Major IT Risks That Can Affect Websites In 2018 (…Along With The Solutions!) The previous year saw a number of undesirable instances where the smart hackers used high-end tools and techniques to steal precious data and blackmail the businesses of all sizes- right from start-ups to high-end MNCs. The havoc created by malware like Petya and Ransomware made even the business giants “WannaCry”- pun loosely intended! In the year 2018, the hackers have graduated to the new heights. In AI the hackers have found a new friend that is perfectly capable to assist them in enhancing the volume and impact of their hacking attempts. Besides the increasing use of WiFi and IoT has significantly increased the number of entry points for the hackers to access the sensitive information and key data of the internet users. Right from your hosting panel till the sensitive customer’s data that is saved in your database, most of the vital information is at the radar of the hackers. Let us know the major security risks that can affect the websites and internet users in the year 2018: Implications for the companies/websites However, it is not only the customers who are at the risk but the companies holding the customers’ data also have much to worry. If you are running an e-commerce or other websites that collect customer’s data then it is mandatory for you to secure the data using the best security standards. In any unpleasant case of data-stealing, you can be sued by the affected parties and a fine f 4% of your total turnover can be slapped by the law as per the GDPR regulations. AI takes the hackers’ capabilities to the next level AI is highly popular among various enterprises due to their sophisticated capabilities. Unfortunately, the hackers have also started using Ai in order to enhance their malicious capabilities. For example, BEC or business Employee Compromise utilizes the machine learning capabilities that facilitates extracting the vital business data by mailing the employees in a “smart way” so that they can reveal the key business information ad may even send company’s funds into hackers account. The social engineering techniques are used by BEC where AI uses its competent capabilities to single out the vulnerable employees and make them a tool to get quick funds. More importantly, these things happen in the dark web- the publicly inaccessible dark portion of the internet that is a haven for the malicious elements ranging from drug paddlers to hardcore criminals. That means we will not be able to know about the latest development in this field until or unless the hackers have already been succeeded in their attempts. The professional networks like LinkedIn are used by these hackers to get the professional profiles of different employees while the sites like Facebook help to identify the “usable” personal vulnerabilities of the employees. What is the remedy? As we have already talked discussed a great deal about the security vulnerabilities of 201, the next natural question that arises is “How can I remain safe from these attacks?” SO here are a few tips that can help you remain safe from these attacks: Used updated software versions Make sure that the software t you are using should be updated to the latest standards. Especially, the people that are using legacy software need to be epically careful on this front. Seriously follow the developers’ guidelines Every software comes with specific software developers’ guidelines where the users are told about the best practices for maximum application protection. Follow them religiously. Also, ensure that you should be receiving regular communication from the software producer regarding any updates or relevant key information. New security patches are the major reason for introducing the new version. In other words, if you haven’t adopted the new version then your security could be at the risk, Adopt HTTPS Even the best efforts cannot guarantee a 100% leakage protection due to the ever-increasing capabilities of the hackers. So, you should also make sure that during the instances of hacking the harm should be minimized. Using encryption can be the best way to minimize the risk. Enable Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or better go for TLS or Transport Layer Security. The major advantage of the latter is that it adds one more layer of protection to secure encrypted communication by dividing it between 2 servers. The key advantage of this feature is that even if some smart hacker is able to compromise and decipher encrypted data they will have only the partial access to the data that will tightly limit their capabilities. You can use them (TLS and SSL) with HTTPS. Use efficient intrusion prevention tools In order to fully protect the security of your apps, you can use Intrusion prevention tools. Plesk or cPanel can be used to enable these tools. .htaccess can offer you a good protection Once the hackers have succeeded in accessing your database there isn’t anything that you can do. So the major aim should be to block them from accessing your database/admin area. One of the easiest yet most effective ways of doing so is to use the .htaccess file with proper instructions for stopping directory searching or file access to the unauthorized entities. Make it a regular practice to backup your data Make sure that you are able to have an easy access to the key data even if all the security measures fail. Backup the data on a regular basis and make sure that you have an easy access to the data whenever you require. So, whether your data is hacked or stolen you can still have an access to the major volume of your data. Bonus Tips Keep the OS of your device updated as per the latest version to ensure that you enjoy the maximum security against the latest attacks Avoid visiting the site that isn’t secured. You can easily recognize such sites by their URL. Such unprotected websites have the URL starting with Http while the URLs of secured sites start with HTTPS Prefer safer options for connecting like VPN Regularly check your Antivirus software to ensure that you are using the latest, most competent version.]]>
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