We see and hear headlines like "Sony hacked again" and "CNN's website and Twitter account hacked by Syrian Electronic Army" more often than we would like. Unfortunately, most website owners mistakenly think "Oh, my website would be of no interest to hackers. There is nothing important on it for them". However, in this way, website owners are actually disregarding their customer's data security and the security of their online business presence.
Hackers don't just cherry-pick which sites they would like to attack. They write automated scripts which scan for any vulnerable websites. After hackers gather information about website security flaws, they can exploit them and do a lot of harm not only to the website owner, but to its visitors too. Therefore, it is essential to secure your website to avoid later regretting any painful consequences.
In our daily lives, we instinctively secure our assets. We lock our homes and cars. We turn on security alarms for peace of mind and we just do it without thinking about it. However, when it comes to security on the web, most of the time those instincts disappear. Usually, that is because website owners are not aware of the consequences of their website being hacked. The cyber world is a very complicated area in relation to security. However, every website owner should be aware of at least these three important guidelines, to protect their online business and their customers:
- Always keep your Content Management System up to date.
- Force yourself and your customers to use strong passwords.
- Make sure a SSL certificate is in place on pages where sensitive data is submitted.
If these guidelines are followed, you will have made a good start on maintaining your website security. However, there are many other areas, such as web or database servers, programming language, SSL certificate configurations and various components used on your website, which can be vulnerable at any time. To make sure that all of the technical issues in relation to security are covered, it's a great idea to have a chat with a professional. So for your own peace of mind, why not contact us today?
