Sending and receiving money over the internet comes with risks, but more businesses than ever rely on the digital economy to survive.
Fortunately, there are simple ways that entrepreneurs can keep their finances safe while interacting with the sophisticated payment processing services out there. Here are some important ways that retail site owners can protect their payment accounts.
Use Reliable Processors
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The first step is the simplest yet most effective – use reliable payment processors. Familiar names like PayPal, Stripe, and Google or Apple Pay are secure alternatives that can be used to send money online. As for bank transfers, you also can’t go wrong with any of the household name banks that offer your preferred business accounts.
Sending money online is a common occurrence for most, even those who don’t use the internet to run a business. We use digital payments to pay the bills or shop at retail sites like Amazon. Then there’s entertainment, where money can get involved – that includes subscription services like Netflix or online casinos where you can play slingo games for real money at Paddy’s like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. In each case, you need to have a secure pathway through which you can send and receive money. When you invest in supplies and receive money (and finance data) from your customers, protecting those pathways becomes a lot more important.
Even with reliable processors, you should watch out for terms and conditions. Always read them and be wary of hidden fees that may come up in the future. For instance, using an ordinary checking account to conduct business may have repercussions later, so do your homework and find a business account that works for your business model.
Practice Multilayered Security
Of course, processors and other sensitive money-handling accounts can still get breached from your end. This is why you need to take all of the common (and uncommon) precautions that protect you and your business. As for what that looks like:
- Use strong, non-repeating passwords or a password manager with one very strong password that only you know.
- When on business accounts, only interact with websites that have up-to-date security certificates – that’s https://, not http://.
- Use two-factor authentication to secure all accounts, avoid SMS-based 2FA where possible because that can be compromised. CNET explains SMS 2FA concerns here.
- Use antivirus and firewall software. This doesn’t need to break the bank, there are many free alternatives that are functional.
- Use a VPN or CDN to scatter online traffic, making it harder to find sensitive entry points in your web behaviour.
- Update your hardware, software, and any plugins used regularly to stamp out any vulnerabilities that may get discovered on older versions.
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If you are a business owner, you should practice operational security too. OPSEC is risk management that aims to keep sensitive information out of bad actors’ hands. With the right social engineering, bad actors could get past your security by anticipating how you think and act. Stay educated on phishing and other methods of information gathering, double-check the authenticity of received messages, and always track your hardware so you don’t lose it. If you do lose hardware and fear it’s in a bad actor’s hands, purge the financial data on the device. This is something that popular OS’s like Android let you do.
