Infected Websites: How Bad Can It Be

Infected Websites: How bad can it be?

Here are the top reasons for having a website:

1. Information Dissemination
2. Personal Biography
3. Marketing your business
4. Online shopping

Let's have a look at sample scenario:

Your new and shiny website is ready and goes online to serve your goals. You are enjoying every activity involved in building up your online presence like sharing information, marketing your business, serving your online shoppers and much more. Until your site got infected.

Everything that you are doing has now been halted. What does that mean?

It means for some, it is a major catastrophe, especially if you are earning money from your website.

We have prepared a list of potential risks of getting your site infected:

1. You cannot inform your site visitors of some announcements that you have. A good example is a Government website. Government websites have many announcements like the schedule of activities and processes or even a simple "out of the office" memos. If the site got beaten up by infection then the site goes down, then your visitors will most likely go to the office, where they will get frustrated.
2. If you are a prominent individual and have fans that look up to you, they are very keen on knowing you of course. The infection is hindering the potential visitors to your site, decreasing their chance of becoming your fans.
3. If you are marketing your business using a website, then how does it feel if someone took away the billboards, newspapers, magazines, and any form of physical advertising? What will happen to your business then? You will just rely on word of mouth(WOM), and that is very much like the old times. It has been proven many times - having an online presence is essential for the marketability of any business.
4. A significant percentage of buyers don't want to wait in line or don't even have the time to go to a physical store then. And this means a loss of potential sales for you. Loss of sales is a huge problem for any business. You might want to consider having a second option.

Other scenarios that can destroy your site's reputation on the internet:

1. Your site got infected and modified the content causing misleading information.
2. Your site is redirecting to other locations. It could be your competitor.
3. Site visitors are getting infected with other malware such as adware, unwanted software or worst - a ransomware.
4. E-Commerce requires the online transaction, but if your site is not secure, your online shoppers can get their identity stolen and that includes their credit card information. Cyber criminals can use it for their profit, including identity theft.

So what can we do to prevent this?

There are a lot of ways to protect your site. We have listed below some of the basics:

1. Ensure security awareness among your employees. It is better to have them educated about the risks of maintaining a website.
2. Backup of your site regularly and keep it clean.
3. Keep your software up to date so that any disclosed vulnerabilities will be ineffective.
4. Change your credentials frequently.
5. Having a fail safe page for your site just in case it goes down will surely put your business in a safe position with regards to malware propagation.

My website is already infected. What can I do now?

1. If you have the know-how, you can always restore from backup.
2. Trace the logs to know what parts of your site can be improved and protected
3. We are here to help to keep your mind at ease and your business protected 24/7.

Your website is infected with the malware and/or blacklisted?

For other issues and help: Quttera's help-desk