SiteUptime Blog Team

We know. It’s a scary world out there.

It seems like every step you take can be uncertain and so can every move you make on the internet.

Every day you hear about how important it is to protect your personal information from identity theft or your business’ sensitive information.

We’ve already told you about the 8 Essential Cybersecurity Tools Your Business Needs. But do you know exactly what your business is defending itself from?

It’s okay, we’ll get through this together!

Come along as we go through the 13 cyber security terms that everyone should know.

Black Hat Hackers

When you think of hacking, in the classic terms, you are probably thinking of black hat hackers.

Wirey eyed tech pirates in dark rooms scrolling through information on their multiple computer screens looking for ways to crack your security codes in order to hold your personal information hostage.

Hollywood has been churning out movies about them for years. Even by name!

These hackers are the easiest to put a face on since they are proactively looking for ways to break through your cybersecurity to cause serious damage.

White Hat Hackers

On the other side of the spectrum, there are White Hat Hackers.

Think of them as the white blood cells of Cybersecurity. They hack into company’s systems to find out if there are ways they could be vulnerable to a cyber attack.

The importance of these noble hackers has increased more and more as businesses try to protect their information.

And some of them are rewarded handsomely as Kim Zetter reported to Wired “white hats can earn good money—anywhere from $500 to more than $100,000—by selling information about a vulnerability to companies that have bug bounty programs.”

It takes a hacker to know one and knowing the difference between these cybersecurity terms will help you to hire the right one if you ever need someone on your side.

Authentication

Out of all of the cybersecurity terms, this one relates most directly to you.

This is the step your security system goes through to correctly identify that the person accessing your information is actually allowed to see it.

This process is normally done through you choosing your own specific password or even by thumbprint or retina scan.

Encryption

Encryption relates to the protection of anything that you send to someone.

Whether it’s a video you have taken, photos of your newborn or just a silly cat meme, your computer codes this information so the person you are sharing it with is the only person who can access it.

This is what hackers are trying to break into in order to find sensitive information bank account numbers or social security numbers. This information is personal, and that’s why there has been a

This information is personal, and that’s why there has been a debate lately as to what constitutes as being private on your computer.

Botnet

This cybersecurity term refers to a network of computers that have been uploaded with malicious programs in order work around the clock to try and crack security codes.

These “bots” are also referred to as “zombies” since, you know, they are lifeless things that are trying to break through your security (eat your brains).

Brute Force Attack

This attack refers to either black hat hackers or botnets random attempts at guessing a business’s or an individual’s passwords.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)

This type of cyber attack is the most common tactic that black hat hackers use to shut down a company’s web presence.

They incorporate multiple users and hosts to bombard a website with requests that freeze it and shut it down for a period of time.

These attacks have been happening on a large scale lately and have some of the world’s cybersecurity specialists worried.

Malware

Malware is “malicious software” that infects your computer or device in order to extract information and cripple its functions in order to hold you and your device ransom.

It can be installed on your device through bogus spam promotions found on the web or sent to you through email so be wary of anything that seems too good to be true or not legit!

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

Advanced Persistent Threats, or APTs, are attacks performed on a large scale usually by malware that has been installed in secret to topple a network or system over time.

These are possibly the scariest of all cyber attacks. As Forbes described them  “oftentimes, the hacking groups behind high-profile mega breaches are more organized, better funded, better staffed and more experienced than the security teams of their targets”

Phishing

Phishing is when a hacker poses as a service provider and tries to get you to provide your username and password to your company’s login or to access your personal information.

Spoofing

We wish we could tell you that spoofing is a whimsical and funny as it’s normal definition. But alas, it is not.

Spoofing is when a hacker changes the IP address of an email to seem like it is coming from a different place than it actually is.

This is done in order to gain your trust so that you can offer up information you normally would not.

Man in the Middle Attack (MitM Attack)

Man in the Middle Attack’s is usually performed when a hacker is able to get ahold of your information by breaking through your WiFi’s encryption and snagging your personal messages.

So make sure you change your password to something other than “abc123”.

Darknet

Darknet is the scary outer region of the internet where most the illegal and evil things take place.

It’s an unpoliced section that is basically the internet’s black market for drugs, guns, and a resource for black hat hackers to find hacking software and leads from other hackers on sensitive information.

It’s a scary corner of the net and is crucial to understand when it comes to your cybersecurity.

There You Have it – the 13 cybersecurity terms that everyone should know – Now You will Never Feel Like you are Out of the Loop Again!

With knowing the terminology and the tools to implement to secure your business you will never have to worry about the threats lurking in the deep dark corners of the web.

If you have any questions regarding other cybersecurity terms you may come across, feel free to get in touch with us through out contact page and we will break it all down for you.

Stay safe out there!

Web security has never been more important.

It seems like we can’t go a week without hearing about some major corporation suffering a cyber attack. Every day, we receive Facebook friend requests from people on our friends’ lists who have been hacked.

You can’t even turn on the news these days without hearing about federal investigations into whether or not foreign agents are hacking elections.

The threat of cyber attack is real, whether you’re a major corporation, an independent contractor, or a small business with a Facebook Page.

But, there are security measures you can take to keep your online information safe.

1. Stay vigilant against Phishing

Have you ever gotten an email from a relative or a Facebook message from a friend with a suspicious link? It probably had some sort of luring comment attached, like “where did they get this picture of you?”

Or maybe you’ve received an email from your internet service provider asking you to provide your password for some maintenance on your account.

You may have even received a phone call from someone claiming to be the IRS.

Chances are good that this is a phishing scheme. Hackers pose as a trusted company or individual in order to gain access to private information, and sometimes even financial assets.

If you know what to look for, phishing attacks are a mere nuisance, but thanks to more vulnerable users, phishing is going to stick around for a while.

As a general rule of thumb, always avoid suspicious links, no matter who it’s coming from.

2. Keep better track of your passwords

Let’s be honest: despite all the warnings to use a different password for every account, we’re all using the same password all across the internet.

After all, these days we have dozens of accounts: social media, email, Netflix…sometimes even our TV has a password. How are we supposed to keep track of all these unique passwords?

There’s an easy solution for that. Instead of a notebook in your desk drawer, download a password manager.

A password manager automatically creates unique passwords across all of your accounts and stores them so you don’t have to. No more fumbling through variations of that one password you use for everything.

On the off chance, one of your passwords is cracked, the rest of your accounts are safe. A password manager is the easiest way to keeping all of your proverbial eggs in different proverbial baskets.

3. Be smart with your Cloud Storage

The Cloud is everywhere. More and more people are preferring public cloud storage to other storage means.

And why not? It’s convenient, fast, and cheaper than buying another external hard drive.

But as helpful as the cloud can be, there are also glaring vulnerabilities. For all of their security, iCloud and Google Drive still expect users to take responsibility for their own security measures.

Make sure you keep a local backup of all of your cloud data. Nothing is completely foolproof.

Several companies also offer encrypted cloud services. Encryption can make all the difference in your cloud security.

If you’d prefer a service without encryption, you can encrypt your own data before uploading it to the cloud, and even add further password protection to access your data.

4. Don’t skimp on security measures.

A good anti-virus program is one of the most important security measures, but too often people take it for granted.

While you’re browsing the internet for memes, your anti-virus is picking off malware like it’s playing Asteroids.

But with anti-virus software, like most things, you get what you pay for.

It can be tempting to skimp out in preference of a free service but think about what would happen if you lost your data to a malware attack.

Can you afford not to protect your data?

Premium anti-virus software is powered by skilled professionals who work tirelessly to ensure that their customers receive the most effective protection possible.

5. Be aware of your Network Attack Surfaces

The term “network attack surfaces” refers to the sum of weak points a cyber attacker can use to steal our data. As our networks increase in size and complexity, our potential network attack surfaces increase.

Every device, connection point, or data storage increases network attack surfaces.

Minimize your vulnerability by closing unnecessary ports and keeping your access restricted to trusted users.

6. The new threat: Ransomware

As we’ve said before, Ransomware has been on the rise, and it doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.

Ransomware is a newer method of hacking, and it’s proved very lucrative for hackers.

Ransomware bypass weak security measures and secretly steals data from a user’s device, deletes the data, and forces the user to pay a fee to get their data back. Many hospitals, schools, police departments, and businesses have already fallen victim to ransomware.

But, there are several security measures you can use to protect against ransomware.

Backup all of your data all of the time. Hackers can’t steal your data if you have the data safe in another device.

Despite the sophistication of ransomware attacks, a lot of them start with a simple phishing scheme. Remember: never click on suspicious links, even if you think the sender can be trusted.

7. Backup, backup, backup

It should go without saying, but you need to backup your data. No server is fool proof.

If you rely on a cloud service to save all your data, or if you keep all of your files on a single laptop, you’re only a few malfunctions away from losing everything.

To make a secure backup, load copies of all your files onto a device without internet access. External hard drives have never been cheaper, and many of them can be password protected for extra security.

Conclusion

The internet has its fair share of predators lurking in the shadows, but with a little caution and some extra diligence, you can create a strategy for website security measures that will keep your website and your data safe from cyber attacks and server crashes.

SiteUptime provides monitoring locations across the globe for testing the functionality of your website from different points on the map.

With multiple locations and a team of skilled professionals, SiteUptime can ensure that your website doesn’t fall prey to the most common security risks.

Visit our FAQ page for more details.

Cybercrime is on the rise, putting us and our customers at risk of serious harm.

Last year, in the healthcare industry alone, nearly 250 million critical records were stolen through cyber attacks.

Banking information, Customer data, Personal health information and much more are all at risk.

Let’s look at how HTTPS site security is making the Internet safer.

What is HTTPS?

The familiar “HTTP” that heads our web addresses stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

This is simply the universally agreed upon coding on which the Internet is built.

When an “S” follows the “HTTP” this means that site is secure.

But the S itself isn’t what’s making the site secure, so let’s look a little closer.

HTTPS websites have been issued an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that will be used to help verify the authenticity of the website.

SSL is now part of a more comprehensive security protocol called Transport Layer Security or TLS, but it’s still commonly referred to as an SSL certificate by many web design and web hosting companies.

This TSL works to maximize site security.

The Risks HTTPS Seeks to Address

Symantec a respected internet security research and security organization recently released a report outlining many of the risks.

Despite increased talk in the news about hacking from foreign governments, the US appears to originate more cyber attacks than any other country.

China comes in a distant second.

The healthcare sector faces an uphill battle as it works to make medical records accessible to medical providers, insurance companies, and patients while still complying with regulations.

HIPAA, the law that protects the privacy of medical information imposes stiff penalties for mishandled medical information, and yet 1/2 billion personal information records were reported stolen or lost last year.

39% of that number have been determined to be the result of malicious data site security breaches.

Ransomware usage in on the rise. In these cases, a user inadvertently triggers the download of a virus that hijacks the computer or a network making it completely inaccessible by the business until a ransom is paid.

Hackers use various techniques to compromise your computer and access your data. HTTPS works to reduce these risks.

How HTTPS Is Improving Site Security

We buy online. We bank online. We meet people online. We share our lives online, expecting information to be safe or at least restricted to that site. If you’re running a business site, your customers trust you to keep their information safe.

Fortunately, we’ve gone from around 23% of websites are using SSL Certificates (HTTPS) to secure their sites to over half of sites incorporating site security technology.

That’s good for business and good for people. Let’s look at some specific ways that it accomplishes this task.

Site Verification

The TSL (described above) verifies that the site you loaded is actually the site you were trying to load rather than an imposter.

For example, when you’re banking online, you may need to enter your bank account, credit card number, ID number or other personal information.

You must trust that you’re on the right site.

If you were trying to pull up Twitter, Amazon or eBay, someone with nefarious intentions could pretend to be the site in order to acquire your username and password to hijack your account. HTTPS prevents this.

Intercept Prevention

Each time you enter information onto a website, that data is transferred through the server to reach its destination.

Data in transit is always at risk of being intercepted by someone who wished you harm.

The TSL encrypts all data being transferred between you and the site. Encryption is the act of changing any data that you entered onto a website into a ‘secret code” called ciphertext.

If anyone were to intercept it, it would appear as complete gibberish.

What if you were logging into your Google Adwords account and someone intercepted your username and password?

This person could use your account without your permission and if your credit card were linked to it, charge it all to you. How much damage could they do before you figured it out?

Fortunately, HTTPS prevents that through TSL.

Modification Prevention

Because they can’t read it, they also can’t change it.

Imagine if when you were sending a tweet, someone could simply change what you said or attach a different video or image.

What if someone could completely rewrite your email as it traveled through cyberspace to its destination.

As much as we might like to be able to say that’s what happened when we say something stupid, fortunately, it’s not possible because of TSL encryption.

Privacy Protections

HTTPS also prevents your ISP (internet service provider) or the government from tracking what you’re doing.

If they so choose, they can see your browsing history, but they can’t see beyond the site level.

If for example, you’re on Amazon, they can see that you visited Amazon. But they cannot see what you searched for, what’s in your cart, purchase history or any other information that would be far over-reaching without a warrant.

How to Know if You’re Safe

When you’re on an HTTPS site, the web address will appear in green with a padlock beside it.

This tells you that you’re safe while on this site.

HTTPS can’t, however, keep you safe if you use the same username and password on a regular HTTP site and your HTTPS site.

Those with malicious intent can simply get your password from the unprotected site and log into your HTTPS site. Never use your high-security HTTPS password on a low-security HTTP site.

Limitations of the HTTPS

Mobile Apps

We now share as much data through mobile apps as we do through our Internet browsers.

The good news is that most reputable apps that require you to enter data that could be compromised using similar secure, encrypted connections.

The limitation at this time comes in the fact, that you can’t always tell which ones do and which do not.

Bandwidth

HTTPS websites require additional bandwidth. They can take longer to load. Because of this some sites that are hesitant to jump on board.

It’s not Perfect

No security measure can prevent 100% of attacks. But HTTPS certainly makes it a lot harder for the “bad guys” to target an HTTPS site’s customers vs. an HTTP site.

Stopping Cybercriminals in Their Tracks

HTTPS helps you keep your customer data safe. It’s not perfect, but you certainly don’t want to be without it.

If you’re transferring critical customer data, make sure your site is HTTPS. Send cyber criminals looking elsewhere for victims of their cyber crimes.

To learn more about how to keep customer data safe and your site running as it should, reach out.

Cyber attacks on websites jumped 32 percent in 2016 compared to 2015 according to Google’s latest website security report.

But the bad news gets worse.

Google predicts the growth in the number of hacked sites is going to become a trend. Their experts are willing to bet that percentage will grow every year.

Why?

Hackers spend their time aggressively searching for every possible vulnerability in a site. As websites are updated, hackers step up their own game.

They’re effectively playing a long game of cat and mouse with your business.

So in light of this news and in case you haven’t read up on hacking and internet threats in a while, here’s a quick primer to help you understand Google’s report:

The Most Common Hacks

“Hacking” is a general term so over-used it is effectively meaningless.

In this case, a hack is an attack, but it is not a single kind of attack.

According to Google, hacked sites might be a website afflicted with user-generated spam. Cloaked images, keyword stuff, redirects, or poisonous links also throw a website into the category of hacked sites.

Essentially, Google looks for anything spammy about a site and puts it on a watch list.

This stuff may sound benign to the average person, but it isn’t.

It’s akin to cancer for your code.

For example, you’ve spotted the gibberish hack when you come upon a page filled with nonsensical words and phrases – normally keywords to boost the site on Google’s search ranking.

Google also lists the cloaked keywords hack as a prominent method.

This hack is more difficult to spot because the pages sometimes look like the original template. But, if you look closely, you can see words, images, or links that don’t belong.

In both cases, the unwanted content is hiding something malicious.

When you try to visit the page, the link redirects somewhere else. Often a pornography site, but sometimes more nefarious pages.

Why Have They Come for YOU?

Hackers have various motives when they go after websites.

While we can’t pretend to be in the minds of the anonymous attackers hiding behind their keyboards, some motivations are easy to discern.

If your site is privy to sensitive customer information, it holds valuable data for attackers. Credit card numbers, PII, and passwords are a mighty bounty for hackers.

Hacktivism is often spurred by political motives. Depending on your site, you might be hacked to send a social or political message.

Example: the Ashley Madison hacks in 2015 were the work of vigilantes.

Your business or website may not provide a platform for people to cheat on their spouses. But generally speaking, most businesses have enemies, even if those enemies are simply anarchists or anti-capitalists looking to take down the whole system.

Deploying malware is another common goal of hacking. By breaking into your website, the hacker can spread malware, which can mutate and spread further to achieve whatever aim was programmed into it.

The most concerning hacker incentive is fun. Some hackers simply want to vandalize your site because they can. There is no other reason. These hackers are hard to predict, which means you must be vigilant.

Mounting a Defense

You can’t prevent attacks, but you can prevent their success.

Google and any security company worth their weight in salt advocates taking preventative measures in securing your site.

Identifying vulnerabilities on your website is essential for closing the gaps and eliminating the holes hackers use to take over your site.

Google also recommends paying attention to announcements and updates provided by software and hardware vendors and any Content Management Systems.

Those updates often provide fixes for any backdoors identified by their own security teams.

You can also run a vulnerability scan on your site for a more thorough screening.

A vulnerability scan is not an antivirus scan. While antivirus looks for viruses and malware only, vulnerability scans cast the net wider while simultaneously diving deeper.

These scans will tell you about:

• Weak passwords
• Permissive coding (which lets hackers in)
• Out of date software
• Viruses hiding in admin system

When you can identify your website’s weaknesses, you’re better able to build up your defenses precisely where they’re needed.

Checking for Domain Name System (DNS) threats is also important and DNS monitoring is essential. As we told you in a previous post, DNS attacks have increased by more than 200%.

A good website monitoring service is also helpful. Website monitoring checks up on your site more often than you ever could (every 2 minutes from different locations) to make sure your site is up and running.

Having a site monitoring system in place is an effective preventative tool because if your site goes down, you’ll know immediately. No need to wait until you’re flooded with emails concerned.

Register Your Site with Google’s Search Console

Google isn’t able to warn every customer about their hacked sites. Google’s report noted “61% of webmasters who were hacked never received a notification from Google.”

Google isn’t doing this to be the bad guy – they rely on webmasters to verify their sites through Search Console to better be able to get in touch with them.

Registering your site with the Google Search Console is a simple and effective security measure with tangible benefits.

As Google says, “84% [of] webmasters who do apply for reconsideration are successful in cleaning their sites.”

Hacked Sites: The Bottom Line

Hacked sites can not only be taken down by hackers, but they often need to be removed to be cleaned on their own as well.

This is a huge deal for your company.

Industry surveys suggest an average loss of $5,600 per minute when a hacked site goes down.

After 60 minutes, the average to a business is over $300k.

That figure doesn’t include the time and resources required to fix your site.

The bottom line is no one can fully protect your site from being attacked. But you can change what happens after your site is targeted and to keep your website up and running.

The number of hacked sites will continue to grow over the next few years. Your site may be one of them.

What does your company plan to do to protect your website? Let us know in the comments.

Many business owners ignore the dangers of cyber attacks.

There is a belief, especially among small business owners, that a business can be too small to be a target of cyber attacks.

The truth is that big companies already know the importance of cyber attacks, so their security walls are almost impenetrable. On the other hand, small businesses are the perfect target.

Hackers know that most business owners don’t put a lot of thought into their online security. They also know that these owners don’t want to invest many resources in it either.

This is why the selection process for small business web hosting is so important. You should not only focus on the price but also inquire about the security benefits that come with it.

We created a short list of tactics that will help you keep your business safe.

Create a stronger password

Perhaps you heard this tip before—but for a good reason.
Creating a strong password is the first step that you should take to strengthen the security of your businesses.

A stronger password might discourage the hacker, or even stop him altogether.
If you have issues with remembering strong passwords, don’t worry. There are many password management tools to choose from.

Also, no matter how strong your password is, never connect to the internet using a public wi-fi network.

Some hackers create a second wireless network that resembles the original in the name. When someone connects to it, all the data used can be easily stolen.

Change your password more often

There are small business web hosting services that recommend changing your password regularly.

This slows down cyber attacks even more.

If you feel tempted to keep all your passwords in an unsecured document, you’re at risk. As recommended above, use only password management tools for this purpose.

Online security tactics

There are a number of ways in which you can increase the security of your online business.

Most strategies are easy to implement and only require a little bit of research on your side.

These can involve choosing a reliable small business web hosting company and eCommerce platform, and using a strong firewall.

Choose your e-commerce platform wisely

If you’re the owner of an online store, you know the risks you’re exposing yourself and you clients to in case of a cyber attack.

A secure e-commerce platform not only saves your business, but it keeps you away from legal issues as well.

Your clients could sue you if a hacker steals their personal information from your website.
Most people use WordPress and Woocommerce to host their e-commerce stores. They do this because these platforms are easy to install and are among the most secure and reliable.

They do this because these platforms are easy to install and are among the most secure and reliable.

Scammy emails

Many business owners receive emails from hackers who use the logo from well-known institutions. These emails attempt to evoke fear and urgency while asking for personal information.

For example, you may receive an email that seems to look like a PayPal customer sent it. In this email, it may ask you to send over your passwords and other details.

Tactics like these also include malicious attachments.
Never click on random files, and report suspicious activity to the authorities.

No respectable company will ever ask for your password and other personal information.

Security layers

Using firewalls, applications, and login pop up can slow down or discourage cyber attacks.

The more steps you add, the harder it is for an application-level attack to be effective.

This also helps you figure out if an actual human is on your website completing forms, or if it’s an application trying to imitate human behavior.

Hire a third party to discover security breaches

If you want to be sure that your firewalls and other security applications are doing their job, hire a security company.

A security company will try to “attack” your company while trying to find out what your site’s weaknesses are.

After they discover the weak spots, they will recommend a solution for your issues.

How small business web hosting services can protect you

Small business web hosting services usually come with a layer of security.

High-quality web hosting services aren’t free, nor do they allow open access.

These web hosting services make money from advertising on your website and are free to use. However, most of them attract hackers who create websites with malicious content.

Usually, small business web hosting services that are secure check for viruses in published content.

Most web hosting companies offer firewalls

Remember how we discussed the importance of purchasing a firewall?

Most web hosting companies offer a firewall that can protect you from cyber attacks too.

The purpose of the firewall is to ban IP addresses that are, as well as block unsecured servers.

Block executable commands

You’re probably familiar with “check if you’re human” button, or “find the photos with trees”. These type of applications help businesses weed out the humans from malicious applications.

A high-quality hosting company does offer these option to ensure the security of your website.

Malicious code

You should monitor your website for malicious code.
Now, most small business web hosting companies have the option to alert the website owner if the website is down, or if there are some security issues.

This can prove to be really useful since the website owner can work on changing the passwords and call his web security team to analyze the situation.

Also, small business hosting companies usually backup all the data on your website. In the case of a cyber attack, you won’t lose everything on your website.

Wrapping up

A lot of small business owners aren’t aware of the dangers that they expose themselves to by not investing in the security of their websites.

Small businesses are the favorite targets of hackers because they’re the most vulnerable.

If you want to find out more about how you can increase your website security, don’t hesitate to take a look at our blog.

If you have any questions or concerns that aren’t already discussed on our blog, make sure you contact us.

Every business needs cybersecurity.

No matter how big your business is, or what industry you’re in, no one is immune to attacks. And if you aren’t secure, then these attacks can be incredibly damaging.

You need to know how to protect your business. If you want to succeed in business, you need to stay safe.

That’s why we’re giving you these eight cybersecurity tools.

Train your employees

The first step in cybersecurity is making sure you know what you’re up against.

In this case, “you” is actually your business. And for your business to be prepared, each and every one of your employees needs to be, as well.

That’s why you need to train them. Once you gather all of the cybersecurity tools that you need, put a plan into writing. Make sure your employees know it and can reference it easily. Offer classes.

Make sure that you give training on cybersecurity regularly. It will probably change frequently, and multiple classes will help your employees remember and retain things.

Cyber Aces offers some free cybersecurity courses to get you started.

Use SSL on all pages

“SSL” is the secure https:// that most websites use when they need to be secured.

You might be using SSL on your shop and contact page. But experts agree that you should actually be using SSL on all pages.

This will help your website be more secure because your users will have a constantly encrypted connection.

This is one of the easiest cybersecurity tools to obtain, but it’s one that a lot of companies overlook or only do halfway.

If you’re only using SSL on some of your sites, then you aren’t as secure as you need to be.

Our standard plan allows you to set up and monitor SSL servers for only $10 a month.

Monitor your website

It’s important to keep informed.

Eventually, there will probably be an attack (or at least an attempt) on your site. And if you aren’t keeping an eye on it, you’ll never know when it happens.

That’s why it’s so important to monitor your site. You need to have a professional service that regularly checks up on your site and keeps you notified when it is accessed.

You should be reading these reports and alerts carefully so that you know how often you are being targeted.

Even if the attack fails, one of the most important cyber security tools is knowing about it.

Our free plan offers monitoring every hour, while our standard and pro plans offer monitoring even more regularly for your safety.

Keep alerted

One of the most important cybersecurity tools is knowing what’s happening on your website.

When your website is checked, you should want to know. When something crashes or glitches, you should be made aware of it.

Even a simple mistake can become a security threat if you don’t know it’s there. Keep up with regular alerts and notifications.

Whatever you can get from your site, you should take the time to go over and check, to make sure there’s no unwanted business or anything else strange going on.

This will ensure that things stay safe and secure.

Our free plan offers email alerts and monthly reports, making sure that you always know what’s going on with your business.

Require authentication

It may seem like a bit of a hassle, especially if you have a lot of employees that need to use your servers.

But requiring authentication will keep out unwanted users, and make your information that much harder to breach. Even seemingly harmless information can be used against you in the wrong hands.

So while taking the easier route may seem tempting, it can ultimately cause more of a hassle for you in the long run when you have to deal with a crisis.

If you aren’t using authentication, you’re an easy target. You need to start doing so immediately.

Our standard and pro plans both offer you the option to require authentication.

Change passwords often

This is something you should hold all of your employees responsible for.

The best passwords are unexpected. They contain special characters, are case sensitive, and are mixed together with numbers and letters.

But what really strengthens a password is this: not keeping it the same for long.

While some experts claim that changing passwords doesn’t do much good, that’s only because people are not very creative. In other words, no, changing your password from “secret” to “secret1” isn’t great.

But if you encourage your employees to radically change their passwords regularly, these new passwords can be very important cybersecurity tools.

This service will regularly remind users to change their passwords.

Backup data to a secure location

Cybersecurity tools can only get you so far if your computers crash.

That’s why it’s important to back up your information to a secure cloud or something similar, to make sure that if the worst happens, you’ll be prepared.

If your data is particularly sensitive, you might find yourself in a position where you have to shut down everything to protect it. And if that happens, you’ll want to easily be able to recover anything you lost during that time.

For this reason, it’s important to have something that automatically backs up to a secure location, for you to access when you need it.

Carbonite offers backup solutions which allow you to back up your information directly to the cloud.

Know where failures come from

Sometimes, a system failure just comes from a glitch. But sometimes, it’s something more sinister.

That’s why it’s important to have something that traces any failures on your website. This will help you to stay on top of any potential threats.

It will also help to give you peace of mind, so that you know exactly what’s going on with your website. It’s one of those cybersecurity tools that serves multiple purposes.

Make sure you know what’s happening, and who you can hold accountable for failures. Keep an eye on them with a tracing service of some kind.

Our failure traceroute is offered in our pro plan for only $20 a month, and it will allow you to keep an eye on your information.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity tools?

In addition to providing you with the best cybersecurity that we can, we also want to keep you up to date on the latest information.

Check out our blog to learn more about how to use cybersecurity for your business.