Internet Professionals increasingly are becoming the target of cyber stalkers, harassment, and defamation by a variety of persons for various reasons. As such, professional web host, developers, and bloggers should adopt a personal security agenda that shields them from such attacks.
This article will discuss the variety of attacks and how they can be mitigated by the internet professionals adherence to basic internet security protocols. Jonathan Hawfield of Texas Matrix states “While attacks cannot be prevented, using these techniques can shield the internet professional from physical threats as well as harmful personal or business defamation.”
Internet Defamation
All too often a competitor or personal enemy will exploit the business information of a victim to threaten, harass, or defame an internet professional via review websites such as Rip-off Report.com or other common business review websites. Once harmful material is published, it often is difficult, expensive, and sometimes impossible to remove.
Internet Threats
Many CyberStalkers often use commonly available public records systems to obtain personal information such as property tax records, telephone numbers, home addresses, as well as relatives information on their intended victim. This information in the past was obtained by professional investigators at great expense, but is now available in one easy search for as little as $29.95 from many online services.
Client Theft and Harassment
Unethical business competitors of internet professionals often use DomainNameTools.com to monitor a web host. They gain the domain names of your clients which they then contact to defame, harass, or steal from the web host. Often clients do not easily fall for such tactics, however it creates a great embarrassment to the web host.
Solutions
Do not personally identify yourself in concert with your internet company on your website or social networking mediums. If you must give some identification, do not use your full name, or perhaps even adopt a common retail security tactic such as using a nickname.
Do not use your personal cell phone or home office phone for internet business. It is wiser to use a dedicated voip number for calls and faxes. Also, do not use your personal email address to contact anyone in relation to your internet business.
Do not use your home address or physical office address in published information about your internet business. P.O. Boxes are perfectly acceptable and quickly becoming the new standard among internet professionals.
Do not use your business email address or regular blog user screen name when commenting on other blogs or social media. These are easily tracked via search engines and can create issues far beyond the date of your posting.
Do not use your twitter or facebook page for both personal communication and business communication. Keep them completely separate to insure personal anonymity.
The above are some simple security guidelines that are easily modified to fit a particular operation by an internet professional. No longer are you able to rely on internet anonymity. Using these suggestions may not only save you thousands of dollars in revenue, but hours of hard work, and peace of mind.
About the Author:
Jonathan Hawfield is a CyberSecurity consultant for Texas Matrix. For further knowledge and resources visit http://texasmatrix.com
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