Avionics News May 2012 - 60

BUSINESS BASICS

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tions from affected websites. Even if you’re savvy enough to avoid infection, consider that GFI Software found 40 percent of small- and midsize-businesses suffered security breaches because of employees’ online behavior. But, this isn’t your only concern, and

malware isn’t just limited to individual computers. It also can infect your website, and this problem may not yet be on your radar. In essence, it transforms your site into the source for theft and infection, and it affects every visitor who enters your site. You’re most at risk, Weinstein said, when you or a vendor builds the site and fails to maintain it afterwards. Without

AEA’s Insurance Broker for More Than 25 Years.

No Rate Increase Last 10 Years.
Did You Know?
• AEA’s general liability insurance for AEA members has not had a rate increase for the past 10 years. • Nason Associates’ combined aviation insurance work experience exceeds 100 years. • Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Company has been AEA’s insurance company since 2006. Allianz has an A.M. Best rating of A+ (superior) and a Standard & Poor’s rating of AA (very strong). • Allianz offers aviation insurance for members of the AEA throughout the world — Canada, Europe and more. • AEA’s designated work comp carrier offers preferred class codes for AEA members.

For more information, contact:

NASON ASSOCIATES INC.

Attn: Lorri Shuey 5700 Broadmoor, Suite 905 Mission, KS. 66202 Phone: 913-677-1550 Fax: 913-384-9350 email: lorri@nasonassoc.com

“We have been very happy with Nason Associates over the years. We had one damage claim several years ago, and they could not have been easier to work with. I recommend them highly.”
Al Ingle, Capital Avionics

updates to all the bits of software that make it run, hackers take advantage of vulnerabilities you don’t know you have. The most common way for this to happen is they walk right through your virtual front door – either because they captured your password with a scam or malware or they guessed it with automated attacks that crack weak ones. Two of the most common passwords, according to recent security studies, are “123456” and some variation of “password,” and the author of one of these studies, security services firm Trustwave, was able to crack 2.1 million of the 2.5 million passwords it targeted. And, they’re the good guys. In any event, once they’re in, hackers deposit Web-malware to collect information from sign-ups for email newsletters, contact forms and other repositories of customer information. When customers visit, they download malware, too. You may discover the problem when you search for your site and you are redirected to another address. Or not. Half of all infected site owners only find out after Google blacklists them. That is, Web searchers who use Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari browsers get a warning that your site contains malware. It happens to thousands of sites a day, Weinstein said, and regardless of what kind of clients your shop serves, that’s a turn-off. It leads to clean-up costs for you. First, you will pay a computer-security consultant to fix the problem. You also may have to pay for an investigation if credit-card fraud was involved. You also must fix your reputation, particularly when you lose customer data. Regardless of the magnitude of this loss, you’re going to have some explaining to do. Forgiveness might not come easy. Safe and Secure For all the trouble, “You really want to spend your time focusing on the

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Avionics News May 2012

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