You may have become aware since the update to the Chrome browser last year that your website now indicates to any visitors that it is ‘Not Secure’. Although your website is probably not an e-commerce site, security still matters. Did you know that 42% of people won’t browse an unsecured website? Or that almost half of all cyber attacks target small, unsecured websites?
You can protect yourself and your website visitors by making your website HTTPS instead of HTTP.
HTTPS is a way to encrypt information that you send between a browser and a web server and protects your users from ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks. Although people aren’t necessarily giving your website their credit card details, they are prospective patients and may feel uncomfortable contacting you through an unsecured site.
HTTPS has become much easier to implement in recent years and secure connections are becoming the standard for all websites.
PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM VIRUSES & MALWARE
All medical professionals in the UK are probably aware of the cyber attacks on the NHS computer systems that have taken place in recent years. Many NHS Trusts shut down their systems in a pre-emptive move just in case they got hacked and their data accessed or wiped. But did you know that it was out-of-date software which opened them up to a virus threat?
Viruses and malware incidents are only going to get worse as more devices and more complex websites are developed. Are you doing the best you can to protect yourself?
SYSTEMS
Most people now understand the importance of PC security and it’s almost certain you have some sort of antivirus software running on your desktop or laptop. If you don’t then I would urge you to do this today.
BACK-UP
If you can, back up your data off the computer. This can either be in the form of a key drive or a disk which you remove each day. At BHM Media, we use cloud-based systems such as Zoho, Dropbox and Google Docs. For a relatively low cost, these options keep your important data stored by a specialist company which includes easy access and also top-level security.
WEBSITE SECURITY
There have been huge developments in website capability over the years as more complicated functionality is needed to meet the requirements of the consumer.
A website now needs to work on a phone, a tablet, have a provision for news and updates, video, appointments and a whole host of features that meet the needs of your client. Whilst this functionality is welcome (and not that expensive compared to 10 years ago) it does mean that your site needs managing and updating.
A malware attack can destroy a website and can be very expensive to fix. To avoid malware make sure you have updated software and plug-ins to the latest versions and change your passwords from time to time. Also, ask your server company to provide regular back-ups and get them to check that your site isn’t on a shared server with other sites that are at risk.
Some malware is now so sophisticated that it can invade your website files without you even knowing you’ve been infected, causing your site to slow down or even be blacklisted on certain search engines. If that’s the case, then any money or time you’re spending on search engine optimisation is completely wasted.
If you’re worried that your site is infected then fill in your details on the contact form below or and we’ll check it free of charge.