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Websites are very essential to the success and survival of modern-day businesses and organizations. It provides a means for customers around the globe to reach out for products and services, without having to physically visit a fixed location. Despite the importance of websites to the survival of organizations, they can also be a source of their downfall especially if they have been hacked.
Modern organizations need to take concrete steps to protect their websites as well as business interest. Different organizations are faced with different threats. A security threat facing a particular organization may mean a different thing to another organization, which is largely influenced by the businesses they run. The effects of becoming a victim of a cyber attack can be broadly classified under the following.
Compromised private and propriety data
This has been a major issue facing most consumers and customers alike in recent times. There hardly anything you do on the internet that isn’t monitored by your internet service provider or government security agencies. Most of the data collected by your service providers are used to market important products and services by legitimate companies and organizations. However, your information can be provided to law enforcement agencies, which means your private data and information isn’t private anymore.
Payment details and data are collected by many websites and stored in the cloud. However, hackers can by-pass the security checks put in place to steal this valuable data, and compromise your financial standing. You shouldn’t allow businesses or eCommerce websites to save your payment details.
We all know that it can be stressful punching all those digits each time we want to carry out a transaction. It’s much better to go through that stress of entering your card details any time you want to carry out a transaction and stay financially secured than opt for online payment details management and have the risk of your data compromised.
Substantial Recovery cost
When there is a security breach, you should know money is lost both through the efforts of the hackers or malicious agents as well as efforts by the organization to recover their stolen data and funds. Forensic experts may be employed to investigate security breaches as well as loopholes whose discovery can last several months or even years. Paying these forensic experts isn’t cheap.
Also, there are recommendations that boost security levels and strategies of organizations to combat cybercrime. Money will be needed to put the recommended security systems in place. These costs are usually out of the reach of small businesses and organizations. But when a lot is at stake, you’ve got no choice but to invest in a good cybersecurity system.
Also Read
- 4 Online Security Tips To Boost Your Cybersecurity
- 7 Ways to Better Protect Data and Keep it Secure
- How You Can Protect Yourself While Trading Cryptocurrency
Damaged Reputation
The reputation of a business is critical to its success and survival. It’s an intangible asset that isn’t built overnight but acquired through excellent service delivery, customer service relationships and professionalism. You don’t buy reputation; rather you earn it through excellence and dedication. When a company is reputable, it simply means it has earned trust in the locality where it operates.
Trust creates more leads, customers, and connections. When you lose trust as a result of a data breach or malicious hack, years of hard work and dedication are flushed down the drain. Google search, which is the world’s biggest search engine, takes extreme measures to protect its search engine visitors. It does that by giving its search engine users a warning about certain sites that have been compromised. Imagine what this warning can do to potential leads. It scares them off.
Despite all the negative effects of data breaches and website security lapses, businesses can put measures in place to safeguard and protect their interests and investments.
- Make use of encryption technology
- Conduct periodic testing using high-quality web security tools
- Adopt and implement HTTPS for all your business sites
- Use CSP to combat XSS attacks
- Install security plugins and ensure all installed plugins are up-to-date
- Ensure all software bugs are resolved and software updated
- Watch out for SQL injections and put measures to safeguard against them
The efforts mentioned above aren’t exhaustive of all you can do to protect your business or organization’s website. You have to be proactive when it comes to your website security and not reactive. Ensure all your employees are conversant about the need to ensure that the organization’s website is protected at all costs. Employees must ensure that all loose ends on their systems are taken care of.
Outsourcing Website Security
If you feel that it may be challenging to implement good website security systems and protocols in place or you lack the manpower needed to safeguard your website round the clock, then outsourcing your website security needs may be the right choice. There are companies that specialize in providing website security solutions to both large and business organizations.
You’ll need to look them up as they are available online. Check out their reviews, pricing, and affordability, especially what other customers are saying about the performance of these web security companies. That way you’ll be able to make the right choice when outsourcing your website security.
Reduce your exposure to cybersecurity threats by taking a more proactive approach when it comes to protecting your business website. Putting the right web security measures in place will ensure that your business or organization continues to exploit the opportunities available online while maintaining its reputation and excellent service delivery.
