The internet and all the technologies associated with it have been growing immensely in recent years. While this growth has brought about many benefits, there are also risks associated with it. With a pool of sensitive data and information that each company has, they run into more significant risks of getting hacked. We will learn in this blog how to protect your company against cyber attacks.
Even big companies such as Google, LinkedIn, etc. are not immune to hacking. Hence, there is a need to have proper measures in place so that companies don’t fall victim to hackers in 2020.
On average, a business can incur a loss of $400 billion in a year. This is the case when a hack is actually identified. There are also cases where cybercrime is carried out without any detection.
According to the World Economic Forum, many companies choose to stay mute even if they find out about data hacks. This is done to avoid any kind of legal trouble or action. However, the damage is so much that it is challenging to hide such cases for a long time.
The case of Doordash Data breach is worth discussing in this regard. The data breach of Doordash affected a staggering 4.9 million customers, merchants, and workers. The food delivery company shared that hackers had stolen the information of their customers and workers in 2018.
The company also claimed to have launched a thorough investigation immediately with security experts to assess precisely what had happened. If statistics are to be believed, approximately 100,000 delivery workers got their driver’s license information taken from them due to this breach.
The entire news came as quite a shock to customers as well as the general public at large as essential data such as usernames, passwords, and other vital information was stolen during this hack.
Thanks to these issues, it is essential to make your company custom software hacker-proof and safe for yourself as well as your users.
So, let us check out the top five ways that can help you make your company hacker-proof.
1) Have Regular Data Backups
You might not consider backing up data as an essential part of safeguarding your website from hacks, but it can definitely stop your hacker from attempting a hack.
For example, if you have all your data backed up and you find a hacker on one part of your website, you can easily erase or remove it permanently without worrying about data loss. Hence, it is a good practice to keep all your data backed up properly.
2) Keep Updating Your Software
Another good practice is to keep updating your software and plugins. If you keep using the same old plugins and software, it makes your website vulnerable to hackers. According to some statistics, 78% of the websites that were hacked in 2020 were the ones that used old plugins and software.
If you have vulnerable plugins, it offers a good entry point to your hackers. Therefore, make it a priority to update your software on a regular basis.
3) Select A Trustworthy Host
Choosing a good and trustworthy host is essential to making your website hacker-proof. No matter how strong your website’s plugins and firewalls are, if your host is not trustworthy, your website can still be vulnerable.
Therefore, think twice before choosing a cheap host. It might sound exciting to get cheap hosting options, but it can be very costly in the long run. You must choose a high quality and premium hosting service provider with strong server security as well as firewalls.
With this investment, you can have real-time scanning as well as monitoring so you can be alerted immediately if something strange is observed on your website.
4) Scan Regularly & Block Attempts
Another great tip for staying safe in the online world is to carry out regular scans on your devices. In addition to that, if you are ever in doubt, you should simply block the invaders without a second thought.
You must also make it a point to refuse any social media information from strangers on popular platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Inviting strangers to your social media profile is akin to inviting a stranger at a bus stop to stare at you.
5) Do Not Save Your Credit Card Info On Various Websites
A common mistake made by most people is saving their credit card information on websites where they make transactions regularly. This is apparently done to save time and autofill the details the next time you need to make a transaction. This is a huge mistake and can give hackers an entry point into your private space.
Therefore, you must always err on the side of caution, and when websites ask you if you want to save your credit card details to save time for future use, you should always decline the request. Although mass data security breaches involving stolen credit card details en masse are not very common, you should still not take any risks where your privacy and security is concerned.
After all, it takes barely 90 seconds to fill in your credit card details each time you make a transaction. Also, it is a very small price to pay at the end of the day.
Final Thoughts
Hence, there are a lot of technical solutions and precautions you can take to ensure that you do not fall victim to hackers in 2020 or any year for that matter. In addition to that, while most of these solutions help you prevent from getting scammed or hacked, it is the humans who do the hacking and not computers. You can also hire an agency offering security services to help you protect your business from cyber-attacks.
Therefore, you should just be cautious and aware of how to protect against cyber attacks because, more often than not, it is human error that leads to hacking or data breaches.
Furthermore, you must always be suspicious in the online world because it keeps you alert and helps you avoid unnecessary human errors. You must always ensure to have a lock on all your gadgets and devices with a strong passcode is, ultimately, your passcode is your primary line of defense.