If you own a website or have a business which runs and relies on promoting your company through the web, then it is every webmasters nightmare to find out your security has been compromised in some way, and your website hacked. The thought of all the hard work, determination and effort you have put in only for someone to sabotage this is a really worrying and distressing thought.
A recent study shows that in 2016, there was an increase of 32% in sites which had been hacked (this was comparing 2016 with 2015.) The trend is worrying and on the rise, and even Google admits there is likely to be no downward movement in these numbers.
The two main problems?
Hacking can occur for a number of reasons, and like anything if someone is so intent on achieving a result, it will happen. Generally though hacking occurs for two reasons:
1) Hackers are becoming even more clever and having sophisticated tools at their disposal to make it even easier for them. Coupled with this, detection is getting more difficult which makes it a headache for anyone who owns or runs a website.
2) Webmasters are ignoring security updates and installs. Sometimes these can be critical, and it is in effect handing a key to the hackers to target your website, by not adopting the latest versions of whatever has been released. This is particularly important with respect to content management systems – the likes of WordPress etc.
As already pointed out, generally speaking you cannot totally stop being hacked, but you can make it very difficult for this to be achieved by taking appropriate steps.
One thing Google is highly recommending is that webmasters sign their websites up to Google Search Console which would alert a webmaster to a hacking issue far more quickly. Reports show that well over half of websites that were hacked never new because they were not registered with this facility. The actual programme is free to use so it is well worth doing for your own piece of mind.
If you are unfortunate enough to get hacked, by having Google Search Console:
1) It is more likely you will be told about this earlier.
2) When you reapply your site to Google after the hack, there is a high chance (reports say 84%) that your website will be accepted.
3) Warnings and notices are likely to be displayed, which means you can act on anything that is likely to compromise you rather than leaving it to chance.
You would do your up-most to ensure that everything else in your life is secure, so make sure your website is no exception.
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