NFIB

Protecting Your Business From Hackers
04/ 13/ 2004

by Jeffrey Moses

Do you know what a hacker could do to your business? Oftentimes hackers act only as a joke, but sometimes the alterations they make can be detrimental to a company's image, business operations and finances.

To guard against potential hacker-related problems, check your phone connections, voice mail and Web site often, even up to several times a day. Check for the following potential alterations:

Telephone: Call all your numbers daily to make sure the calls go through appropriately. If something is out of the ordinary, check with the telephone company and your system administrator before assuming it's a hacker.

Voicemail: Hackers can erase or alter outgoing voicemail messages, disrupt prompts and instructions and disable the recording device. To avoid these, systematically check your voicemail regularly, going through all the prompts and instructions to make sure that all aspects of the system are functioning correctly. Leave messages for yourself and others to be sure that recording works properly.

Computer systems: All functions of your computer systems -- from accounting to internal and external e-mail -- are vulnerable to hackers. Instruct your technical staff to check regularly for aberrations.

Web sites and Intranets: View and read all pages of your Web site and Intranet sites regularly. To make this easier, print out each page so you can have a quick reference to make sure that major changes have not been made since the previous time you checked. Read all text: Sometimes hackers change individual words within text blocks to alter the meaning, change prices or terms or to make obscenities. Check out links between pages, links to other sites, logos and copyrights, and other fine points that could make your company look bad or put you at financial risk. Check for deletions or alterations of passwords and IDs, product models and model numbers, prices, availability, shipping, credit terms, guarantees, etc.

Communications with customers are your company's lifeblood. When hackers put these communications at risk, the result can affect your image -- as well as your finances. Fortunately, a little foresight goes a long way. Checking regularly to make sure that hackers have not deleted or changed your communications can safeguard your relations with customers and suppliers.

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