As most San Diego SEO experts can tell you, no one is immune from website hacking. In fact, cyber-attacks have been on the increase almost every year, since it has proven to be so lucrative for the criminal-minded individual. You might not be able to completely Protect Your Website from Hackers, but there are some things you can do to limit your exposure.
If you’ve worked with a company that provides San Diego SEO services in the past, you may be aware of some of these steps. Whether you have or haven’t worked with an SEO service in San Diego, continue reading below to find out how you can protect your business-critical data to the utmost extent.
Best Exercise to Protect Your Website from Hackers
A. Phishing Attacks
These are attacks intended to trick users into surrendering important information. They have all the look and appearance of genuine messages from a trusted individual, but they’re actually a cleverly designed trap. These traps will deliver access to business credit data if successful.
Users who are in a hurry or who aren’t particularly tech-savvy might click on a bogus link, thereby giving up important information to the cyber attacker. Once the information has been obtained, it generally provides easy access to important company data. It might also provide an entry point for a cyber attacker to hijack company data and hold it for ransom.
B. Brute Force Attacks
These attacks work by going through all possible combinations in order to discover business-critical passwords. Years ago, this took quite a while because there is an endless number of possible combinations. However, by using sophisticated software, the process has been shortened dramatically. In some cases, hackers are able to use brute force attacks that are completely automated and don’t call for any personal intervention.
C. Malware
Malware attacks generally seek flaws in your security system, so they can penetrate and retrieve business-critical data. Hackers are always trying to plant spyware and viruses into your system so they can view or access data. They may also want to lock your files or change them, and then possibly hold that data for ransom.
Most security professionals consider malware and ransomware to be the biggest threat to I.T. Therefore, any business should be extremely cautious, and take steps to protect themselves against these two forms of attack.
D. Preventing Data Breaches
Just as there are a number of ways a cyber-attacker can penetrate your system, there are also ways you can protect against it. One of the first steps you should take is to analyze your system for any vulnerabilities. Virtually every system and network in creation has some type of flaw that can be exploited by a hacker.
The sooner you are aware of such flaws, the better you can protect against them. There is special security software available that can test your system to find out where vulnerabilities exist. There are also professionals who get paid to spot vulnerabilities and get them shored up before any attack comes.
E. Train Your Employees
Since humans have been identified as one of the weakest links in any security network, it makes good sense to train them in how to recognize and prevent attacks. A great many employees accidentally release information to hackers who don’t have proper authorization. Any data breach, even if it’s unintentional, can still bring tremendous harm to a company, and cause a great deal of economic stress.
That means it will be well worth your while to conduct a regular program of training so that your employees are aware of attack strategies. If you can’t afford an ongoing training program, periodic seminars might be adequate for the task. Inviting guest speakers in can help with indoctrinating employees and keeping them alert to attack possibilities.
F. Backup Your Data
Sometimes, no matter what you do, your data will still be subject to attack and can be hijacked by a persistent attacker. If you’re hijacked data can’t be recovered, disaster can still be prevented if you have made a recent backup of all business-critical data.
This means copying your data at least on a daily basis, and storing it off-site where it can’t be harmed or stolen. There are many ways you can accomplish data backups, so choose the one that is optimal for your company. Then if disaster should strike, the worst-case scenario is that you have to revert to data that was current at the end of the previous day’s business.
G. Install a Good Firewall
Firewalls are one of the most secure ways of defending yourself against data breaches. When you have one of these installed at your company, it will prevent unauthorized traffic. Malicious software will also be turned away, so it can’t penetrate your network. A firewall should be your first line of defense, and it can be set up to work in tandem with other security measures.
As one of your basic defenses against attack, you can prevent a number of cybercrimes and attacks against your company simply by installing a firewall.
H. Encrypt Your Data
When your data is encrypted, only authorized personnel will be able to read it. This is a basic strategy, but it’s extremely effective and it can Protect your Website from Hackers. When you have very sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, payment data, and other sensitive information, it is best protected by encryption and also protect your website form hackers.
Even if a hacker were to somehow hijack your data, it would be useless to them because they would have no way of interpreting it. When word gets out that your data has been encrypted, most criminals will simply bypass your company, because your data is unusable to them.
Need help proteting your website from hackers? Contact us today!
