Until the Internet enabled online financial transactions, the only information a company needed to keep secret was their bank account balance. Once the Internet enabled financial dealings, an uncomfortable amount of financial information became available to the outside world.
Some might argue that this level of transparency has positive effects. Indeed, it has! But do you really want full disclosure of your financial details to be in the open, on the Internet?
Certain information, like a bank account number, a company’s cash reserves and its debts have to be transparent. The main reason is for stakeholders to be comfortable dealing with that company. They need to know if the underlying company is in a position of financial strength.
Today, companies are relying more and more on doing financial dealings on-line, over the Internet. It is a convenient, economical and time saving approach. But with the rise of financial transactions online, it is a matter of time until other major hacking attacks or industrial espionage scandals will occur.
The law of averages is against companies. Simply, there will be more vulnerabilities to exploit. The trend will continue in the direction of on-line dealings. So is important to understand how it will shape the future and what can you do to protect your business.
WHY YOU NEED FINANCIAL ANONYMITY
Either your company is private or public, you need to keep you financial dealings anonymous. Either private proxies or VPN, you have to find the tools that suit your business needs.
For a business, financial anonymity means safety and financial security. Beside the factors mentioned above, other financial information needs to be kept anonymous for the safety of the whole company.
As expressed in previous posts, your operational anonymity is imperative for your company if you want to keep an competitive edge over your competitors. Moreover, your financial anonymity is imperative if you want to stay in business. Will all know what happened to Mt Gox after it was hacked.
MORE ONLINE YOU GET, THE DEEPER IN YOUR POCKETS THEY GET
I am not talking about conspiracy theory or other non-sense paranoia. Here, I am referring to the nature of the Internet and the way technology works.
Every bit of information flowing over the Internet can be followed or duplicated by third parties, all this almost anonymously. Technology and the Internet are nothing more than a series of patterns repeating one after another.
If your on-line footprint is a repeatable pattern, you run the risk of being disclosed and followed. If your company is Internet based, your risks are even greater, as almost all your operations are electronic. You need to stay anonymous for the safety of your business. You might use VPN between offices, but for outside Internet connections, say with other websites, banks or partners you have to stay anonymous as well. The best way to keep intruders baffled is through private proxy.
If you are based in Colorado, make you on-line interactions appear as if they are coming from California.
A NOTE ON BLOCK-CHAIN – THE PROMISED FUTURE
New age people or technology messianic gurus are advocating that block-chain technology will introduce smart contracts, and the risks of financial on-line transactions will disappear.
If it will be implemented, we know that block-chain technology, the technology behind Bitcoin, will disclose transactions and will turn financial information more transparent. This transparency will bring benefits to stakeholders or authorities.
One issue block-chain technology can not solve is for hackers or competitors to do reverse engineering on the publicly available ledger. They can find your IP and monitor your online footprint. If you are not using private proxies but connect directly to the Internet, smart contracts and public ledgers should raise some concerns for your company financial safety.
THE WAY TO GO – THE FUTURE IS IN ANONYMITY AND PRIVATE PROXY
It does not matter the size of your company, from a Main Street small business to a corporation or Internet Start-up, most of your financial information is flowing on-line, between you and your bank, you and your partners, or you and your service providers, such as invoice services or suppliers.
The trend will continue in the future towards a more digitalized financial data flow. The benefits are visible both in costs and time saved. But at the same time it will open a Pandora box for exploitation and data stealing.
In order for you business to stay safe and protected, not only you need a strong business and financial position, but also an anonymous online footprint.
Financial anonymity will become more mainstream as businesses and financial firms will recognize that the need to stay anonymous is important for their financial safety. The tools are at your disposal, either VPN or private proxies, it is important to choose the right one for your business.
As a final word, remember is important to be transparent in your purpose and mission, but anonymous and hidden in your financial information flow.
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