Is Your Computer System Safe from Hackers? How to Get an IT Penetration Test
You may be wondering what the difference between a vulnerability scan and a IT penetration test is. With vulnerability scanning, your system will be scanned for vulnerabilities that may put your system at risk. IT penetration testing includes this, but much more.
There are three common forms of computer network hacking. DoS attacks are when hackers flood the network with unauthentic traffic, which crowds out legitimate traffic and can cause your system to become unresponsive. Wireless networks are particularly susceptible to DoS attacks. Hackers can access an organization’s network from a car or coffee shop and leave behind no evidence.
Another type of hacking attack is known as information leaking or pirating. This is where information is taken without the legitimate user’s knowledge. Hackers can receive unauthorized information and then change its contents without the user knowing.
ARP (address resolution protocol) is what allows a device that uses TCP/IP protocol to detct other devices using IP addresses on a network. A hacker can interfere by changing this identification information in such a way as to allow them to receive the transmitted information instead of the intended recipient.
An IT penetration test can determine how well your computer system is protected from hackers. The penetration test is designed to try to gain access to your network and information assets in the same way that a hacker would. The benefit of a penetration test is to identify the extent to which a system can be compromised before an actual determined attack. After a penetration test is completed, you will know where security needs to be enhanced and will be able to sleep better at night.
What is Conversion Rate?
When concerning online marketing and sales, a conversion occurs when a visitor or prospective customer performs the marketer’s planned action. For example, the visitor may purchase something on your site, or it may even be something as simple as completing a survey or joining an online email list. So what is a conversion rate? The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who perform the intended action. By measuring a percentage of visitors the website owner will be able to determine how well or badly their website is doing regardless of traffic levels. When a web surfer notices your ad and clicks on it, you have a potential customer. If this visitor decides to buy something from you, then you have a customer. This can be described as a conversion because the website visitor was “converted” into a customer.
Your conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the number of page views. It is the percent of people that buy something when visiting your website.
Successful conversion rates can be interpreted differently by different groups of people like marketers, advertisers or content creators. The desired action can take many forms which vary from site to site. Some examples include product sales, membership registrations, newsletter subscriptions, software downloads or really any activity beyond page browsing. A high conversion rate means that a larger number of visitors are actually becoming customers.
Conversion rate is the most critical statistic about a website. Conversion rate directly impacts profitability and is important to a website’s success or failure. Having a higher conversion rate can boost’s the website’s profits and a lower conversion rate can lead to negative consequences like getting pushed out of the marketplace.
Website Vulnerabilities – Cross Site Scripting
The internet is a wonderful thing! One of the greatest things about it is that it has allowed many of us to own our own businesses and websites, which allows us to work from the comfort of our own home. But, as many of you know, the greatness also comes with risk. When you have your own website, you have to be aware of website vulnerabilities.
A recent study by WhiteHat (http://www.whitehatsec.com) security in Santa Clara, California, has shown that there is a real problem with website vulnerabilities. The study showed the top ten website vulnerabilities and also showed that one out of every three website has vulnerability issues that put their companies at risk. According to the study, the most common vulnerability continues to be Cross Site Scripting (also known as XSS).
Cross site scripting is a type of computer security vulnerability which occurs when a web application gathers malicious data from a user. The data is often gathered in the form of a hyperlink that contains malicious content within it. One way that an attack can happen is when code is hidden in a "click here" hyperlink attached to a URL that points to a non-existent web page. When the page is not found, the script is returned with the bogus URL, and the user's browser executes it. An exploited cross site scripting vulnerability can be used by attackers to bypass access controls. Their impact on companies may range from a petty nuisance to a significant security risk depending on the sensitivity of the data handled by the vulnerable site.
So what can you do to protect yourself? As a business owner, remember that XSS holes can be very costly to your business if abused. Filtering is a good way to solve XXS attacks and also using a vulnerability scanner to scan your website for any cross site scripting errors. As a user, the easiest way to protect yourself is to only follow links from the main website you wish to view. If you are visiting a website and it links to EBAY, for example, instead of clicking on the link, visit EBAY’s main site. Sometimes XSS can even be executed when you open an email or email attachment. Be aware of website vulnerabilities.
PCI Vulnerability Standards
PCI vulnerability standards, otherwise known as, PCI DSS (payment card industry data security standards) are a long list of requirements that businesses of all sizes are required to follow if they accept or store credit cards at their business. This probably includes most businesses as most businesses do accept debit, credit and prepaid cards. If you are an online business owner, you are probably aware of the additional burden placed on your business back since 2006. Research shows that merchants have collectively spent more than $1 billion on PCI compliance to keep their businesses secure. This can seem completely overwhelming, as the people, money and time that you'd rather dedicate to your customers, will instead be spent generating, applying and managing what you need to stay compliant. There are many companies out there that can help you with your compliance, and you shouldn’t hesitate to check them out. It can save you some time and money.
In short, the function of the PCI vulnerability standards is to create as secure of an environment as possible for you to process credit cards. The PCI council has broken it down into 12 main security requirements that all merchants are supposed to strive for in order to be truly PCI compliant. However, the extents to which the 12 requirements need to be met depend on the number of transactions that a company processes in a year, which are separated into 4 levels.
PCI scanning is another important part of the PCI vulnerability standards and PCI compliance. You may also have heard it called Vulnerability Scanning. This is when you have an approved scanning vendor (ASV) scan any and all IP addresses that the public has access to that have to do with your website or the transaction process. This typically includes your websites IP address; however, if you transfer your customers to a third-party shopping cart hosted by your shopping cart provider during the checkout process, then you should include their IP address to be scanned as well.
In short, the PCI vulnerability standards are one of the most important parts of any business these days. Penalties for not complying can be severe, including enormous fines or possibly the merchant’s loss of the ability to accept credit card payments. So don’t take it lightly. Besides, when you are in compliance, your customers will know that you have taken the extra steps needed to make your website and business safe, which will result in more sales for you.
What is a Vulnerability Scanner?
The internet is a wonderful tool that has become a part of life that most can’t live without any more. But with the great things it also brings horrible things as well. Thieves and criminals now have more ways and means to be able to steal and attack people from the comforts of their own home. As a website owner, I am sure you are doing all you can to protect your computer and website from the dangers that lurk and a vulnerability scanner can be one important thing to add to your list of security measures if you don’t already have it.
A vulnerability scanner is a computer program designed to seek out and detect weaknesses in computers, websites, applications and networks. By checking your system against a database of known vulnerabilities, scanners can detect and then report holes in the security system. This is super important to have in the fight against online threats.
A vulnerability scanner is a bit different from your anti-virus software, in that it isn’t able to prevent attacks but it is the kind of program that provides awareness of possible dangers. When done by an ASV (approved scanning vendor), vulnerability scanning improves security by providing reports on what kinds of risks or vulnerabilities are found during the scan. These reports not only let you know about what kinds of things are threatening your system, but in what order they should be fixed so that you can increase your site’s efficiency and productivity.
Having anti-virus software is so important to protect your system against viruses, phishing, malware and more, but don’t put vulnerability scanning on the side burner. Having a vulnerability scanner plays an important part in maintaining your network’s security and giving your customer’s a website that they can trust.
Reduce the Risk with Vulnerability Scanning
Anybody that owns an online business knows that there is always risk involved in ecommerce. Hackers know there is a lot of sensitive information out there that they can get their hands on if they can just find a loop hole and get to it. This is why it is so important and sometimes even mandatory to reduce the risk through various means of website security. One means of website security that many online businesses use is vulnerability scanning.
Vulnerability Assessment Scanning is just what it sounds like it is. It is performed by a company that will scan your server looking for any vulnerabilities that might leave a hole where hackers could possibly find a way through. One of the best parts about vulnerability scanning is not only that it finds any vulnerabilities you may have on your site, but it also ranks those vulnerabilities according to which ones are most dangerous down to the ones that are the least dangerous. That way you are able to see which ones are a priority and you can figure out a way to fix those vulnerabilites.
Vulnerability scanning is also a great way to assess your website and figure out how much website security you will need as well as which type of website security is best for you. That way you can not only fix those vulnerabilities that the scan found, but you will also be able to do some preventative work and catch any problems before they can even become a security problem.
Vulnerability Scanning is very popular and a great way of getting a jump start on website security, although they are meant to be paired with some other means of website security and not to be used on their own. When they are paired with other types of website security they can be very beneficial and a huge asset to your company.
Site Security Options
By now we all know that without the proper site security, our online businesses are at a huge risk from hackers, computer viruses, identity theft or worse. Security for your website comes in all shapes and sizes.
Many people think that website security and computer security is the same thing. While they are related, they are different. In order to keep you computer secure, you will want to look for an Internet Security Suite. This is software that includes three main programs to protect your computer. Anti-virus programs to scan for viruses on your computer system; anti-spyware programs to monitor your system for behaviors that may be spyware related; and firewalls to prevent malware to from reaching your machine.
Website security goes beyond simply protecting your computer. You need to be sure that you are protecting your online business website and the customers who visit it. Site security includes things such as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates, to protect data transfers on your website. If you run credit card transactions, use personal logins on your site or ask for personal information such as addresses or id numbers, you definitely need a SSL certificate.
Another form of site security is PCI scanning. This is when an ASV (approved scanning vendor) scans your website for the thousands of vulnerabilities that exist out there in the cyber world. PCI scanning is a very important part of site security. Trust seals and privacy policies are another important aspect of site security. This is how you can prove to your customers that your website is safe.
So when you are thinking about different options for site security, consider the differences between computer security and website security. Also, consider implementing more than one type of security measure if not all that are listed to be sure you are fully protected.
Vulnerability Assessment and PCI Scanning
In my search to find out all that I could about PCI Scanning I recently saw the term vulnerability assessment mentioned with PCI Scanning and so I decided to make that my next subject of research. When I started I never thought it would be so difficult to find out how the two were related and after hours of looking I realized that the answer was staring me right in the face.
Vulnerability Assessment is related to PCI Scanning in the fact that they both serve basically the same purpose. They both scan over a subject in order to find any holes in the system that would let any intruders in. They not only help to find any viruses or bugs you might have in your system now, but their main purpose is to scan your system and find any problem areas and fix them in order to prevent any security issues from happening.
While I was learning about vulnerability assessment I found out how important it is to have something that will find these vulnerabilities for you. In this day in age it is important to have a third party helping to protect your online business. There are so many ways to hack into your server and corrupt all that you have worked for and if that isn’t scary enough these hackers are constantly scanning your business looking for holes, and they are constantly finding new ways to get a hold of the sensitive information that is stored on your site.
If you have an online business I would definitely look into getting some type of vulnerability assessment tool such as PCI Scanning to help protect your business. It would be very beneficial to protect yourself from hackers who are constantly changing their tactics by using a third party who can keep up on the latest things that the hackers are doing and scanning your business in order to prevent any security problems.