We all have been hearing in the media daily that malicious website attacks are on the sharp rise and we are seeing it on many different levels. Don’t be mistaken that cybercriminals are only going after big business like Sony Pictures and Sony PlayStation Network, Home Depot, Target, Neiman Marcus and the banks of the world. The cyberthreat against small businesses is also rising as the number of attacks soar. It’s reported that 44% of small businesses have been attacked. This malevolent behavior is only going to continue to grow – and your site could very well be next.
Don’t think hackers want your website and it can never happen to you? Guess again. Research shows how important all websites are to cybercriminals. Sites are much more valuable when left unattended. Many small businesses do not consider their site worthy of hacking and therefore do not give their site the support it needs. These sites become highly vulnerable as a hacker’s next target.
We all need to be diligent about website security against cybercrime. An attack on your site could mean:
1. Your website gets shut down by the host server – often taking many days for the site to be repaired to go live again
2. Your IP address will be blacklisted by a number of SPAM sites
3. Your website will drop in the search engine rankings
4. Sites backlinking to your website will remove their links thereby hurting your online search engine rankings
5. Internet browsers could show a warning page when people visit your website
Once hacked, cybercriminals have the ability to collect user information, advertise inappropriate materials and send out millions of SPAM emails from your server. You wouldn’t know until you started getting bounce-backs from emails that were blocked or were sent to non-existent email addresses.
Website Updates. Updates are critical to properly maintaining your website, for both security purposes and to keep your site functioning properly. Don’t ignore simple updates that leave your site a prime target for hackers, possibly costing you thousands to restore your site back to normal.
Sabre can help. We are committed to keeping your site safe and restoring it quickly if it does get compromised.
Protect your site and contact us today for a free website security consultation.