Will Your Web Hosting Company Become a Target of a Cyber Attack?
📅 - It seems like a new hacking is reported just about every week. Cyber attacks are becoming regular news in the United States and all over the world. As we become more dependent on technology, it's vital to remain protected. Is your hosting company a possible target of a cyber attack?
No Company is Immune
It doesn't matter if the company has been around for decades or just started yesterday, no company is immune to a cyber attack. Web hosting companies could be a target of cyber attacks in the future. Some have already been targeted.
While there are some steps you can take to limit the threat of an attack, nobody is immune. If you use a type of technology allowing you to access your device from an outside source, you are at least a little bit at risk of the effects of a cyber attack.
Hitting Close to Home
Many attacks have already hit close to home, such as:
Target Attack of 2013
Primera Blue Cross Attack in 2015
Sony Pictures Attack in 2014
Staples Attack in 2014
Home Depot Attack in 2014
JPMorgan Chase Attack in 2014
And Many More!
While these may not be hosting companies, the attacks do hit very close to home. Some of these attacks exposed millions of consumers, including personal information, such as bank accounts and credit card numbers.
Along with these attacks, many celebrities have had racy pictures leaked. If celebrities and large corporations can be attacked, even though they use a high level of security to protect privacy, what's stopping hackers from going after hosting companies?
How do Cyber Attacks Happen?
After taking so many steps to secure a hosting company, the question may come up, “how did they hack our system?” Even with regular server monitoring, it's possible for a cyber attack to happen without any detection. Cyber criminals always seem to be one step ahead of the security measures and there's always a new way for hackers to get in.
Hackers may start by getting into someone's computer. From there, they may be able to access the information they need to plant malware on your server. This may spread like an infection and may cause major issues.
How Much will a Cyber Attack Cost?
If a cyber attack happens to a hosting company, it may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. McAffee has estimated the global cost of cyber crime at more than $300 billion. It's a very lucrative business for the criminals and very costly for the victims.
How to Protect Your Company from an Attack
It's important to be proactive when protecting your company against cyber attacks. There are steps you can take to make it very difficult on hackers.
If you allow banner ads, thoroughly research the advertisers before you allow their ads on your site. This will help you to weed out any malicious advertisement. You can also protect your company from malicious HTML by scanning the code regularly and using SSH or SFTP for uploading anything new to your site.
Hosting companies should also provide protection for their users, such as DDoS protection, firewalls and virus-scanning software. Of course your personal computer should also be protected and all servers should have regular scans done.
Taking a proactive approach can certainly limit the chances of cyber attacks. However, nobody is immune and hackers may target web hosting companies in the future.
No Company is Immune
It doesn't matter if the company has been around for decades or just started yesterday, no company is immune to a cyber attack. Web hosting companies could be a target of cyber attacks in the future. Some have already been targeted.
While there are some steps you can take to limit the threat of an attack, nobody is immune. If you use a type of technology allowing you to access your device from an outside source, you are at least a little bit at risk of the effects of a cyber attack.
Hitting Close to Home
Many attacks have already hit close to home, such as:
Target Attack of 2013
Primera Blue Cross Attack in 2015
Sony Pictures Attack in 2014
Staples Attack in 2014
Home Depot Attack in 2014
JPMorgan Chase Attack in 2014
And Many More!
While these may not be hosting companies, the attacks do hit very close to home. Some of these attacks exposed millions of consumers, including personal information, such as bank accounts and credit card numbers.
Along with these attacks, many celebrities have had racy pictures leaked. If celebrities and large corporations can be attacked, even though they use a high level of security to protect privacy, what's stopping hackers from going after hosting companies?
How do Cyber Attacks Happen?
After taking so many steps to secure a hosting company, the question may come up, “how did they hack our system?” Even with regular server monitoring, it's possible for a cyber attack to happen without any detection. Cyber criminals always seem to be one step ahead of the security measures and there's always a new way for hackers to get in.
Hackers may start by getting into someone's computer. From there, they may be able to access the information they need to plant malware on your server. This may spread like an infection and may cause major issues.
How Much will a Cyber Attack Cost?
If a cyber attack happens to a hosting company, it may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. McAffee has estimated the global cost of cyber crime at more than $300 billion. It's a very lucrative business for the criminals and very costly for the victims.
How to Protect Your Company from an Attack
It's important to be proactive when protecting your company against cyber attacks. There are steps you can take to make it very difficult on hackers.
If you allow banner ads, thoroughly research the advertisers before you allow their ads on your site. This will help you to weed out any malicious advertisement. You can also protect your company from malicious HTML by scanning the code regularly and using SSH or SFTP for uploading anything new to your site.
Hosting companies should also provide protection for their users, such as DDoS protection, firewalls and virus-scanning software. Of course your personal computer should also be protected and all servers should have regular scans done.
Taking a proactive approach can certainly limit the chances of cyber attacks. However, nobody is immune and hackers may target web hosting companies in the future.
Reads: 865 | Category: General | Source: TheHN : The Hosting News
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