The Learning Center

If you pay attention to the news, you know that Russian hackers recently stole 1.2 billion username and password combinations.

Many of the stolen accounts were GoDaddy login credentials, resulting in loss of domain names and other detrimental situations.

In the Nashville area, one of the notable hacking victims was the East Nashville Farmer’s Market. As noted by the Tennesseean, the website domain pointed to a blank white screen instead of the home page. The domain was also moved to a registrar in India, eliminating control over the domain.

Hold Security, which discovered and reported the enormous data breach by Russian hackers, stated that over 4.5 billion records were taken from FTP and websites. The breach affected websites ranging from small, personal websites to large entities.

How was it so easy for the hackers to retrieve this massive amount of information? The answer is quite simple.

What username and password combination do you use for your email account? Your social media accounts? How about your online banking applications? If they are all the same, you’ve answered your own question.

As creatures of habit, we rarely change our username and password combinations. Yet, we continue to use the exact same credentials across online platforms. Once any hacker has your combination, good luck.

Make Sure Your Website is Secure

As a website owner or administrator, what security methods do you have in place? If you answered “none”, have fun trying to restore your website once hacked.

Now more than ever, website security needs to be your priority.

We recommend implementing the following security tips:

Enact difficult login credentials. Never use your name, your phone number or any other common details for your username or password. If you use password123 as your password, you deserve to get hacked.

Understand how your hosting company operates. Do they perform regular backups of your website? Are they available to help you through the process? What are they accountable for if your website gets hacked? You need to know these details before sitting on hold for 4 hours when your website gets hacked.

If available, have multiple login steps. I highly doubt the hacker will know your mother’s favorite flavor of ice cream or the street you lived on in the 4th grade. Some services also offer phone verifications and other steps.

Research your options. From security plugins and other products designed to protect your website, you have options when it comes to website security.

Trust the professional. Instead of building a website yourself, let a trained professional create the site. They will make sure your website is secure.

But Why Should I Care About Website Security?

If you personally own a website, you need website security.

Since your business has a website, you definitely need website security.

When your business website is hacked, you will lose money. Whether directly from your online store or indirectly through lost potential leads, a hacked website is incredibly detrimental to your business and profits.

Imagine just how much money you would lose out on if your website was hacked or down for a single day. For some businesses, that number is insanely high.

In addition, there goes your ability to raise awareness about your business online. All those back links you built across the World Wide Web all now lead to a hacked website. 

Trust me, between losing money and diminishing the reputation, having your website hacked is the last thing you want.

In fact, we personally know small businesses that have unfortunately lost control of their website due to bored hackers with nothing better to do. What’s worse is that many of these hackers just do it for fun and the ‘credit’.

How Do I Know My Website Was Hacked?

Aside from having extreme difficulty logging in, editing or accessing your website, a hacked website will appear entirely different from the original design. Many hackers enjoy not only taking over your website, but putting their personal symbol or logo right on your homepage. Check out a recent example:

This image was placed over all of the homepage files, thus eliminating any possibility of accessing the original website design, navigation, and content.

Convinced? Recently hacked? Don’t panic.

Titan Web Marketing Solutions wants to keep your website secure with SiteLock. Call us today to learn more. 877.935.3796.