How to Fight Cyber Attacks

hacker-1944688_1280

Statistically speaking, if you are the owner of a website, it is very common to face cyber attacks. And here’s how you can deal with them:

#1 PASSWORDS

An online business or a website of any size have 67% chances of being cyber attacked and another 83% chances of being victims of phishing. What this means is that you have to be ready for them and the most obvious, but essential way to do it, is passwords.

Make sure they are secure and unique! Don’t just put your name or your date of birth there. Make it hard for them! You should know that cyber attacking programmes don’t spend too much time trying to break your passwords. If they can’t do it easily, they will move on to the next potential victim.

Choose plenty of characters (we would recommend at least 12) and make sure you put a lot of imagination there, with capital letters, numbers, exclamation marks, anything that is not expected to be there. You know you have chosen the right password when you cannot even remember it yourself!

If you have employees, make sure you train them to choose passwords that are difficult to break and ask them to note them down at a programme like KeePassX, which is safe and secure.

#2 UPDATES

An online business or a website of any size have 67% chances of being cyber attacked and another 83% chances of being victims of phishing. What this means is that you have to be ready for them and a pretty safe way to do it is by making sure you do all the necessary updates.

You probably didn’t know this, but if your software is outdated, it becomes insecure and it offers the perfect ground for hackers and attackers to act. And since it’s not something that requires special skills, we would recommend that you put this in your top priorities.

Don’t feel bad if you forget these things. Just put it in your online calendar and technology will make sure you remember to update your software regularly. After all, simple things like that can save you from a lot of trouble!

#3 HTTPS & SSL Certificates

An online business or a website of any size have 67% chances of being cyber attacked and another 83% chances of being victims of phishing. What this means is that you have to be ready for them and the safest way to do it is by using HTTPS and SSL certificates.

Let’s start with explaining what HTTP is: When you connect to a website, your browser finds the IP address that corresponds to the website, connects to it and considers that it is connected to the correct web server. All the data is sent over this connection but you never really know if you’re actually connected to the right website, are you?

This is where the “S” at the end comes. This “S” means Security and when you connect to an HTTPS secured server, sites -such as your bank- will redirect you to HTTPS. Automatically, your web browser will check the website’s security certificate and will verify that you are actually visiting your bank’s website.

An SSL Certificate is a data file that digitally bind a cryptographic key to an organization’s details. When this is installed on a web server, it allows secure connections from a web server to a browser, making credit card transactions a lot safer, as well as data transfers or logins.

So, all you have to do is activate HTTPS and install SSL certificates on all of your web URLs, as well as your subdomains, as they usually receive admin passwords. Their cost is exceptionally low, but their role is increasingly important.

#4 Phishing awareness

An online business or a website of any size have 67% chances of being cyber attacked and another 83% chances of being victims of phishing. What this means is that you have to be ready for them and one of the best ways to do it is by knowing what phishing is.

You must have heard of at least one incident where someone opens an e-mail and ends up either revealing a username and password for something very important, or just clicking a link that creates doom’s day for the e-mail server of an entire company. Don’t be that guy.

These e-mails are obviously fake and they’re designed to trick you into giving your password or any other confidential details. The purpose may vary, but the catastrophe is the same. The only way to avoid it is by being aware of it and acting accordingly.

If there are employees in your business, you can train them, so that they can easily identify and delete phishing emails. If you cannot do that, ask them to contact you or someone responsible for this, whenever they see something that looks even remotely suspicious.

You can also install and use email signing certificates that are very helpful and save you from too much trouble. Spam filters can also be very useful in this case, as they can automatically identify and reject phishing e-mails.

Have Fun and enjoy your time with Solomon Designs!

Leave a Comment

Solomon Designs team is passionate about WordPress. We build clean and responsive, fully featured and mobile-first orientated websites.
We combine our technical, creative and digital marketing expertise to bring you outstanding custom WordPress development services.
We take our work seriously and are continually expanding our knowledge and skills to better understand the business and web audience.
Your website is an investment in your business’s future and Solomon Designs team gives this the attention it deserves.