Earlier last year, the website of the coworking space in which I rent a desk was hacked. Someone (or some botnet of someone) got into the regional server, and turned the coworking website into a phishing site. The coworking site was infected with malicious code that would scan unsuspecting users and gather personal information. Although the site was shut down in just a few days, it took months of negotiations with Google, convincing them that we weren’t a phishing site and that the security breached has been solved. In those months, valuable customers were lost, since all they got was a notification that the site they tried to access has been listed as a phishing site.
Imagine if that happened to your blog or your business website (and I know two other businesses that had their websites hacked). How long would it take you to spot the problem, and then work with Google to get your site back up? Would you be able to handle the possibility months of lost revenue? Would you be able to solve the security breach and to prevent a hacker from getting in again? Most small businesses and hobby bloggers can’t, which is why it’s vital to invest in website security.
Why is it so important to have website security? After all, if you’re a small business, it may seem that no one would want to hack your site or give you malware in particular. However, hackers and malicious software aren’t targeting any specific people or businesses. They’re after customer and personal information, or want to redirect unwary users to spammy survey sites, or need your web hosting services in order to host a child pornography site. Whatever hackers want, it’ll be at your expense, unless you take the time to make sure you have a secure website.
Having a secure website doesn’t have to cost thousands of dollars, or take a long time, or even require specialized technical skills. All you have to do is to find a good security service provider that will keep your website or blog free from any malware or hacking activity, such as WebsiteDefender.com. This is an online security service, which constantly monitors your website or blog and alerts you as soon as it finds any security leaks or under the hood hacking activity. It is still free to use in Beta, if you plan to monitor a single website or blog. You can also scan multiple websites using WebsiteDefender service, for a small fee. WebsiteDefender works by notifying as soon as something’s changed on the backend of your website, if your site has been blacklisted, or if there are any threats that have targeted your site. If you need WordPress security for a blog or a WordPress-hosted site, then you can install for free the WebsiteDefender WordPress Security plugin, which was created by the same team of WebsiteDefender to secure your WordPress installation and configuration. It is recommended to install the plugin and also sign up for a WebsiteDefender account, in order to secure your website or blog for other vulnerabilities, that aren’t related to your WordPress configuration.
Many security services may seem like a hassle, or may seem to include things that you may not understand, but providers such as WebsiteDefender, make it very easy even for the non-technical users. It’s certainly a better option to go with a website security provider versus handling it all yourself when something happens.
