Everyone has heard of website hacking. However, did you know that website hacking attempts can significantly spike during times of political tension?
The news outlets are mentioning how cyberattacks could be used by Iran against the United States.
Some people think that website hackers only target big name websites and banks. Actually, hackers LOVE targeting small to medium sized business websites. You may ask….why?
One reason is because they are typically easier and less secure targets, and another reason would be the hackers are getting paid by terrorist groups (or foreign governments) to complete the hack.
HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?
If my company is hosting your website, you have seen a line item on your invoice titled: Website Platform Updates. This line item is helping to protect your business website.
Hackers don’t need to know your website username/password anymore, but rather they look for old revisions of WordPress and the plugins used to develop your website. They then exploit the vulnerabilities in those old revisions to gain access.
This is also true for other website platforms such as Joomla, Drupal, CMS Made Simple, etc. Even the large do-it-yourself website platforms can have vulnerabilities.
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The sad reality is that most web developers design a website once and then forget about it until the next time they are asked by the client to make a content update.
Even full scale ad agencies may allow their clients’ websites to become victimized as a result of this negligence.
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In contrast, if we are hosting your website, my team is updating your website platform and plugins on your behalf on a routine basis.
This drastically helps increase the security of your website.
We were up late last Saturday night preparing ALL of our clients’ websites on our server for what might happen as a result of the Iran conflict.
If my company is not hosting your website(s), and you would like us to review, then please give us a call at 815.979.1229.
If we are already hosting your website, then you can breathe a little easier.