5 Devastating Impacts of a Website Hack
When you think about how to grow your business, what is the first thing you think about?
Many people think about advertising and promotions. Others think about search engine optimization, social media and the likes.
But there is something more fundamental that supports all of your other marketing efforts…
SECURITY.
I think of security as the foundation of the entire marketing effort.
Because no matter how much time and money you spend building your website, doing SEO, social media, email promotions, direct mail, etc, —- it can all quickly come crashing down with even a single security breach.
In this modern age, technology powers nearly every aspect of business. And all technology comes with some security risk.
It’s easy to believe that the risk is isolated to the particular business process it powers like payments, or emails.
Most business owners don’t realize the risk is actually much larger than just some broken software.
The full scope of the damage can not be repaired by simply replacing the compromised system.
Some effects of a hacking may severely impact your business income for years.
What can really happen if your website is hacked?
- Your website may go down, if your lucky. Even worse it can be defaced with embarrassing or illicit content.
- Hackers could install invisible malware and use your website for spreading spam, viruses and scamming people causing your website to get blacklisted as a potentially dangerous site.
- Google may completely remove your website and business listing from it’s search engine, killing your leads and sales.
- Customers may lose trust and turn to your competitors, especially if any of their personal data was compromised.
- It could take years to rebuild the momentum you had prior to the hack.
All this can add up to a devastating loss of income, particularly to small businesses who don’t have large security budgets.
Small Business Hacking Statistics
700,000
There were over 700,000 attacks against small businesses, totaling $2.8 billion in damages in 2020 alone.
51
51% of small businesses have no cybersecurity measures in place at all.
46% of all cyber breaches impact businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees.
36
36% of small businesses are “not at all concerned” about cyberattacks.
61
61% of SMBs were the target of a Cyberattack in 2021.
59
59% of small business owners with no cybersecurity measures in place believe their business is too small to be attacked.
47
47% of businesses with fewer than 50 employees have no cybersecurity budget.
653,587
95% of cybersecurity incidents at SMBs cost between $826 and $653,587.
Luckily there are some simple steps you can take to greatly reduce the chances of your website being hacked.
- Strengthen your website security
- Implement MFA/2FA whenever possible
- Use safe password practices.
- Use safe email practices.
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Request a security audit today and sleep easy tonight!