Is it possible for a web site to be 100% secure?

Simple answer is no but the issue is far more complex than that because we must ask the question, secure from what? Keeping your wallet with you 24/7 is no guarantee that it will not be stolen but there are steps you can take to reduce the risk.

• Dont tell everyone you are carrying a lot of money
• Dont wave wads of cash around in public places
• Dont leave it on a table in public view

Common sense but wallets still get stolen. The same goes for the data stored on web sites. Take some basic steps and your data is secure

How Valuable is Your Data?

• To you - Invaluable
• To a Thief - Mostly Worthless

It is a different story if you store Customers Credit Card details and other sensitive personal data but in general your data is of no real value to a thief. In some circumstances, a competitor could benefit from having a copy of your stock list but it would be of limited use unless it included suppliers details, cost prices etc. The idea of industrial espionage is a bit too James Bond to be worried about. There are many aspects to web site data security but as long as you follow a few basic steps you can reduce the risks substantially. Use your own Product Codes as Manufacturers codes can be easily traced, Process Transactions Using Bank Services as their systems are more secure than yours. Keep several copies of your entire web site and get paranoid about losing your company's data!

BE PREPARED!

If all your computers went dead now
How long would it take your company to recover?

• Hours
• Days
• Weeks
• Never?????????

Back up any data on a regular basis and keep copies in several locations. The greatest danger is the loss of all the data off your web site.

And finally a word about Spam

Do Not Put Email Addresses on Your Web Site
They can be easily copied by sophisticated crawler software and you become the recipient of spam emails. The best way is to use Contact Forms with built in security features as they ensure that only humans can contact you via your website. Once a potential customer has made contact with you, then you can include all your contact details in every correspondence you make with them.