According to some estimates, between 30-50,000 websites are hacks each day. The number of websites being hacked is growing every day and the significance of website security is rising quickly.
Secure in the digital world is becoming increasingly crucial every day, and it is crucial to secure your website as well as the information it holds today.
In this post we’ll give you five reasons why website data security is vital.
Did you know it is estimated that 56% internet traffic comes from automated sources like scrapers, hacking tools, impersonators, spammers, and bots. You might be thinking – do I have a secure website from these types of tools?
Hacked websites could target your clients
Malicious software can attack websites, collect data and, in some instances, steal computer resources.
A website to which the attacker gained access may serve as a conduit to divert traffic, and then cause infection of visitors with malware.
This means that if your website is not secure hackers could make use of your website to infect visitors with malware.
There are thousands of kinds of malware as well as hundreds of ways to attack your website that are mostly carried out by hacking tools that are automated.
What they have in common is that hacked websites tend to be used to target your customers as well as your site’s users.
The amount of hacker sites increases rapidly
What they have in common is that the hacked sites are used primarily to target your customers and website users. Another reason that website security is crucial is to ensure that your customers are secure.
An investigation was conducted and revealed that there is one attack per 39 second on the internet and passwords and usernames that are not secure are used offer attackers the best chance of succeeding.
Let’s be clear about this – An attack doesn’t always mean that something is compromised. We see thousands of attacks directed at the websites we safeguard each day.
In 2018, Google has sent out more than 45 million emails to owners of registered websites through Search Console, alerting them to the possibility of issues in their websites that may impact their visibility on a search.
They also sent 6 million messages of manual action to webmasters regarding practices that violated Google’s rules, and details on how to fix the problems. Also, Google responded to nearly 90,000 complaints from users of web-based search engine spam.
Sucuri Cloud-based firewall company, said in their report that they had 170,827 313 total attack attempts blocked in the year 2019. This was an increase of 52% from the previous year.
Drop in business reputation and drop in revenue
There are more than 1.5 billion websites available on the internet today, and people depend on search engines whenever they seek information on these websites.
Thus, search engine optimization is more crucial than ever before and it’s essential for all webmasters to be aware of the real significance of SEO and its potential for any business.
Google as well as other engines (for whom you don’t usually wish to be on the list of naughty ones) alert your customers and block them from accessing your site. In recent times, Google, for example has been stepping up the game to the next level.
Beginning in July 2018, any website that does not have SSL (HTTPS) can be considered insecure and will be subject to an SEO penalty. This hinders your business to find new customers.
Google has revealed new information regarding its anti-spam efforts and revealed greater than 80 percent of the hacked websites have been uncovered and removed from the search results. (source: Search Engine Journal)
However, the truth is that because of hacking customers lose trust and will result in a loss of company’s reputation and for online businesses, this could frequently mean the closure to the operation.
In terms of website security and CMS security, the threats are also increasing rapidly. For instance, WordPress continues to be the most infected site CMS.
The vulnerability of themes and plugins are among the greatest dangers to websites built with WordPress. In reality, only 0.58 percent of security flaws stem from WordPress core by 2021. (Source: State Of WordPress Security 2021)
In the average, around 50 000 websites are hacked every single day. However, in fact, the majority of these 50,000 websites are legitimate small companies which are not aware of the fact that they are disseminating malware to cybercriminals.
When your site is compromised and is added to blacklists, a potential customer is unable to access the products or services that are made available.
However, if a prospective client visits your website and is warned or infected there’s a very slim chance that they will visit your website in the future.
WordPress cleanup is more costly than protecting
If you are a webmaster and discover that your site has been compromised, the first thing to do is look up “How to get rid of the hacker’s site”.
You will see many blog posts and articles on the subject, but they will all ultimately suggest to do the same thing: have professionals help you.
The process of performing an WordPress malware removal so that you can be confident that the site is clean isn’t an easy job. That’s why services like one can run upwards of $150 per website and after that, based on the service provider, it’s impossible to know for certain if the website was cleaned properly or not.
The average cost in 2021 on WordPress malware elimination was just $613. The most expensive amount paid was $4,800 while the lowest cost was $50. (Source: State Of WordPress Security in 2021)
The most recent research conducted by Acunetix has revealed that around 85 percent of web sites have security holes, meaning that they are all susceptible to being affected at any point in time.
The process of malware removal of a website is more about identifying the weaknesses of a website and understanding the ways hackers think in their mind. This is why we recommend service providers that perform manual cleanups.
Malware is usually concealed by the source files as well as the database, and hackers spend a lot of energy to ensure that you will not be able to get rid of their backdoors this quickly.
It’s expensive, indeed. Not just the malware removal service, but damaged reputation and lost revenue are the ones that can consume lots of time and cash to get back from.
What exactly is Google Blacklist?
While not using the exact word “blacklist,” Google quarantines at least 10,000 suspect websites every day. You can identify the websites by looking at the message “This website could harm the computer” in the results of a search.
This is an alert that will prompt the majority of users to avoid the site. The consumers are thankful for this warning. Businesses are in panic. (Source: Forbes)
When a site is placed in the blacklist Google will remove the site from its search results. If a site is blacklisted, it will lose nearly 90 percent of the organic visitors it receives which could have a significant impact on revenues.
A website is usually banned if it has something that is harmful to the user. For instance malware, for instance.
Cleaning your website is only the beginning of being relisted on Google. Before you can put your website online again, make certain that you have the right security measures in place to avoid the possibility of a repeat. It is possible that you will be vulnerable to the same cybercriminals that hacked your website the first time in the event that you do not strengthen security measures.
If your website is listed on blacklists there are two major ways to restore a hack website:
You can do it on your own, provided you are knowledgeable enough.
Find a reliable service provider when the technical requirements are not within your expertise.
It is the truth that due to a compromised website, a client loses confidence, which could lead to a reputational loss, which in the case of e-commerce is often the result of a loss to the operation.