Did you know that your website could put your business at risk? I have a friend who learned the hard way. We all know the risk of opening attached files or clicking on dangerous links. Your website or blog could also be vulnerable to hackers without your knowledge. Maybe you can protect yourself after learning about my friend’s experience.
Just a Simple Neglected Blog
My friend offered a service that she advertised on the web. She didn’t have a shopping cart or other fancy gizmos, as she would call them. She simply marketed her services, and asked potential clients to contact her for her work. So, this friend, I’ll call her Anne, had a blog that she rarely updated. The blog and the site for her business were hosted by the same company. She kept the blog around, because she figured that she’d eventually revamp it or add to it. Every so often, she’d get strange messages with garbled information from her web host. She ignored the messages. She figured it was spam, so she deleted the e-mails when she got them, and forgot about them. One day, she received a different message from her host. The message stated that her blog had been comprised. It had likely been hacked. When she visited the site, sure enough, the site had been hacked. There was a warning message from Google where her blog should have been. The message, warned visitors away from visiting the blog. Unfortunately, since my friend didn’t use the blog, anyway, she took her time in trying to resolve the issue. Since she was planning to change the blog, she figured that she’d start from scratch with the content she still had.
The Problem Can Spread
I left out one part of the story. An associate who worked at the web host, told her that her other sites, including her business site, were probably safe. The associate was wrong. A few weeks later her business wesite, had the same message from Google. It was hit, and she was devastated. She learned the hard way about internet security and how a neglected blog could have impacted her business. It turns out that security measures and updates are vital for keeping content safe. How many times have you received a notification that updates of a program are available? How many times have you chosen to update immediately? This story demonstrates the importance of updating software. You should also make sure that all of your sites are secure, even the ones that you are not currently using.
Secure All of Your Sites
Taking care to maintain and secure your sites will most certainly save you from having to hire someone to make repairs later. I suspect that some companies hire businesses that monitor sites and can inform them of breaches of security soon after they occur. Once your site is secured, you can use secure sockets layer protection and have your own PKI certificate to conduct business with another user. You should research to determine the best options for you and your budget. You might also wish to ask your host about any security measures that they might take to protect your data. Just because you are not using your site or blog, and it is not getting much traffic, doesn’t mean that it’s not at risk.
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