When your website blows up.

14 Apr When your website blows up.

Yesterday’s big DDOS (Denial of Service) attack at GoDaddy left the social media streams abuzz with activity.  Most of it negative and directed at GoDaddy, which is rather pointless, but it goes to prove that if GoDaddy can get attacked – and Sony and the government hacked even with their multi-million dollar infrastructures – so can you.

Most smaller companies deploy a new website and put absolutely no effort into thinking about what happens when something goes wrong.  In NONE of the website inquiries I have had in the last 18 months did a single business initially ask if the site would be backed up, how that would happen, where it happens, what security features will be installed, or what happens if something goes wrong.  Not one inquired about an ongoing maintenance contract after the site goes live.

So, what will happen to your business when your website goes down?

The reality is that your website needs constant care and feeding after it’s deployed.  If your site is built on WordPress you need to take care.  It’s an open source platform meaning the code is accessible to anyone who wants it.  Everyone is developing for it and hackers are constantly trying to find security flaws and loopholes in it.  Your site will probably have many additional plugins and extensions on it, adding to the complexity of the site and it’s security.

Who is going to monitor this for you?  Do you have a plan in place to make sure your site is as secure as it can be?  What’s your disaster recovery plan should the site be breached?

If you don’t have one, be prepared.  Aside from the opportunity cost of downtime, you will need to find somebody who will help you urgently, and it will be expensive if you don’t have a contract with them and they are unfamiliar with your business/implementation.  Will you be able to answer their questions about your own site?  Do you have a backup?

Don’t “set it and forget it”.  Invest in a maintenance contract with the people who have installed your website.  If you plan as if your site is going to be breached and plan accordingly, that in itself will minimize the chances that something bad will happen.  In the end, it will save you.

If you don’t know what to do should your website go down, then give us a call.  We can help review your implementation and put together a plan that will help mitigate risk moving forward.

Too much is riding on your site.  Protect it today.  Give us a call 978-791-0006.