Who Does It Affect?
Web security is an important issue for any business that has a website. Besides email and possibly social networking, a website is your entire online presence and is responsible for your corporate identity to most of the world. Any image you want to project of reliability and trustworthiness depends heavily on how secure your audience feels when they visit your site. So, web security is an issue that should be central to any business owner’s plan.
What is the Risk?
What kind of damage can be done to your website by a hacker? Well, the most obvious example is taking your site down, making it immediately unavailable to any other visitor on the Internet. Sometimes the damage is easy to repair, but often, data and files can go missing, and without a reliable backup plan, restoration can be a messy job. Usually, however, a hacking attempt doesn’t stop at dismantling your site. Often, customer data can be compromised and stolen, including credit card and other sensitive user information. If large companies like Time Warner and Walmart have been victimized in this way, then there is the potential for it to happen to anyone.
Hackers and Their Tools
Most people imagine a single person sitting behind a computer in a dimly lit room when they think of hackers. However, hackers have gotten much more sophisticated and have a wide array of tools at their disposal. Often, they will write scripts that don’t just target one site, but will try to attack any site they can find on the Web, whether they get your site name from a search engine or some other source. These scripts will use brute force techniques to attack your site in as many ways as possible, until they find an opening they can exploit. Often, business owners will make the mistake of thinking their online presence is too small to be the target of a hacker, but automated scripts make no such distinction. To make matter worse, your website is not always the end target. Hackers have a way of installing scripts on your site that will continue their dirty work, using your server as a starting point. Then you have an issue of liability due to hacking attempts that you appear to be responsible for.
What Should I Do?
First, pick a developer that has knowledge of techniques used by hackers, and more importantly, techniques used to thwart those attacks. Be proactive, and develop a security plan with your developer. A good plan includes sealing up any holes where hackers can get in, and also includes a regular automated backup routine. Pick a good hosting provider that you can rely on for consistent server-side support. Some of the central software necessary to run a website is provided by your hosting company, not the developer, so they need to be part of the security strategy as well. Finally, a developer needs to pick strong, reliable, community-supported tools to build the website and update them on a regular basis so they include the latest security patches. Hackers are always improving their techniques, and we need to be as vigilant as they are.
If you have any questions about what Aptus Logic can do for your business, or would like to discuss a potential project, contact us here.
Who Does It Affect?
Web security is an important issue for any business that has a website. Besides email and possibly social networking, a website is your entire online presence and is responsible for your corporate identity to most of the world. Any image you want to project of reliability and trustworthiness depends heavily on how secure your audience feels when they visit your site. So, web security is an issue that should be central to any business owner’s plan.
What is the Risk?
What kind of damage can be done to your website by a hacker? Well, the most obvious example is taking your site down, making it immediately unavailable to any other visitor on the Internet. Sometimes the damage is easy to repair, but often, data and files can go missing, and without a reliable backup plan, restoration can be a messy job. Usually, however, a hacking attempt doesn’t stop at dismantling your site. Often, customer data can be compromised and stolen, including credit card and other sensitive user information. If large companies like Time Warner and Walmart have been victimized in this way, then there is the potential for it to happen to anyone.
Hackers and Their Tools
Most people imagine a single person sitting behind a computer in a dimly lit room when they think of hackers. However, hackers have gotten much more sophisticated and have a wide array of tools at their disposal. Often, they will write scripts that don’t just target one site, but will try to attack any site they can find on the Web, whether they get your site name from a search engine or some other source. These scripts will use brute force techniques to attack your site in as many ways as possible, until they find an opening they can exploit. Often, business owners will make the mistake of thinking their online presence is too small to be the target of a hacker, but automated scripts make no such distinction. To make matter worse, your website is not always the end target. Hackers have a way of installing scripts on your site that will continue their dirty work, using your server as a starting point. Then you have an issue of liability due to hacking attempts that you appear to be responsible for.
What Should I Do?
First, pick a developer that has knowledge of techniques used by hackers, and more importantly, techniques used to thwart those attacks. Be proactive, and develop a security plan with your developer. A good plan includes sealing up any holes where hackers can get in, and also includes a regular automated backup routine. Pick a good hosting provider that you can rely on for consistent server-side support. Some of the central software necessary to run a website is provided by your hosting company, not the developer, so they need to be part of the security strategy as well. Finally, a developer needs to pick strong, reliable, community-supported tools to build the website and update them on a regular basis so they include the latest security patches. Hackers are always improving their techniques, and we need to be as vigilant as they are.
If you have any questions about what Aptus Logic can do for your business, or would like to discuss a potential project, contact us here.