For the longest time now, movies, media and TV have portrayed hackers as these untouchable figures who only like to hack into the government's websites to get some codes and magically save the world from the corrupt people.
But the truth is far from that. Hackers aren’t only after big companies and the government's database, Hackers are after much smaller websites, websites that most people don’t really think about hacking… Like yours.
As a matter of fact, according to an annual report made by Sucuri, one of the security technologies we use here in Rootstack, over 34,751 websites were infected only in 2017, with 83% of these websites being from Wordpress.
Now, hold on onto that information for a little bit, because it will be important later on when we start to tell you the top reasons why your website might be in danger of getting hacked. For now, pay attention, take notes, and get ready to protect your webpage from all the evil hackers out there.
1: Not paying attention to your security methods
A lot of webpage owners fall into the deadly sin of thinking online security isn’t important, and they honestly believe no one will ever hack their webpages, because “they don’t have a reason to”.
Well, let me tell you that is wrong. Overlooking the need for a good online security system is the number one reason why websites get hacked! If you don’t take the time to protect your online platform, who will?
By doing this you are willingly letting your precious data and information out for anyone to take, and that's simply unacceptable, especially nowadays with so many great security softwares available.
This goes hand to hand with not seeing the real threats out there. Like we said before, hackers are regular people, looking to get financial gain or even revenge from from hacking your website, it doesn't matter how small or big this might be.
So, if you're wondering, what can I do about this? You need to start taking this matters into consideration and coming up with a proper solution that ill shield your webpage from intruders.
2: Not investing in a real, effective security software
Here in Rootstack we trust, and use, one major technology related to software protection, also known as Sucuri, an efficient, trustworthy platform that help us keep everything secured at all times.
As a software developer, it is your duty to warn your customer about this, and make sure they understand the cost, and necessity, of a good security system. And, as a customer, you have to understand everything in the web is exposed, and the only way to keep information and useful data secured, is through a security system.
3: Trusting the wrong platform
Wordpress is a great hosting platform, no one is denying that, however, statistics don't lie, and as to this day, Wordpress is still one of the most insecure platforms on the internet.
This means, if you are thinking about having a huge, well created, heavy online platform, investing on a Wordpress platform surely isn't the right decision to make, as easy to use and install as Wordpress might be, it won't meet your security necessities.
Options like Drupal offer a much more secure site where you can build and create your platform, while integrating it and protecting it with a great security software.
4: Dismissing necessary security updates
We have all done this at some point: Ignore the security alert on our computers, not updating our own antivirus system, but doing this on your own laptop is one thing, and doing this when it comes to a online platform, is a very different one.
Continuing working with a software that hasn't been updated in a long time could lead to serious vulnerability issues, opening up the gates for hackers to enter and mess around with your website. Which is why it is essential for you to keep up with the security updates, specially if you have a CMS that doesn't automatically updates.
This point further proves that the need for a good CMS (like drupal) is paramount to have a website that is 100% secured all of the time.
5: Using insecure technologies
When we say "Insecure technologies" we are talking about all the free or suspicious plugins, themes and extensions that are currently available on the internet, even pay ones whose source isn't reliable or well known to the public. Basically, implementing any programs to help you run your platform that aren't completely trustworthy.
In the best scenario, you will only lose time by using these softwares, however, in the worst ones, you could end with a non-functional website due to the fact these themes and plugins usually come with malicious codes that can ruin your whole platform once you install them.
What you can do to stop your website getting hacked
If you have incurred in at least one of the mistakes said above, and you are wondering what you can possibly do to make everything better, don't worry, there's still hope. Luckily for you, stopping a hacker attack isn't as hard as people make it seem.
There are three main things you need to do to avoid getting hacked in the first place, and those are:
Defining your hosting platform correctly
Keeping up with updates
Invest in a good security system
If you don't know how to do this by your own, we have got you covered. Here in Rootstack we specialized on designing, creating and developing web pages that are up to date, easy to use and fully protected against hackers and online terrors.
First off, we are Drupal experts, we know how to create drupal-based websites that are completely functional, easy to manage and can be updated automatically without the need of anyone having to check on the software every other month.
Last, but definitely not least, investing on a good security control tool is a must, and goes hand-to-hand with your CMS, making sure everything is on check all of the time, and no data breach is happening, securing your website at all moments. Don't let the future of your website unprotected, and contact us right now to help you protect your webpage as soon as possible.
