approaching this solution as if it was your own IT department, you can find out how to keep your data secure and optimize your cloud investment.

Fighting Spam and Viruses with Hardware Solutions

gracechen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:03:57 +0000

It is very unsettling to know that well over 80% of the email coming through your corporate inbox is spam. Even worse, many of these messages aren’t just annoying junk mail, but actually contain viruses and other types of malicious software. In fact, the email system we all use so frequently is the number one delivery medium for malware. While tons of anti-spam and anti-virus software solutions exist, many companies only utilize the latter defense, leaving themselves susceptible to catching an airborne infection. Anti-virus software can be very effective but trying to update all the systems on your network can prove to be a tedious, time-consuming task. Therefore, you may want to consider an anti-virus hardware solution as it makes a great first line of defense against malware and spam alike.

How Anti-Virus Devices Work

Anti-virus devices are installed at the network perimeter and are designed to scan email and web traffic on a continual basis. Similar to traditional virus scanners and spam filters, a set of predefined rules such as blacklists, whitelists and heuristic analysis allows the appliance to easily identify viruses and malicious files. Suspicious activities such as adware and spyware downloads typically generate a warning while potentially harmful email can either be deleted or marked as spam. Blacklists, whitelists and virus definitions are updated frequently to make sure the device has the latest signature files and the ability to detect the most recent threats. Updates can usually be configured on an automatic or scheduled basis. Most anti-virus appliances offer web-based administration and some provide an integrated console that allows you to manage the filtering, update and reporting functions.

Hosted Solutions

Another option you have for anti-virus hardware is to choose a hosted service. Many of the hosted services today have the ability to leverage cloud computing and typically require very little overhead with no software or hardware being necessary. For you, there are no complex mechanisms to manage or upgrade. This is the ultimate anti-virus outsourcing solution as the service provider handles all the updates, maintenance and technical challenges.

Choosing an Appliance

When selecting an anti-virus appliance for your computing environment, one of the main factors you must consider is the price. However, you also need to think about performance as an insufficient product will leave you just as vulnerable as having nothing at all. Throughput and storage capacity are also key factors, as well as the number of users or email accounts the device supports. Finally, you might also want to take the track record of the manufacturer into account. This includes technical support and the likelihood that company will be around for the duration of the device’s life span.

Conclusion

For a business, anti-virus software can be costly and time consuming to maintain. A hosted service can be even more cost prohibitive. A self-hosted anti-virus appliance on the other hand, can be very cost efficient for a business, costing as low as $1 per user depending in the structure of your network. These devices require very little physical maintenance and can deliver invaluable protection against the spam and malicious software that pose as threats to your computer systems.

Factors to Consider for Your Web Server Software

gracechen — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:20:47 +0000

There are a number of factors that must be considered when it comes to choosing the web server application you want to utilize. Elements such as the operating system, the level of security, scalability and price should all come into play when basing your decision. It can be a grueling process but focusing on these key components will make your choice much easier.

Operating Platform

The operating system you choose to run the server on will have a major influence on the software you decide to go with. The most popular platforms today are Windows, Unix and various flavors of the Linux operating system. While all can perform in a multitude of environments, Windows is usually preferred in the business setting while Unix and Linux are designed for more complex and demanding tasks. There are also other choices such as Mac OS X, but this platform isn’t as common and therefore lacks support from the web community.

Solid Security

Above all, security should be your number one priority in choosing web server software. Since most websites are public, they make a prime target for hackers and other cyber criminals looking to steal sensitive information. Even if you decided on a seemingly secure application, keep in mind that the server is really only as secure as its configurations. For example, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to leave the default security settings intact because the attackers have already discovered ways around them. Additionally, you want a server that is easy to patch and update to ensure that the latest security vulnerabilities and issues are addressed.

Easy Scalability

Scalability refers to your web server’s ability to grow alongside the growth of your web operations. This is an extremely important quality as a slow server could end up costing you new visitors and customers as well as existing ones. On the web, they say that you only have a few seconds to grab the attention of potential customers. If your web server can’t perform or slows down after a couple thousand hits, you have essentially set yourself up for failure.

Good Support System

Apache is the most popular and widely installed web server in the world. The software is freely available and can be downloaded by virtually anyone. While this is definitely a plus, it can also be a disadvantage considering how you view the situation. Apache and other open-source programs come at the price of limited formal support. If you don’t have an experienced IT staff on hand to deal with the server, you may want to choose a product that comes with official support to help out when things get rough.

True Value

Cost is often the first factor many people consider when they want to invest in something. With a web server, it should be the last thing you consider. As we mentioned, there are free servers as well those that come with expensive licenses, particularly Microsoft’s IIS (Internet Information Services). This specific application ranks up there with the best but you could actually hurt your efforts by judging web servers on cost. Pick the cheap software and you just might end up with a product the lacks the compatibility, scalability and functionality you need to be successful.

Why is Web Hosting Security so Important?

gracechen — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:27:02 +0000

There are many aspects that goes into choosing a web hosting service and security is one you need to make a priority. Threats are abound on the web and these exploits qualify as something every hosting provider and customer should be concerned about. Let’s discuss why security is such a major issue in the hosting industry and what you can do to make sure your website is protected.

Malicious Software

Numerous threats pose a direct risk to web hosting providers servers and networks. One of the most dangerous of all is a family of harmful applications known as malware. A combination of the terms malicious and software, malware comes in many different forms and all can inflict major damage. Though far more than a simple computer, a server is vulnerable to the same threats. Before purchasing a hosting package, make sure your prospective host is equipped with technologies that defend against malware types such as viruses, Trojans, spyware and nasty, network disrupting worms. If these malicious critters are able to infect the server, every piece of data on that machine can be compromised, your site included.

Bot Rings

Another huge problem faced by hosting networks is the dreaded DDoS attack, an exploit typically employed by criminals involved in botnets. Short for Distributed Denial of Service, these attacks work by flooding the network with requests. Once the network is flooded, it slows down dramatically until legitimate traffic is no longer able to pass. The DDOS attack is one of the oldest exploits around and still one of the most difficult to prevent. This attack involves a hacker compromising a single server and making that unit the master slave. The machine is then instructed to seek out other vulnerable servers, enslaving them to participate in the inevitable launch on a single targeted computer. With so many requests originating from so many hosts, the unprotected network doesn’t have a chance. A web host that doesn’t take DDoS attacks into account is leaving the network and all of its customers susceptible to a disaster.

Credit Card Fraud

Everyday, millions of transactions are conducted over the internet as e-commerce is thriving in numerous countries. Of course the hackers are aware of this and desperately trying to get their hands on every dollar they possibly can. The web can be a dangerous place and vulnerable websites make up some of the biggest targets. Hackers are on the prowl, equipped with highly advanced tools and just waiting for you to make a mistake. All they need for you to do is set up an online store and open the doors without the proper security applied. As soon as customers attempt to make a purchase, their credit card details are stolen and this opens a world of trouble. Leaving the customer vulnerable to such exploits could result in a huge blemish on your credibility, not to mention legal issues and the possible loss of your business.

Conclusion

You would expect a professional web hosting company to know the risks and take the necessary measures to mitigate them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way so you must be proactive to ensure that your hosting environment is secure. The impact of a security breach varies but in most cases, the results are never good.