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What is Captcha and How Can it Protect My Website?

Website security is composed of many factors, and each factor is just as important as the next. A single vulnerability in the security of your website could lead to a massive lapse that results in data loss and possibly even fraud. Many people overlook one of the most common security threats, and that is spam. Although spam does not seem like a security threat at first glance, when you realize the detrimental effects spam is capable of causing, you soon realize it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed with any website.

How is Spam Dangerous?

Spam is a security threat because it compromises the integrity and validity of your website. Your site gains success due to authenticity and quality content. If you;re site is flooded with spam comments, then the of the quality content you worked to produce can instantly become littered with content that takes away from the overall quality of your website. This ultimately results in loss of traffic and even a decrease in your search engine ranking. In fact, many people have been de-indexed from the search engines due to a high amount of spam on their website. Most spammers place comments on your web pages that link to their website, in efforts to get quick backlinks with very little work. Instead of doing this manually they use programs called bots to do the commenting for them. However there is a way to stop these bots from commenting on your site, using Captcha.

What is Captcha?

Captcha is an image verification module that is used to verify whether or not someone is a real person. If you have signed up for an email address before, then you have probably seen a Captcha box before. It is a strange looking image with oddly shaped characters in it, also it is very difficult for a program to decipher the image content. The Captcha box prompts the user  to enter in the information sen in the image to verify that the user is indeed a genuine human being.

What Other Ways Can Captcha Protect My Site?

Another way that Captcha is useful in protecting your site from spammers is that it protects your site from false user registration. Instead of just preventing spam comments and fraudulent user registration, Captcha can also be used to prevent bots from doing anything else on your website that you would only want genuine human beings doing, such as contacting you via email using your sites contact form. Many times your competitors or hackers will bombard your business inbox with spam using the contact  form on your website which is directly linked to your business email. If you don’t use Captcha to protect your contact form from spammers, then you could find yourself trying to delete a sea of spam from your inbox. The main reason why this method works so well to spam people, is because the spam folder in the business email is not going to recognize the emails as spam, since the emails are coming from the contact form of your own website. For this reason it is absolutely imperative to use Captcha with your website in every way possible.

Maintaining Consumer Confidence with a HackerProof Site

Running an online business that reflects security and safety is essential to establishing and maintaining a loyal base of customers.  In today’s fast paced, on-demand internet world, the threat of identity threat looms more than ever and the average consumer is well aware of the potential dangers that lurk out in cyberspace.  Although shopping online has become very appealing due to the sheer factor of convenience, the fear prompted by highly publicized hacking attacks and security breaches still has a number of consumers very reluctant to conduct business over the internet.  Establishing loyalty within the customer is vital for any online business owner and it all begins by making them feel safe when shopping on your site.

Good Security is Key

Aside from building and maintaining customer loyalty, having a secure website protects the online retailer more than anything else.  Each and every year, companies lose millions of dollars because of security breaches that resulted in the loss of customer data.  Among these expenses are high legal costs pertaining to lawsuits, money paid to customers through resolving settlements and judgments, and ongoing costs to prevent similar breaches from occurring in the future.  While all of these expenses are significant, the big cost the company has to endure is the loss of customers who do not feel safe and no longer trust the business with their sensitive information.

The only way to make consumers feel safe is to guarantee them that your website is safe and can provide a secure environment for their confidential information.  You can incorporate all of the latest security measures and mechanisms for your site but if potential customers don’t know about them, they will not help your conversion rate in any way.  The most effective method for ensuring that visitors know your site is safe for shopping is to decorate it with a trust seal.  Numerous studies have shown that a large number of online shoppers are aware of trust seals and look for these marks before making purchase to ensure their personal information remains safe.  However, you want to keep in mind that not all trust seals are create equal.  For this reason, you need to make sure you receive your mark from a reliable and well renown brand.

HackerProof by Comodo

Comodo is well known for specializing in a wide variety of security certificate products designed for both individuals and businesses.  The company’s HackerProof Trust Seal program is currently one of the best in the industry when it comes to third-party security solutions.  This particular mark offers considerable advantages over other trust seals.  For one, it is placed in the corner of your site throughout all web pages, making sure it is visible to customers.  In addition, the HackerProof program utilizes a unique Point to Verify technology that lets customers verify the authenticity of the retailer without needing to leave the site.  There are many Certificate Authorities out there, but the Comodo brand is synonymous with security and trusted by more than 100 million customers.  Customers loyalty is critical, and the HackerProof seal could be exactly what you need to boost confidence and increase sales.

Four Ways to Minimize Exposure from SQL Injection

The average personal site owner has no idea of what it feels like to come under attack.  In fact, web criminals tend to stay away from hacking projects that serve little benefit to them.  That does not mean that the sites of those owners are safe because they are probably more vulnerable than most.  One of the most probable and dangerous threats your site may be susceptible to is an inference attack, more commonly referred to as the dreaded SQL injection.  With this particular attack, the hacker typically inserts SQL code into a web form to either change or access critical information residing on a back-end database. It has a become a significant problem for dynamic websites as successful execution could provide an attacker with access to an entire database or more.  This attack is very real and has directly aided in the exploitation of some of the most well known sites on the internet.

Viable SQL Injection Prevention Methods

To help keep you protected, we have listed four proven methods to enhance your website’s security against SQL injection.

1.) Make sure your forms and other web applications are designed with up to date, secure, compliant code.  Also keep in mind that the web forms on your site should not accept user input to SQL queries without being thoroughly tested and challenged for security purposes.  You can start by reducing the number and types of characters that can be accepted by a form.  Do not leave yourself open to exposure like so many other website owners who do not have anything in place to prevent malicious or unexpected input.  If a hacker enters SQL commands rather than the expected username and password, those commands could be executed and lead to a lot of trouble for your vulnerable system.

2.) To ensure better protection against SQL injection, you should avoid dynamic queries where ever possible.  These queries are placed over the internet in plaintext, which means they are likely exposing sensitive information such as login IDs, passwords and other confidential details.  Because of the potential security risk, some experts recommend not using dynamic queries at all.

3.) Take advantage of data encryption technology.  If your site involves the sharing of sensitive data such as credit card numbers, social security numbers or bank account details, this information should be protected with an encryption protocol like SSL or TSL.  If a hacker is able to breach security, the information they capture will be rendered useless since encryption ensures that they cannot read it.

4.) Keep your systems up to date.  Security is a full time job these days but fortunately, most software vendors patch the bugs and vulnerabilities in their products as soon as they become known.  You can ensure better protection against SQL injection by making sure your SQL database and operating systems are regularly patched an updated.  If you do not have your own server, these are tasks you need to make sure are being handled by your web hosting provider.

Does Your Web Host Live Up to Expectations?

Web hosting providers come a dime a dozen these days, but finding one you can count is never as easy as it should be.  While technical problems occur from time to time, there are some mishaps that simply cannot be tolerated.  Below we have listed some of the most telling signs that should let you know that your web host is not up to par.

Your Site Always Goes Down

This one should be pretty obvious.  If your website is constantly unavailable or keeps giving you errors, the chances of keeping visitors around are slim to none.  Even a loyal following will inevitably flea if your site cannot put out an optimal performance or is never available.  If these are problems you are experiencing, your web host is likely suffering from overcrowded servers or an inadequate network.  In many cases, a company will start off on the right foot, but grow progressively worse once it becomes more popular and acquires more customers, essentially becoming a victim of its very own success.  Of course having a large amount of traffic is a good thing, but if your web host’s infrastructure cannot keep up with the demand, your website is simply doomed to fail.

Support is a Letdown

A web host that provides excellent support will inevitably attract more loyal customers.  On the same note, a host that provides horrible support will lose customers very quickly.  With the hosting business being such an expansive industry, one would think that good support would be easy to come by.  Unfortunately, this factor only makes it more difficult to find.  The best web hosting firms deliver support around the clock on a 24 hour basis, allowing their customers to get help by phone, email, live chat, FAQs, knowledge bases and other resources.  If you are stuck with horrible support, your web host is failing to meet your needs and that means it is time to search for something better.

Inadequate Security Puts You at Risk

Many webmasters are not aware of it, but websites are hacked into and compromised all the time.  For instance, they are defaced, used to host malicious phishing and pharming sites, distribute spam mail and even launch attacks on other computers.  A server and its associated web applications have many points of entry so if your host is not on top of things, your site can be exploited with ease.  A responsible hosting provider will take various measures to ensure security such as installing firewalls, running DDoS protection software and performing penetrating to discover vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

One must consider a number factors when choosing a host for their website needs.  Performance, availability, support and security are just a few of numerous factors that must be taken into account before you sign up for service.  We recommend doing your research, reading reviews, asking friends and more in order to get the best service possible.  The last thing you want to do is rush into things because this is the easiest way to end up with a web host that fails live up to the required expectations.

Security Software for Your Website

Security should be the first priority of anyone who wants to publish a website online.  This is especially true for someone who conducts business from their website as an attack from a single hacker could ruin all of your hard work.  Fortunately, there are a number of software products on the market that can make website security a less painful experience.  Because there are several types of applications available, this article will tell you a little more about what’s out there and what they do.

Traffic Monitoring and Analysis

A certain type of software product you may want to consider is one that tracks all the visitors who come to your website.  It tracks their IP address, the pages they accessed, the website that referred them and the time amount of time they spend on your site.  This data will help you track malicious bots or unwanted visitors and develop ways to prevent them from accessing your site.  While this type of application causes for you to be thorough and very attentive, it will help you ensure better website security in the long run.

Security Image Generator

Another software product you might way to consider, particularly if your site requires users to register for access, is a tool that prevents automated registration.  Such an application is simple and straightforward as it presents an image that is easily readable by humans, but not by computers and malicious programs.  This will aid in regulating your site along with the users who have access to it.  It can also stop users from creating a number of different accounts just to take advantage of your free offerings.

Content Protection

There are also software products on the market that can help you protect your images and source code from being stolen by cyber thieves.  This type of software is extremely useful for the website owner who has purchased expensive designs for their site and wants to keep them protected from others.  Companies that sell templates, logos and banners are just a few who have discovered the value of these products firsthand.  Aside from helping protect your content, such a product could also prevent others from stealing your valuable data, copy writing it and trying to come at you with a lawsuit for online theft.

Protocol Monitoring

One software tool that can be really beneficial is a type of program that monitors all of the protocols used for your site.  Some of the most common include TCP, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP and FTP among others.  These standard protocols are essential as they control how users access your website.  The job of the software is to monitor these protocols and provide detailed reports when you need them or if security issues are detected.  This type of application can be quite useful because most attackers take advantage of these commonly used protocols to gain entry into websites and web servers.

The software product types mentioned in this article are just a few examples of what is available to help you improve website security.  When investing in any software tool, remember to keep the application updated in order to keep up with all the emerging threats.  You should also make yourself familiar with the most common security mishaps and do whatever it takes to avoid them.