If you had asked the question “What is website hacking?” twenty, or even ten, years ago, the answer would have been very different from what it is today. Likewise, if somebody asks you twenty, or even ten, years from now “What is website hacking?”, then the answer will probably be very different again. This underlines the fact that hacking is in a continual state of development and you need to keep up with it.
What Is Website Hacking Now (And In The Foreseeable Future)?
Probably the most significant development in cybersecurity has been the move away from slow internet connections which were only used when you (really) needed them to fast, always-on connections.
This change has made it possible for hackers to create more sophisticated malware that can report back to them rather than just disappearing into the cyber ether to work on its own as best as it can.
As a result, there has been significant growth in website hacking carried out for financial gain, rather than just for the kick of making mischief. The key point to take away from this is that hackers who expect to make money out of an attack can put more effort into their tactics, for example, they might use sophisticated social engineering techniques.
The bad news is that no business is “too small” to be targeted. If you have data and/or money, then you are of interest to hackers. The good news is that not only is it possible for businesses, even SMBs, to protect themselves, but to do so at an affordable price. Here are some tips.
Set Up Your Website With Security In Mind
If you’re setting up a new website, then keep security in mind from start to finish. For example, when you’re buying a domain, make sure you enable any privacy options and lock it to prevent it being transferred without additional user verification.
When you choose your hosting service, make security your top concern (followed by uptime, page-load time, customer service, and technical support) with price being, perhaps, a tie-breaker. Also, look for a hosting package that prioritizes your security needs. For example, it may be worth paying a bit extra to have your host manage your server security for you.
Last but definitely not least, you need to do everything you can to build security into your website’s functionality. In simple terms, whenever you build any sort of application for your website, your first consideration should be how to make the application work safely, functionality should follow behind this, and only then should aesthetics become a consideration.
Invest In Robust Security Solutions
Your website itself needs a website vulnerability scanner. Different products from different vendors will have different capabilities but any decent website vulnerability scanner will have an anti-malware scanner and a web applications firewall. These are the core of your website’s defense.
You also need an anti-malware scanner with an integrated firewall for your servers, local computers, and mobile devices. These are all potential points of entry to your website. In fact, your servers can be a target themselves, especially your database server. For this reason, any sensitive data you hold should be kept encrypted wherever it is stored.
Choose And Manage Your Software With Care
The chances are that your website will make extensive use of open-source software. The main content management systems are all open source, as are a lot of third-party extensions as is a lot of the software used on back-end servers.
One of the defining characteristics of open-source software is the fact that anyone can see the code and get access to the technical documentation. This is great for making customizations but also makes it very easy for malicious actors to discover any flaws in the code. Added to this, the absence of a vendor means that there’s no legal obligation for anyone to fix those flaws.
This means that SMBs should do their research thoroughly before choosing any software. In addition to making sure that it is legitimate (as opposed to malware) and genuinely useful, it’s strongly advisable to make sure that it’s backed by an established and active support community, which manages it well.
Once you have chosen your software, you need to learn how to get the most out of it from a security perspective as well as in terms of functionality. In particular, you need to learn how to change default settings and assign permissions. You also need to commit to updating it promptly. Out-of-date software is always a security risk and the nature of open-source software means that this risk is even higher than usual.
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Removal
Security stack layer 1
Malware Detect & Removal
Our malware detection scanning, preventive methods and removal enables you to take a proactive approach to protect the business and brand reputation from malware attacks and infections.
- Unsuspecting websites get infected with malicious code.
- Continuous website monitoring to detect any incidents.
- Identify and remediate the cause to hardening your websites.
Comodo cWatch Web can identify malware, provide the tools and methods to remove it, and help to prevent future malware attacks at the edge before it hits the network, included as a paid member.
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Response
Security stack layer 5
Cyber Security Operations Center
Our exclusive C.S.O.C. is staffed with certified security analysts to monitor, assess and defend websites, applications, databases, data centers, servers, networks, desktops and other endpoints.
- 24 / 7 / 365 security monitoring using state-of-the-art tech.
- Engage clients of complex threats to resolve the issue.
- Real-time web traffic monitoring and proactive incident fixes.
C.S.O.C. checks for threats, identifies and analysis then performs the necessary actions to resolve the issue while offloading costs of in-house experts by using stack layer 3 to handle the heavy lifting.
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Intelligence
Security stack layer 3
Security Information • Event Management
S.I.E.M. collects logs and events the network traffic and web assets, security devices, operating systems, applications, databases, and reviews the vulnerabilities using artificial intelligence to process.
- Reduces billions of events into prioritized threats real-time.
- Identifies changes in network behavior with activity baselines.
- Flows data searches in real-time streaming or historical mode.
S.I.E.M. senses and tracks significant threats to links to all online supporting data and context for easier investigation. While anomaly detection to identify changes associated with the network safety.
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Prevention
Security stack layer 4
Web Application Firewall
W.A.F. by Comodo eliminates application vulnerabilities to protect websites and web applications against advanced attacks including Denial-of-Service (DDoS), SQL Injection and Cross-Site Scripting.
- Destroys malicious requests and thwart hack attempts.
- Protection to account registration forms and login pages.
- Malicious bots and brute force attacks are block and patched.
Combined with malware scanning, vulnerability scanning and automatic virtual patching and hardening engines provides robust security is fully managed for Comodo cWatch Web customers.
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Performance
Security stack layer 2
Add a network of globally distributed servers designed to boost the speed for websites and web applications by transferring content to your user based on their proximity to the nearest CDN web server.
- Proven to increase search engine rankings and site scores.
- 29 worldwide CDN node locations to reach your users.
- Save your bandwidth by leveraging CDN browser caching.
CDN serves your users your website content with virtually unlimited capacity. Giving you the freedom to focus less on site maintenance, more on scaling the uptime of your traffic and target audience.
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Compliance
Security stack layer 6
Payment Card Industry • Data Security Standard
PCI • DSS ensures that your customers' cardholder info is kept secure from security breaches through a meticulous scan of your network and applications to identify and fix security vulnerabilities.
- Simple and automated way to stay compliant with PCI • DSS.
- Pass the requirements for the 12 points PCI • DSS standard.
- Schedule on-demand PCI scans to report quarterly results.
Establishes and implements a firewall, hardens your environment, disables unnecessary services & configures system parameters to prevent misuse, ensures system audit components are protected.
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