How Has Online Security Developed?

Thankfully, the majority of internet users are now far more clued up when it comes to protecting themselves against virus-spreading techniques such as these. Nowadays the email would be regarded as the most basic of phishing scams and even those who were fooled would probably be warned against opening the attachment by their anti-virus software.

However, it would appear that there is still a lot more that businesses could and should be doing to protect themselves against the actions of cyber-criminals.

The recent hacks of huge firms like Sony, Citibank and MI6 have proved that cyber-criminals are becoming more intelligent.

Malware

The ILOVEYOU email virus was the first high-profile example of a financially-motivated attack on computers.

However, there are now thousands of organised cyber-crime groups across the world hoping to make a profit by infiltrating computer networks and installing malware on vulnerable websites.

For this reason, it has become essential for business websites to protect themselves against the threat of being hacked.

Those who employ the services of specialist web hosting companies should hopefully be offered an array of services with their data centre package to help them do just that.

A lot of high-quality web hosts will offer to complete frequent vulnerability scans of a website to ensure that there is no way for a hacker to access it. Others will manage and monitor a website's firewall to make sure for certain that no malicious activity takes place within their domain.

Using intrusion detection software, a number of web hosting companies will even be able to put an end to any malicious activities which do occur in record time.

Phishing

Phishing scams have only got more complex since ILOVEYOU rocked the world back in 2000 and this has led to web users being a lot more cautious about which websites they give their personal details to.

It is generally recommended to only disclose personal information on websites with secure connections, meaning that it is now crucial for all e-commerce websites to obtain an SSL certificate. This certificate confirms to customers to an online business is genuine and any web host worth its salt should be able to provide its customers with one.

Distributed Denial of Service

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can also create headaches for e-commerce business owners by restricting public access to a website and potentially costing a firm huge amounts in lost revenue.

DDoS attacks have certainly become more prominent since the turn of the century and are often the weapon of choice for the growing amount of politically-motivated hacktivists surfacing on the web.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK Home Office, and the CIA are amongst the companies that have been foiled by DDoS attacks in recent times but businesses can help protect themselves using the DDoS shield software that some web hosts provide for their customers.

The online world might be better prepared for the threat of cyber-crime, but there are still plenty of businesses could be doing to protect their business from becoming a victim of internet hackers.

Thankfully, many are utilising the security services of high-quality web hosts in order to make the internet a safer place.

PEER 1 Hosting operates 18 state-of-the art data centres in 13 cities across North America and Europe, and 22 network points of presence (PoPs) to suit your needs in Managed Hosting, Colocation and Cloud Hosting. The highly secure, redundant IT infrastructure of our data centres protect your servers and web presence, and ensures you are running online, all of the time.
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