P4: Describe the actions taken to reduce risks to security whilst using the internet for different types of business activities.

HOW TO REDUCE RISK?

Business risk is a growing concern in business, especially today’s economy. The owners need to take control of their companies, assess the risks inherent in both their firms and industries and determine how to best reduce these risks.

Setting up password:

We need to be careful when we are setting up password for our important data, especially when it comes to a business because we are keeping company documents and the employees and customer data. When the company setting up the password with a cheap lock which means weak password, it will be easy to break the password and once the door is open, cyber-criminals can take just about anything. A poor setting up password is a risk the company should not ignore. By having a weak password, cyber-criminals can just steal all the data in the company even they can hacked our privacy stuff such as the email, bank account, our address etc. In a business, some might giving their employees the password to access the data system. 

Diagram 1: Weak Password

To avoid weak password, a company must pick a password that consists of at least 8 characters and use a capital letter and a number to complicate the password. Other than that, in company, the employees that are given the data system password must be trusted or else they are be the one who hacked the company systems. The company also need to setup different password for every systems they have.

Taking precaution over security of data:

Business online or website systems is the main source of income today despite most website owners to get the issues security website. We regularly hear about website security issues such as hacked information or stolen credit cards and getting grimy with the virus. This can cause the website and reputation a lot of damage. Programs like Trojans, worms, malware and spyware attach themselves to the system. Then hopefully watch or record what we are doing. Therefore, the personal information may be exposed due to weak site security.

Diagram 2: Security of data

Cyber crimes come from the internet. The first fortress to protect the data is a Firewall. Windows already provides Firewalls on all operating systems. We just need to activate the Windows Firewall by clicking on the Control Panel then go to Windows Firewall. Once Firewall is enabled, a computer that has a data needs Antivirus. Regardless of paid or free, it is important for every time computer protection. Examples of antivirus like Avira, Kaspersky, AVG and Sophos.

Backing up data:

Data backup is important in every business because it is an evidence for what they are doing, and the systems do. Sometimes we do not know when the virus is will attack our internal and external devices where we keep all our information and detail about importance data of the company. A risk of backing up data is that disaster can happen. There is a few of the common reasons computers lose stored data, such as:

Human Error: A employees with not good intention may inadvertently change or delete important data.

Software failure: If you’re running windows, you may be alert with the types of operating system where crashes can happen anytime. Operating system crashes, software application errors, and lockups can all cause the data to become damaged or corrupted.

Hardware failure: Hard drives can have mechanical failures, also develop bad sectors or just completely stop working one day, all of these can cause the data to disappear.

Diagram 3: Backing up data

To avoid this time of risk, we must give all the important data or password to access to trusted employees or people, so that someone with not good intention cannot access or delete the data. Other than that, we need to take it slow by copying one folder at a time if the data is large, to avoid crashes occur and to keep the important data safe.