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How Secure is Your Help Desk Application?
Posted by: Admin Sbloglive.com (Views: 931)
Date Posted: 5/1/2007 (mm/dd/yyyy)
Why is it so important to have a secure help desk application? What types of help desk software applications affect security? In this entry, we attempt to discuss these questions.
One of the most important feature of a help desk software application is the knowledge base. A knowledge base is a searchable archive of problems and solutions that a company keeps for customers to search for the answers online.
Overtime, a well kept knowledge base can save a company boat loads of time and money. A compromised help desk usually means losing weeks of valuable data as well as time and money spent on rectifying the situation.
More importantly, a compromised help desk system affects the confidence level that customers have with the company. This could have a negative impact on the company's bottom line in the mid to long term.
As we can see, it can be damaging and frustrating to have a web based help desk hacked into. Therefore, anything that can be acted upon to prevent a help desk system being hacked into should not be delayed.
The very first step that should be adopted is to learn how to choose a help desk software that has the least chance of being compromised. That's start by gaining a better understanding of how these software come about.
In general, there are two types of software in the marketplace: free and paid.
The nature of free software means that it can be easily downloaded and distributed by anyone. A hacker will have no problems downloading the source code, scan for vulnerabilities and start flexing his or her muscles on some websites.
Paid software encounters a similar set of problems. If the vulnerabilities are detected by hackers earlier than the developers, some websites may be compromised.
Although it's more convenient to base our buying decisions on free or paid software, it's not the best criteria to depend on.
Instead, to choose a reliable help desk software, one should first determine if there's a top class team behind the software. That means checking logs for timely updates and releases, especially those pertaining to security vulnerabilities.
Here's a quick tip: Free software doesn't mean that it's not good. It's greatest disadvantage is that its source code can be easily accessed by anyone, including those with ill intent. If you're going to use a free help desk software, looking through the code yourself and change important variables (e.g. login variables) so that the code will not be so easily recognisable. If you can't read or write code, simply hire someone you can trust to do it for you. Afterall, the software is free. That leaves some budget for hiring!
Article Source: Sbloglive.com
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