There’s a pretty good chance your website is a big part of your business these days. Which makes the stakes higher than ever when it comes to online security. Do you know if your website is secure?
A Bad Day at the Office
One minute, you’re going through your normal daily routine. The next minute, you suddenly realize that your website is down, and you can figure out what’s wrong.
Or maybe you realize that a hacker breached your site’s database and made off with sensitive information. Either way, it’s enough to ruin your day, if not month.
Getting victimized by an online attack is a major drag, but you can stack the deck in your favor. If you don’t want to end up tearing your hair out over some website crisis, you be aware of some steps you can take to protect yourself.
The Online Predator Mentality
Hackers aren’t just a bunch of kids messing around on their parents’ computers these days. Cybercriminals often times operate in groups, sometimes attacking across national borders. And they know what they’re doing, and what they’re looking for.
If you know anything about how most predators work in nature, you know how hackers operate. They’re not looking for the best opportunity. They’re looking for the easiest opportunity
Just like a pack of lions goes after the wounded gazelle rather than the fastest one, cybercriminals are looking for websites with gaping holes in their security. The more vulnerable the site, the more likely a hacker is going to poke their nose in and see what they can steal.
Covering Your Assets
You might currently be running a website with lax or outright bad security. But hey, it happens to the best of us.
You shouldn’t feel bad if your website security isn’t up to snuff. After all, it’s not like they taught classes about securing a website when you were in school. The bottom line is that most people don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to online security.
The good news is that you’re reading this, which means you’ve got a chance to figure it out before something bad happens. Or, you’re reading this because something happened. In which case, better late than never.
There are a number of easy steps you can take to figure out if your website is a wounded gazelle. First of all, take advantage of tools like an online vulnerability scanner to probe at some of the weaknesses your website might have.
By running an online vulnerability scanner, you can get the jump on any cybercriminals by finding your weaknesses before they can. It might be as simple a fix as the click of a button or two.
You can also hire an online security professional or company to give your website a look. They’re a lot more expensive than an online vulnerability scanner, but if you’re really freaking out, it will give you a little peace of mind.
The main lesson is that you need to spend some time checking out your website’s security. Because there are a lot of hungry lions out there, and you don’t want to be their next dinner