Cyber Security
Cyber Security
With all the recent cyber attacks, cyber security has become extremely important to all businesses that collect or store information. One simple but very effective way to secure data is to store it not only encrypted, but in a way that does not allow data to be mined effectively.
For example, do not store email addresses in the same database that names or addresses or passwords are stored. But rather store each piece information in separate databases with connections made only in a secure environment. This prevents an attacker from taking your data and making sense of it. Let’s say an attacker is able to get into your system and collect a list of passwords. Without the accompanying username, the data is useless.
Further, separating email names from the domain will make those email addresses useless as well. For example, logan@website-whisperer.com should be stored in 3 different databases, “logan” in one database, “website-whisperer” in another and “com” in a third. Notice the “@” sign and “.” are conspicuously missing. This prevents an attacker from looking at your data, seeing obvious email addresses and using them to spam your customers.
Bottom line: Storing information in one place is like writing your address on your house keys. If your keys fall into the wrong hands, there could be trouble. You wouldn’t do that now would you?