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Tag: website security

How a Hacked Website Can Impact your Business

Your website is your company’s primary asset in the digital age, and the last thing you want to happen is to wake up one day with a hacked one.

With the sudden shift in consumer behavior and increased use of online channels brought about by the pandemic, many businesses are now understanding the importance of having a website to pivot their business in the digital age.

While this is a good start to kick-off your digital presence, many are still neglecting a key element – website security.  This is especially common among small businesses as we tend to focus more on big companies and enterprises whose websites have been hacked before.

But did you know that small business websites are also at risk of getting their websites hacked too? In fact, according to a Verizon 2019 report, 43% of cyberattacks are aimed towards small businesses.

That is why as business owners, it is important to understand the possible impacts of a hacked website to your business, and what you can do to secure your website.

What will happen if your website’s hacked?

Your website is at risk of the following consequences if it gets hacked:

  1. Personal or financial data loss

Most hackers are after these things – personal and financial information. Cybercriminals fish for sensitive information (like your credit card information) often to sell it or use it for themselves.

  1. Slowed Down Website

It is also common for cybercriminals to hack into websites to store and run files on your server. This often leads to a slowed-down website, which can later affect your SEO ranking, as Google’s algorithm takes website speed into account in ranking pages.

  1. You will probably lose your customer’s trust too

No customer would like to hear or see their trusted brand’s website get hacked. Your hacked website not only puts your information at risk, but it also risks having your customer information stolen for can be used by cybercriminals for identity theft.

Additionally, you get possibly be held accountable for stolen customer data, and most customers will probably not be confident to visit your website anymore.

 

What can you do to make your website more secure?

  1. Make sure to get an SSL Certificate

A trusted website should be equipped with an SSL Certificate. This is essential for ALL websites, as it ensures that the data shared between your website and visitors are safe, encrypted, and secured from potential hackers or intruders.

  1. Choose a trusted Web Hosting Provider

The type of hosting you choose for your website can help determine your website’s security. It is important to know how well your hosting provider can protect your website from possible cyberattacks, and how they can respond to hacking incidents when it happens.

 

Conclusion

Website hacking is a real threat to businesses in the digital age. With this, keeping your website secure should be a priority for all businesses to ensure that your company and your client’s information are always safe.

Looking for the right web hosting partner for your business? Check out our website hosting services at iManila.

With over 20 years in the industry, iManila is one of the most trusted web hosting companies in the Philippines. Whether you are looking for a domain, security, or hosting solutions, contact us and we’d be glad to help!

Google Chrome to Block Websites that are “Not Secure”

Last October, Google announced that its famous browser, Google Chrome will no longer be accepting the legacy versions of TLS (Transport Layer Security) 1.0 and 1.1, the cryptographic protocol used to encrypt transmissions between browsers and website servers. This year, the Google Chrome team has once again notified website owners that a new warning will appear while browsing.

Image from 9to5Google

 

When Google Chrome 81 debuts in March of this year, in the lead-up, Google will start displaying a full-page interstitial warning, “Your connection to this site is not fully secured” to the left of the address box to users that will try to access a site protected by outdated security protocols such as Chrome 79. Though this blockage plan isn’t on the run yet, the Chrome team has already started alerting users about this major update as this could cause major effects on user’s browsing activities and may expose user’s information sent to the site.

Chris Thompson of Google Chrome’s Security Team wrote recently, “We’re announcing a pre-removal phase in which we’ll introduce a gentler warning UI [user interface] and previewing the UI that we’ll use to block TLS 1.0 and 1.1 in Chrome 81.”

 

Image from 9to5Google

With this, Google encourages site administrators to update TLS legacy version 1.2 which was released over a decade ago, ahead of the TLS warnings. On the bright side, site administrators can still re-enable TLS 1.0 or 1.1 and disable the warning using the SSLVersionMin but only until January 2021, Google said.

Is your website ready for the new Google Chrome updates? Research shows that Google Chrome is one of the most used browsers not just in the Philippines but also in parts of Asia, Europe, and the US. Don’t scare away your visitors with a website that is not secure. We can help install your SSL in a matter of hours. Get in touch with our Sales Team through our trunkline at +632 3490 0000 or drop us an email at [email protected]. #iManila #WebsiteSecurity #SSL

Why do you need an SSL Certificate?

 

The demand for data security these days is increasing as e-commerce sites and social media networks continue to grow at faster rate. You cannot go online completely without having to log in your important details and credentials. From as simple as subscribing to a webinar to as confidential as online shopping and e-banking, a netizen has to log in their credentials. This particular setup has online phishers and hackers drooling.

For some users, sharing information is not a big deal. However, there is a huge portion of the global community who take these matters seriously as incidents of identity theft and malicious activities have gone on the rise.

On the other hand, businesses and organizations who ask for personal information from their users must protect their user’s information by securing their website against online theft. And this challenges most of the online sellers and e-commerce sites regardless of the extent of their daily online transactions. And that is what SSL addresses – data encryption.

What is SSL?

According to GlobalSign.com, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates are small data files that digitally bind a cryptographic (secretly written) key to an organization’s details. When installed on a web server, it activates the padlock and the https protocol like this:  2017-03-09_105446 and allows secure connections from a web server to a browser.

Different Levels of SSL Validation

Secure Socket Layer certificates vary depending on the level of encryption needed to be implemented on the website. And there are some trust indicators that you can see in the address bar of the browser about SSL certificate of a certain website:

Standard SSLs are classified into two:

 – Domain Validation SLL:

Domain Validation is the basic form of SSL certification which automatically signals the browser that the connection between the server and the browser is secured using SSL certificate, thus a change in the standard HTTP to HTTPS.

EXAMPLE:           2017-03-10_131942    Domain-validation

– Organization Validation SSL:

The organizational SSL Validation is a high assurance SSL certificate that provides instant identity confirmation of the organization owning the website and a stronger SSL protection. It activates a green browser padlock and HTTPS. When you click on the trust indicator padlock, it will reveal the corporate or organization identity of the website owner.

EXAMPLE: Organizational-Validation-Incapsula

Extended validation is the highest level of data encryption of the three. This activates both the padlock, “https” and the green address bar in all major web browsers.

EXAMPLE:  imanila-extended-validation

 

Why do you need to get SSL now?

In line with their mission to promote secured browsing and responsible data protection, Google just recently updated their Chrome browser with a security feature that flags unsecured websites. Yes, you heard that right!

Have you noticed the left-most part of your address bar that indicates whether a site is safe or not? That is exactly what the update is all about. So imagine yourself as a business owner with an unsecured website. Every time audience goes to your website and sees no trust indicator, all your marketing efforts will go to waste.

Why? Because your business bottom-line – which is conversion – is not fulfilled.

iManila-Talk-To-Us-CTA

Firefox also moved towards a safer online browsing

It was just a few months back when Google updated their Chrome with security plug-in that flags websites that are not secured. This time, Firefox moved forward with the same goal – to promote a safer online browsing.

Firefox will display a gray lock icon with a red strike-through in the address bar when a login page you’re viewing does not have a secure connection. This is to inform you that if you enter your password it could be stolen by eavesdroppers and attackers.

This is a new feature that is available starting in Firefox version 51. Starting in Firefox version 52, you will also see a warning message when you click inside the login box to enter a username or password.

 

Don’t wait for that moment

Don’t wait for the updates to completely roll-out before moving to HTTPS. The right time to secure your website and your users is now. iManila offers a wide range of web security from SSL Certification (HTTPS) to Malware removal.

SSL (secure socket layer) is all about website security. Give your clients more reason to trust your brand online with iManila’s SSL certifications. With this standard security technology, you’ll be able to provide your market the guarantee they need to feel secure about any transaction they make on your website.

Remember, security is all about trust, and trust means business.

Secure your the website now with iManila. Contact us to learn more.