Five Security Tips For Your E-Commerce Website - Infographic

Read the useful security tips for your E-commerce website.

Why Usability Testing Is So Important

When it comes to sales, ‘Always be closing’ is the ultimate lesson. In the digital world, however, the mantra is ‘Always be testing’.

Understanding Usability Testing

Usability testing, as the name suggests, refers to measuring how easy it is for a user to use a particular digital product, such as a website or a mobile phone app, and then making changes to enhance user’s experience. To understand usability testing, it is helpful to first learn about its components. Here are 5 of its components explained:

Learnability

Whatever it is that your digital product is designed to achieve, it should be easily understandable by the user. The user must easily be able to accomplish the tasks that he/she was supposed to.

Efficiency

The product should not just help users accomplish tasks; it should help them do them quickly.

Memorability

The user must easily remember how to use the product after he/she returns to it, that is, he/she should not have to start over.

Error-Recovery

It also requires you testing the errors that users make and how easily they recover from these errors.  

Satisfaction

Finally, usability testing would want to test whether the user was happy after using the product.

Usability First – Why It Is More Important than All Other Factors

In the digital world, the user and the way he/she feels about your product is of utmost importance – after all, you have designed your product for them.

Let’s take an example. You have designed a website. It’s got all the aesthetic details, beautifully designed, pleasing to the eye and so on. However, it is just got this one basic flaw. Its navigation is weak and does not take the user to the page they desire. This means, that despite all the lavish designs you incorporated into your website, the user does not return to you and hence, the entire purpose gets killed.

When to Test and How

After you have launched a digital product, you should always be testing. This is because the digital world is constantly evolving and it is always helpful to know how the user is behaving. You can set up a schedule and have your IT department carry out usability testing.

The first time that the usability testing is carried out is at the very beginning. A beta version of the product is created and distributed among a select group of users. After they have tested the product for a few days, they provide their feedback and based on that, changes are made to the product before the final launch.

We at Lean Security are experts in security testing. Understanding the role of security in enhancing the overall user-experience, our team provides security testing for all kinds of digital products. From mobile application security testing to website security testing, we have got many security solutions for businesses.

Social Media Security – Some Common Threats

In the past few years, social media has become a phenomenon. The power of social media has been so impactful that it has completely revolutionised the way the human species communicated.

According to the 2017 Sensis Social Media Report, around 8 in 10 Australians use social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and so on. If history is any indication, the number of users will continue to increase.

With hundreds of millions of people on these platforms, they can prove to be great security risks.

As an enterprise, social media is not just about liking and befriending, it can have far-reaching consequences.

Here are some social media security threats you need to watch out for:

Mobile Phone Apps

One of the major factors that has fuelled the massive growth of social media is the mobile phone technology.

Employees’ mobile phones can contain sensitive information about the company. When a user downloads an app, he/she gives increased access to their mobile phones.

A malicious mobile app can easily get hold of that sensitive data and use it for mischievous purposes.

Social Engineering

Social engineering has been around before the computers were invented. However, with the rise of the internet, it has become a very effective tactic.

Social media has made personal information sharing quite easy. What’s more, people trust these platforms more than they should.

For instance, an employee’s new Facebook friend can win his/her trust and get critical inside information about his/her company.

Human Error

Human error is a major threat on social media platforms. From accidental tweets to clicks on phishing links, human error on social media can bring about massive reputational damage.

Employees must be trained to be careful when accessing social media from company’s profile.

Phishing Scams

Phishing scams are messages that seem to come from a legitimate authority, but have a malicious intent.

Recently, there was a phishing attack on Facebook, named Fake Friend. What it did was that it sent a message telling people that their friends had mentioned them in a comment. As the user clicked that link, it would download a Google Chrome extension with malicious intent.

Weak Privacy

Having weak privacy settings will mean that your social channel will be vulnerable to attacks. From sending fraudulent posts to marring your channel’s appearance, hackers can do some real damage is privacy is not taken care of.

Most social media platforms have a comprehensive privacy settings’ option. You should implement a strong privacy policy.

With a team of social media security specialists, Lean Security provides web service and mobile application security testing. Our goal is to make online world a better place. Visit our website for a free web application security health check.   

Mobile App Vulnerabilities You Should Keep In Mind

Although the incredible rise of mobile phone technology has revolutionised communications, it has also brought about massive security challenges.

One of the most common ways hackers look to penetrate is through mobile phone applications. This means that these apps should have greater security mechanisms. However, according to a report, 80 percent of mobile apps have got crypto flaws.   

Protecting mobile apps has become a key priority for businesses. Here are some of the top mobile app vulnerabilities:

Insecure Data Storage

Good data storage habits are crucial to a mobile application’s success. Inexperienced app developers have this tendency to store files in the XML format, which is quite easy to breach.

It is very important that the app’s data be stored in secure data bases, such as SQLite. What’s more, there should be greater encryption at both device and external levels.

Weak Transport Layer Protection

The app might require connecting to a 3rd party source. A common mistake that developers make is not making these connections encrypted. Strong algorithms should be used to ensure robust transport layer protection.

The app should be programmed to display a warning message if the user is about to enter unknown territory.

Unauthorised Access

Unauthorised access is a common vulnerability when it comes to mobile apps. To tackle this, you should educate users about restricting access. For instance, they should be cautious when providing unnecessary access to their mobile phone’s data.    

It is not just the Android apps that have this problem. A mobile application, named Path, was an incredible socialising app that offered good user-interface. Later, it was found out that Path took entire contact lists of phones to its servers. What’s more, it did this without asking permission.

Data Leaks as a Result of Syncing

Latest mobile applications require data to be synced to the cloud. This is a concern as data leaks might occur during the process.

Recently Dropbox received a major setback when it encountered a password breach. Luckily, not much damage was done. Some of the users received spams.

Malware Attacks

Malware has been a consistent issue in mobile phone applications. Malware is broken down into pieces so that it becomes difficult to detect. These attackers use names of popular apps to lure users into downloading them.   

There have been efforts to protect apps from different types of malware. For instance, Google uses Google Bouncer to safeguard its apps from malware attacks.    

We at Lean Security provide robust mobile application security testing. From mobile client assessment to network assessment, our comprehensive application security testing procedure ensures complete security of mobile apps.   

5 Trends to Watch Out For in Cyber Security!

From Cloudbleed to WannaCry, 2017 has already had its fair share of security breaches. With modern, sophisticated tactics employed by cyber criminals, it will take a lot to make the online world a safer place.

As these hackers have enhanced their armoury with specialised attacks, the good guys have a lot to catch up with.

Here’s what we can expect in the landscape of cyber security:

There will be More Attacks on Internet of Things (IoT) Devices

The interconnectedness of different tech devices has been revolutionary. However, it has also brought about security risks.

These devices have constantly been a subject of ransomware and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

The latest AI-powered attacks are so sophisticated that it becomes difficult for security professionals to detect them. The need for enhanced security has never been more important.

Ransomware Will Continue to Evolve

Over the past few years, ransomware has become the most important tool for hackers. They will continue to work on them and enhance the effectiveness of these attacks.

They will not only keep targeting the IoT devices, they will also try to infiltrate Point of Sales (POS) systems and ATMs.

What’s more, ransomware will be utilised to craft effective phishing attacks.  

There Will Be Greater Threats to Mobile Security

With more and more people moving towards mobile, the platform is surely expected to be exploited. There is an increased amount of crucial corporate information on employees’ mobile devices and cyber criminals would love to get hold of them.  

From malware to propagation of unauthorised apps, mobile devices will be chief targets for hackers.

Security Skills Will Become Crucial

Recently, there is an overall global shortage of cyber security skills in the workplace. This gap between supply and demand will continue to rise.

Organisations will value security skills more as advanced systems will need advanced security expertise. They might focus on providing internal training for these skills.   

Data Theft Won’t Suffice – Data Manipulation Will Be the Target

Hackers have largely focused on data theft and using this data to their advantage. However, this trend will change and they will move towards harming the integrity of data.

By using advanced mechanisms, they will look towards causing reputational damage by manipulating data.

This will mean that companies and organisations will need to enhance their security procedures as there will be more at stake.

We at Lean Security aim to enhance web security across different platforms and devices. From mobile application security testing to web security testing, we provide all kinds of online security services to ensure that your company stays safe in the digital landscape.   

From Cloudbleed to WannaCry, 2017 has already had its fair share of security breaches. With modern, sophisticated tactics employed by cyber criminals, it will take a lot to make the online world a safer place.

As these hackers have enhanced their armoury with specialised attacks, the good guys have a lot to catch up with.

Here’s what we can expect in the landscape of cyber security:

There will be More Attacks on Internet of Things (IoT) Devices

The interconnectedness of different tech devices has been revolutionary. However, it has also brought about security risks.

These devices have constantly been a subject of ransomware and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

The latest AI-powered attacks are so sophisticated that it becomes difficult for security professionals to detect them. The need for enhanced security has never been more important.

Ransomware Will Continue to Evolve

Over the past few years, ransomware has become the most important tool for hackers. They will continue to work on them and enhance the effectiveness of these attacks.

They will not only keep targeting the IoT devices, they will also try to infiltrate Point of Sales (POS) systems and ATMs.

What’s more, ransomware will be utilised to craft effective phishing attacks.  

There Will Be Greater Threats to Mobile Security

With more and more people moving towards mobile, the platform is surely expected to be exploited. There is an increased amount of crucial corporate information on employees’ mobile devices and cyber criminals would love to get hold of them.  

From malware to propagation of unauthorised apps, mobile devices will be chief targets for hackers.

Security Skills Will Become Crucial

Recently, there is an overall global shortage of cyber security skills in the workplace. This gap between supply and demand will continue to rise.

Organisations will value security skills more as advanced systems will need advanced security expertise. They might focus on providing internal training for these skills.   

Data Theft Won’t Suffice – Data Manipulation Will Be the Target

Hackers have largely focused on data theft and using this data to their advantage. However, this trend will change and they will move towards harming the integrity of data.

By using advanced mechanisms, they will look towards causing reputational damage by manipulating data.

This will mean that companies and organisations will need to enhance their security procedures as there will be more at stake.

We at Lean Security aim to enhance web security across different platforms and devices. From mobile application security testing to web security testing, we provide all kinds of online security services to ensure that your company stays safe in the digital landscape.