Keep Your Online Presence Secure

All website owners need to work hard to ensure they keep their online presence as secure as possible. We live in dangerous times, and there are more hacking attacks per year right now than there ever were in the past. Considering that, this article will offer some advice and guidance that should assist all readers in putting preventative measures in place and ensuring the continued security of their online activities. The recent hacking attack on Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg should highlight the severity of the situation and encourage business owners to act fast. Our company provides Fort Collins SEO services to thousands of clients, so we know a thing or two about security.

Never make presumptions about security!

Small companies and under-the-radar-style website owners tend to overlook security issues because they think hackers will only target some of the most prominent players on the market. Unfortunately, that is a standard error that could prove costly in the future. Cybercriminals know that smaller websites are often easier to hack, and so they’re more vulnerable than most of their large-scale counterparts. For that reason, it’s essential that EVERYONE starts to appreciate and understand the need for advanced online protection regardless of the nature of their enterprise.

Essential steps to protect your organization

There are some straightforward steps that all entrepreneurs and website owners can take if they want to increase their online security and ensure hacking never becomes a problem. They include improving passwords by:

• Opting for case-sensitive terms, words, and phrases
• Adding numbers of special characters to the password
• Avoiding dictionary words (hackers can use specialist software to guess passwords based on dictionary listings)
• Extending the length of the password to more than twelve characters if possible

It’s also possible to take steps that will improve the security of any business website beyond those password tips by:

• Remaining proactive and seeking out the latest solutions and tools
• Ensuring regular maintenance of the site and its security features
• Updating all security software and tools every day
• Limiting the administrative privileges of site users based on the nature of their accounts
• Backing up the site (hosting companies often provide a backup solution)

The potential cost of hacking

When we provide clients with Greeley SEO services, they often ask our team about the potential costs involved when a hacking attack takes place. In most instances, we refer them to some of the most famous incidences of online security breaches in history:

• Citigroup lost $2.7 million from credit card accounts
• TJX lost $25 million from the damage caused by hackers
• Sony lost between $1-2 billion following a PlayStation network attack
• Epsilon lost between $225 million and $4 billion after a hacking attack in March 2011

With those terrible instances in mind, entrepreneurs and web developers need to take decisive action when it comes to dealing with hacking and other online security threats. Failure to do so could result in the company losing their customer base and placing individuals at risk when they enter their account details to make purchases. So, be sure to research the subject and implement the most recent advice and solutions as quickly as possible!