
Website security
Why website security is important.
Whatever device you use you can still have your site hacked by dangerous viruses. Connecting to the internet is a two way street. It is a bit like putting your foot in an Amazonian river; it is beyond vast and is full of objects and organisms most of which co-exist peacefully in a happy marketplace of products and ideas. Some of these, however, are malevolent, trying to hook you into a never ending array of scams, of new ways to steal money.
Viruses and why you need to pay attention
A virus may be released on the internet and find weaknesses in a website’s security, inserting destructive and malevolent code in the system which may cause malfunctions in the system. Eg, it may take over your email facility and send fake emails out to your customers/visitors.
Whatever these viruses introduce into your system it will require paying a web techie significant money to firstly find it and then get rid of it. Security precautions are in some ways like car insurance except taking our car insurance does not affect whether you need it or not. You may never need it, but the action of changing passwords, installing anti-virus software, keeping a frequent eye on analytics, markedly reduces the likelihood of your site being invaded by viruses et.
A virus may insert fake advertising in your site, inserting via your comments portal advertising for drugs, including Viagra or other sex enhancing drugs that may appear anywhere on your site. This may ring alarm bells for your customers who may then leave and block your site, perhaps never to return, harming your google ranking and the ability for people to find you. In short, a PR nightmare.
A virus may also steal your customer’s data including their passwords if they use the same passwords whenever they log in to new site.
Sometimes a virus can create openings in your site’s defence, and insert pages on your site from a third party without you knowing it happened or that it even exists. Pages containing material such as adult and child pornography, sex trafficking and slavery images, can appear on your site, and you are liable for the legal consequences for having this content on your site. In the worst instances it is the virtual equivalent of someone taking over a room in your house to cook drugs in.