Website Vulnerabilities and How to Avoid Problems
It might be helpful to first explain, “What is website vulnerability?” According to Wikipedia, in computer security, website vulnerability is a weakness which allows an attacker to reduce a system’s information assurance. Information assurance is the practice of managing risks related to the use, processing, storage and transmission of information or data and the systems and processes used for those purposes. Vulnerability happens when three elements intersect, a system susceptibility or flaw, attacker access to the flaw, and attacker capability to exploit the flaw.
So now that we have the definitions out of the way, how can you determine if your website is vulnerable? Certain website vulnerabilities can be difficult to identify. Basically if your system is running slow or if something is not working right, you may be vulnerable.
How can you protect yourself and avoid problems of website vulnerabilities? The first and very best way that you can protect yourself from website vulnerabilities is to have vulnerability scanning on your website. Vulnerability scanning is a daily or quarterly scan performed by an ASV (approved scanning vendor). They scan your website and system for any of these flaws, or vulnerabilities to help prevent you from having issues with your system. Vulnerability scanning is required for online businesses by the PCI standards. It is a must if you want to avoid problems with website vulnerabilities.
So don’t risk your online business. Get vulnerability scanning so you can avoid problems with website vulnerabilities.
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.
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.
Website Security: An Ongoing Battle
When you have an online business you know how important the website security for your site can be. There are unfortunately a lot of people out there who are ready and willing to take advantage of any unsuspecting businesses out there that are not on the up and up about website security. As any online business knows it is an ongoing challenge to keep up on all things website security, but definitely necessary.
Website security is constantly changing and evolving. Hackers around the world are figuring out a way past your current website security method as we speak and so we are always trying to stay one step ahead of them by finding better website security methods. A security breach is always possible with the way hackers work these days, but you are definitely on the safer side with your business if you are always in the know about the current website security trends.
Because we are always having to improve our website security methods, there are a lot of simple ways to keep up to date on any new trends that may come out. One of my favorite ways to stay on top of things is to read on social networking sites such as hubpages, squidoo, gather, zimbio, and many others. Just search for website security and you can read a lot of great new articles on the subject and keep up with any new information out there.
It is so important if you have an online business, not to just get your website security into place, and leave it at that. You must be vigilant about keeping up to date on all the latest information about website security. This will keep you, your business, and your customers better protected from hackers and the ongoing battle of website security!
Improve Conversion Rates with McAfee Secure
If you are an online business owner and you want to increase sales, you really should consider some ways to boost your conversion rate. Companies, such as McAfee Secure, can help online business owners improve their conversion rates. So what is a conversion rate anyway?
Conversion rate is the number of people that visit your site and actually do what you want them to. For example, if you get 1000 visitors on your site each day, and 20 of them purchase your product, your conversion rate is 2%. As a website owner, knowing your conversion rate is highly helpful. It helps you to determine the level of trust that your visitors have. Anything over a 3% conversion rate is considered good, but generally conversion rates range from 1-3%. Many people overlook their conversion rates because they are concentrating on getting new customers to their site. It is good to have new visitors, but don’t forget about the ones you already may be getting, or you will be losing more sales.
There are many ways to increase your conversion rate. As mentioned above, trust seals are a really great tactic to get more sales. Because you have been verified by a third party, and you have the image posted on your site to prove so, you will gain more trust from the visitors of your site, which in return means more sales, and an increase in your conversion rate.
Another thing to consider for improving your conversion rate is SSL digital certificates. SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, certificates provide encryption for transferring information over the internet. Having an SSL certificate helps to prevent hackers from stealing private customer information during a transaction. You must have SSL encryption pages when asking for information such as credit cards or social security numbers.
If you want to increase conversion rates, consider split testing. Split testing helps you determine the best area on your site to put things. You can purchase split testing programs that will automatically change content on your site, or that will report the results to you. It will test to see that your site is set up the best way possible to attract more visitors.
The last thing you should consider to increase conversion rate is that you need to display contact information and a privacy policy. Customers are more likely to shop on sites that have their contact info and privacy policies displayed, so they know your business is legitimate and safe.
So when looking to improve your conversion rate, consider companies such as McAfee Secure. They can help verify your business and help you to know what things you need to do to be the best online company you can be!