BY Lila Wallrich |
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For many businesses and organizations , the past 18 months have dealt a surreal combination of remote connection and reliance on digital resources . Some of us , unsure of what the future holds , have been cautious about spending — possibly trimming marketing activities to protect other budget priorities . But as prospective clients , partners and employees emerge blinking from pandemic caves , this is a smart time to |
make sure the assets we need to keep us accessible online are not exposed to opportunistic , inconvenient and expensive attacks .
You ’ re probably familiar with network security . My focus is narrower : The website or blog that serves as your company ’ s online face , supporting awareness and attracting leads 24 / 7 , is also vulnerable to hacking .
Put simply , the internet can be a rather sketchy neighborhood . When my
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firm began developing websites more than 20 years ago , we created custom content , design and code , uploaded it to a reputable host , and celebrated another successful project . Websites we created in the 1990s were still going strong with no security issues ( though perhaps a few aesthetic ones ) a decade or more later .
But the use of blogging platforms such as WordPress to streamline site development , with the advent of commercial plug-ins to support interactive site features , introduced new vectors of vulnerability . Without proactive security oversight , these tools create opportunities for the internet ’ s bad guys to gain site access . Once there , they deploy malware and other spam content for their own nefarious purposes . When a hosting company detects such mischief , they typically shut down the compromised site . While having your website go dark is never convenient , it can be much worse if you ’ re heading into a major pitch , launch or conference with no recovery plan in place .
After many years without incident , my firm entered this new digital era seeing a handful of our sites hacked without warning . While tending to their recovery , we mobilized to establish a program of prevention and recovery measures to reduce most threats from major loss to minor inconvenience . These are not trade secrets — and they are not completely foolproof — but a sensible checklist any manager can implement to reduce site vulnerability .
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SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION |
26 comstocksmag . com | September 2021 |