Data Safety Instructions For Website Owners

click for source

The old saying «prevention is better than cure» certainly applies to data privacy. A small piece of harmful code uploaded to your site could cause major damage, from an opening of a pop-up, to a stolen session or password and complete system compromise. As part of your data security guidelines it is important to define the frequency and manner in which your system scans for this type of malicious code, and what security measures are in place to reduce the risk.

Update all software or scripts that you utilize on your website regularly. Hackers are targeting security flaws in the most popular web applications, and a deficiency in timely updates can make your system vulnerable. It is also recommended to limit database or network accessibility to the minimum amount of people required to perform their job.

Make a plan to deal with potential breaches. Then, assign a staff member to manage the process. Based on the nature of your business, you might be required to notify consumers, law enforcement, customers, and credit bureaus. This is a serious issue that must be planned in advance.

Make sure you have strong password requirements and ensure you have a way to store passwords. For instance, requiring upper and lowercase characters, numerals and special characters. Additionally, you can use salt and hash functions that are slow. Avoid unnecessarily storing confidential information about users, and if you do, limit the risk level by encrypting the data or deleting it after a period of time.