Websites can transmit a lot of sensitive information during a typical browsing session. Consider what you share online every day: your email address, mailing address, phone number, credit card info, even your login credentials. That’s a substantial amount of information you don’t want falling into the wrong hands! The secret to keeping your and your visitors’ info safe lies in SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates. Learn what SSL certificates are, which websites need one, and what else you need to do to protect yourself and your visitors.
Category: Small Business Page 2 of 8
Most small businesses typically don’t have the proper security measures in place because they don’t know they’re at risk of cyberthreats, or they don’t know how to protect themselves. This leaves a company’s network, emails, computers, and mobile devices at risk of compromise—especially its website.
We’ve rounded up 69 easy and effective cybersecurity tips to help protect your small business from disruptive cyberattacks. We’ve organized these tips by category to make them more easily digestible.
A website attack can be a heartbreaking experience. Your site may be vandalized and your hard work could be destroyed. You may even lose visitors or revenue —and it’s more likely to happen than you might think, as websites receive up to 50 attacks per day on average.
Cybercrime is a big business and cybercriminals are actively looking to cash in, no matter the website’s size or purpose. Cyberattacks are usually caused by malware, which is software created for malicious purposes. Malware can:
- Slow or crash your website
- Steal data or traffic
- Steal sensitive customer information, such as credit card info or phone numbers
- Cause your website to be removed from search engine results
Malware isn’t just damaging to your website – it can also be excessively expensive. Website downtime costs an average of $427 per minute, and that can quickly add up to a devastating amount for small businesses and bloggers.
As a small business, you’re likely concerned with drawing traffic and visitors to your site – but you may be attracting the wrong kind of attention. Cybercriminals are constantly targeting websites, and yours may be one of them. No matter how small your business is, you’re not too small to be hacked. In fact, 50% of small businesses in the US have been breached. Big or small, the average site is attacked 50 times per day, and improper security measures can increase your risk.
The evolving world of cybercrime can be complicated, and at the end of the day, you just want what’s best for your business. While you don’t need to be a cybersecurity expert to successfully protect your business, it’s beneficial to understand the ways cybercriminals seek to threaten your livelihood. You can start by learning about the three common cybersecurity threats that all small business owners should be prepared for: malware, vulnerabilities, and DDoS attacks.
Did you know all the features that make your website unique and engaging could also be putting it at risk of compromise? The reality is, all websites are at risk of attack—and your site features, like plugins, are actually putting you at an increased risk. This is why it’s important for website owners to understand their likelihood of a breach. When you know your risk, you can make an educated and proactive decision about your security.
But how can you find out your risk, and what can you do to lower your chances of a breach? SiteLock created a proprietary risk assessment to determine your likelihood of a compromise. The assessment reviews your site and calculates your risk score on a scale of low, medium, and high—ensuring you’re informed about any potential threats you might face.
Decoding Security is celebrating National Small Business week by sharing simple recommendations that small businesses can use to protect themselves from today’s ever evolving cyberthreats. But first, we take a look at what’s trending in the news. Two additional security updates were released by the Drupal security team last month as part of continuing maintenance efforts after the discovery of the initial Drupalgeddon2 vulnerability in March. Drupal is urging its users to implement these updates immediately to avoid possible compromise. Meanwhile, the RSA Security Conference took place in San Francisco last month, drawing thousands of attendees from across the globe. However, the third-party mobile app built for the mega IT security conference was found to have a vulnerability, which could have potentially leaked the first and last names of attendees.
Would you do business with a company you don’t trust? Believe the words or intentions of someone who seems deceptive? How about confide in someone you don’t know very well?
The obvious answer is no. Trust is one of the most important factors in any relationship, whether it be personal or professional. Despite this, only 22 percent of brands are trusted.
As a website owner, it is critical your visitors trust your website—otherwise they’ll leave and may not return. After all, it only takes users 50 milliseconds to form a first impression of a website, a very short window to prove credibility.
Nancy is a small business owner who runs an ecommerce store selling women’s clothing. She knows there’s a lot of competition out there, so she works hard to make her customers happy. She’s found that one of the best ways to attract new customers and keep them coming back is by creating a feature-rich, user-friendly website that visitors love to use. Nancy’s website provides an easy shopping experience for her customers thanks to the features included with ecommerce plugins like Magento and WooCommerce. It also includes linked social media accounts, videos, pages of merchandise, and more!
One day, Nancy woke up to an inbox full of emails from frustrated customers. Something was wrong with her website!
As a startup, your website is critical to your success: it’s the face of your business and likely your primary channel for revenue and lead generation. However, your website and your business are put at risk every day by an unseen threat: cyberattacks.
The average website experiences 59 attacks every day, any of which could result in stolen customer data, blacklisting by search engines, or suspension by your web host. A successful attack on your site could also impact revenue, tarnish your reputation, and degrade customer loyalty. To protect against a possible cyberattack and mitigate the consequences it could have on your business, you’ll need to invest in website security.
If a compromised credit card isn’t on your wish list for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, then be sure to check out the latest episode of Decoding Security! Your hosts, SiteLock Security Analysts Jessica Ortega and Ramuel Gall, have some simple tips that all holiday shoppers can follow to keep your information safe.
