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How Website Security Can Impact Your Business

In the modern digital age, cybersecurity is becoming a top priority. The main reason is that online security threats and cyber attacks have evolved to be more sophisticated and more common than ever before. Nowadays, anyone can easily become a target and without proper cybersecurity, the consequences of such attacks can be catastrophic. Major industry players in the field of technology and security are pushing towards a more secure web, especially since the online world is progressing towards more connectivity.

However, many online businesses are still disregarding and neglecting cybersecurity as one of the most important business aspects. Many smaller to medium-sized companies believe they can fly under the radar because they’re not big enough or important enough to draw the attention of cybercriminals. This is a major mistake, because cyber attacks target any company, regardless of their size, wealth or reputation. Here’s how website security can impact your business.

The importance of cybersecurity

With such omnipresence of the Internet in everyday lives of both consumers and business owners, the threat of being targeted for a cyber attack has never been greater. Nowadays, hackers can easily manipulate unaware victims into scams, which leads to data breaches, identity theft and more. Businesses, in particular, are vulnerable, especially since a lot of them don’t have proper security measures in place. Hackers target businesses in order to steal sensitive information about customers or to bring down an entire network.

In addition, businesses who fall victim to cyber attacks are not the only ones who suffer the consequences, but their customers, acquaintances and B2B partners do too. In fact, 43% of cyber attacks happen to small businesses and 60% of small business never recover from a cyber attack. That’s why it’s of the utmost importance to focus on cybersecurity and implement proper security measures that will not only protect businesses but their customers as well.

Cybersecurity concerns

Modern online consumers are generally well aware of threats that lurk on the Internet. Their tech-savvy mindset helps them tread lightly when browsing the net and choosing which online company to do business with. Still, search engines, such as Google, are empowering browsers to alert customers if a website is not secured. If your business website doesn’t have proper cybersecurity measures, website visitors and customers will be notified immediately.

That said, unsecured websites will start to drastically lose momentum on search engines, which means loss of sales, customers, and profits. As a matter of fact, Google announced that they’ll treat security as a ranking factor back in 2014. Today, websites without SSL (Secure Socket Layer) are penalized on Google. You can read more about SSL and its importance as a ranking factor in this article, written by an SEO company from New York.

Negative implications for your business

Aside from being directly exposed to cyber attacks and all the harm they can cause, due to a lack of proper cybersecurity, there can be even more negative implications for your business. Unsecured websites will suffer ranking penalties on search engines. That means they will be pushed further down the search results, even with a good search engine optimization strategy.

In addition, there’s also a possibility that Google will further penalize businesses in their keyword rankings, due to a lack of security, even more than they do now. Also, your website will experience increased bounce rates and very low website traffic, as visitors will be alerted to the lack of security measures. This can have a major impact on your business reputation, as fewer consumers will want to do business with your company.

Keeping up with security trends

Businesses that haven’t implemented security measures yet must do so as soon as possible. That way, they’ll not only be able to prevent cyber attacks and protect themselves, but also protect their customers and business acquaintances. Furthermore, aside from ensuring that your website has an HTTPS protocol with an SSL certificate, it’s also important to have other security measures in place.

For example, anti-virus, anti-malware, and anti-phishing software is a must. What’s more, businesses, such as e-commerce stores, that store customers’ sensitive information, such as credit or debit card information, must implement measures to properly secure that data and protect it from harm. All these security activities are meant to make the Internet a safer place for both online consumers and various businesses that operate in the online world.

Cybersecurity is a major concern in the digital world. With so many potential threats online, it’s imperative that consumers and businesses alike have means of protecting themselves. Without cyber security in place, businesses are not only at risk of being targeted by hackers but also at risk of losing business because they neglected to implement proper security.

Nate Vickery
Nate Vickeryhttps://bizzmarkblog.com/
NATE Vickery is a business technology expert mostly focused on future trends applicable to SMB and startup marketing and management processes. He has also been blogging in the past few years about before mentioned topics on various leading sites and communities. In the little free time left, Nate edits a business oriented website - Bizzmarkblog.com

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