Why poor web security will damage your business

In an increasingly volatile world, there is a heightened risk of domestic and international cyber security threats. And what's more, no business is immune. The aim of most cyber attacks is mainly to disrupt.

This blog explains why your business may be at risk, how it can affect you and what we can do to stop it from keeping you up at night.

Why would my business be targeted?

It's hard to say. You might feel like you're not a target for hacking, but it's impossible to rule anything out. This is because the reasons for attacks aren't always as obvious as they may seem.

If you're a large company, you may be targeted with the intention of being held at ransom or, more likely, simply to disrupt your business. As a smaller company, your business may be targeted as a means to access larger websites on the same host or network. This allows attackers to use your website as a launchpad to delve into your network and access valuable data.

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) are attacks that are often widespread and intended to cause havoc. These are the attacks that are responsible for taking down websites all over the globe, and we continue to see a rise in attacks with every passing year.

What could be risking your security?

There are many potential weak spots within your online presence that can be exploited.

Most companies have a CRM system online that stores information on their clients, customers and business connections. As valuable targets that are constantly updating, these systems are extremely vulnerable to attack.

If you're working on a WordPress website (as 43% of the WHOLE web are), you've got a basic level of protection that will go some way to keeping your website safe, provided that you're keeping up-to-date with security patches and other best practices. But being on the biggest platform also has its downsides.

WordPress hosted sites are sometimes easy targets without the right security infrastructure. Botnets can be installed on vulnerable hosting and take down other sites as a result of DDoS attacks, targeted or untargeted. Just because you haven't been directly targeted, it doesn't mean you're safe. You may just get unlucky.

What your business stands to lose from poor security

Business owners need to understand the importance of web security and the unacceptable risk of leaving their website unprotected.

Damage to your brand is guaranteed. Customers will feel unsafe using your website or inputting data, with major attacks often resulting in irreparable damage to your credibility online.

Having your website or online applications compromised will cost you money both immediately and in the long term. You'll have to invest money in regaining the security of your site, and setting up future security mechanisms and will undoubtedly lose custom in the short term.

What's the solution?

I often say that the safest website is one that's not online. But unfortunately, that's not viable.

The best way to fill these gaps and cover yourself from DDoS attacks is to have a thorough security infrastructure installed across your digital platforms, adding security mechanisms such as web application firewalls that protect you from potential attacks.

For example, Cloudflare is a great tool that secures and ensures the reliability of your external-facing resources (websites, APIs and applications). It is a vital element in keeping your website secure, and has the extra benefit of greatly improving user experience due to faster page load times.

Ready to improve your web security?

We continue to hear more and more from people who have been hacked and need help securing their websites. Retro-fitting, adding safety layers after the initial build, is much more expensive than implementing them in the first place.

It's important that your website has a rigid security infrastructure that will protect your business, as well as others, from any attacks. You're responsible for the security of your website - but we're here to take care of it and help you remain safe and worry-free.