Category Archives for "Security"

What to Do If You Have a Data Breach

You see it all the time—news stories about huge brands that are targeted in a data breach. As a consumer, you likely feel anger or at least annoyance each time a big business admits that a hacker has accessed your account. But as a small business owner, maybe you felt something else, that nagging fear in the back of your mind that it could be you next. Small businesses are the victims of around 43% of data breaches. Yikes! When it happens to you, it can feel like an insurmountable challenge. Getting hacked is bad, yes. But it’s manageable—as long as you know how to respond. First: assess the situation. If you need to freak out, set a timer and […]

Avoid Credit Card Fraud With Our 8-Step Checklist

Have $46,000 to spare? That’s the average total of direct and indirect costs of SMB businesses trying to recover from credit card fraud. The scope of the problem Typically, the hackers and scammers who specialize in credit card fraud use one of two tactics: Focusing an attack one large company, as when Target suffered a data breach involving 70 million credit and debit cards. Striking at multiple ATMs and small businesses, affecting thousands of people, one card at a time. That second tactic is where your business potentially becomes a victim. For solopreneurs or small-to-medium-sized business (SMB) owners who don’t have the financial cushion of larger corporations, recovery from credit card fraud can be financially devastating. The effects are long-ranging, […]

How to Automate Your PCI Compliance

You’ve spent years building your company and your customers’ trust in it. And you know one of the biggest threats to that trust is lax data security. At this point, it’s easier to list big companies that haven’t had a data breach than ones that have — T-Mobile, Facebook, Marriott Starwood, Target…the list goes on. Every time this happens, customers lose money and a business’s brand is damaged, sometimes irreparably. The question is obvious: How do I avoid becoming next? Tackling your online security can seem insurmountable and overwhelming, and you might not have any idea where to start. The goal: PCI Compliance The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is the baseline for billing security. Those firms meeting its […]