Post By: Freddie Tubbs, Business Analyst, Academized
Most website owners pay close attention to various factors affecting their website`s popularity and conversions but leave little to no room for thinking about their cybersecurity. While it may be completely unimportant when you just want to build an audience and drive conversions, what you have to understand is that all of the audience you have taken the time to build could go away instantly if a breach happens.
People don`t trust online payments and they don’t think it’s very safe as it is – a cyber attack could completely scare them away.
This is not the only reason to keep your site safe, though. If a hacker attacks your website, they could reach the sensitive user data as well as your personal information, your vendor’s information and so on. Many people could get hurt if you disregard this issue.
Still, so many website owners fail to consider it more seriously. If you want to stop being one of them, here are some mistakes you should start avoiding right away.
Thinking it won’t happen to you
The one thing people absolutely have to understand is that hackers are not particularly picky. If they see an opportunity with your site, they are going to take it, no matter what. So, thinking that they won`t reach you is a huge mistake.
Before you know it, your site could be taken away from you, stripped of an audience or who knows what else. It’s better to take every precaution available to you and think that it definitely will happen than to ignore the issue completely.
Not monitoring
If you want to prevent a cyber attack, the best thing you can do is conduct constant monitoring of your website. “If you notice any suspicious actions like too many spam comments or a huge number of failed login attempts, you can take precautions instantly and be aware of what’s going on in minutes. This can prove to be of tremendous value, especially if you use this opportunity to call in the professionals rather than trying to deal with it yourself”, – explains David Sullivan, a Data Security Manager at Stateofwriting and Boomessays.
Not learning the basics
Often, it can be the simple things that harm you – something like a 123456 password. To avoid having this as your problem, pay some attention to the basics as well. People neglect to do this because they think that hackers will try to breach their website in some mysterious, overly complex way. Then they focus solely on those things, trying to prevent huge breaches when even a small amount of spam or a weak password could be the issue. Check everything top to bottom.
Failing to locate data
Your data is your company’s lifeblood. In order to keep it safe, you need to locate it together with its paths. This cannot be overstated enough. If you truly want to avoid serious issues, protect your data more than anything. Not only does it hold your customers` information but it also holds your own and the information of your vendors and many other people or organizations that have come into contact with your own over time.
Not testing the security
If you want to know how something will work when you are not watching, test it. Especially nowadays when we have internet of things, mobile devices and so many things can come in harm’s way, it`s best to stress test everything. You can use both the automated vulnerability testing and deep-dive penetration testing for this as both will come in handy at certain points.
Ignoring training
Your staff could very well be the key to your web security. However, if you don’t train them, they will just watch as things unfold in front of them. To avoid making this mistake, train them to notice things that can be a hint to something bigger happening or a breach happening. This way, they will be able to help you and prevent anything bad from happening.
Not assessing vendor risks
Some of the most notorious attacks on websites and businesses happened through the vendors. The hacker breaches the vendor site in order to get information on your site and hack your website that way. “Resisting vendor risk assessment can be very harmful to your business. Protect yourself and your customers by thinking about the risk your vendors are to you. If you are protecting them by protecting your website, they should also protect you by protecting themselves”, – says Janet McClure, a Technical writer at Essayroo and Academized.
Cybersecurity is a serious issue that shouldn’t be left without attention. Hopefully, you`ll be able to take some valuable insights into what might happen if you neglect your security and how to avoid it.
Freddie,
Many thanks for your posting.
I often see posts (not referencing any particular site or blog) where people point out problems, issues, deficiencies, etc…etc. However, your posting is refreshing in that you also provide possible solutions or at a minimum ideas to consider to help avoid some of the mistakes you pointed out.
Thanks for sharing and Happy Holidays!
Nice post!
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