3 Negative Impacts of a Vulnerable Website
Is your website 100% secure? If not, it could have serious negative consequences for both you and your customers. Like many business owners, you may not even realize that your site is vulnerable. Whether you have created the website yourself or hired somebody else to do it for you, mistakes could easily have been made that have left the site insecure.
So what problems could this cause you? Here are three common negative impacts you could be facing:
1. Negative legal implications:
The largest, and by far the most damaging, a problem that could come from a vulnerable website is the potential trouble you could get into with the law. For instance, if your website allows customers to make purchases through your website, you are required to ensure that your customers’ data is protected. If your website is vulnerable, it is easier for hackers to get in, steal information, and use it fraudulently.
2. Damage to your reputation:
Even if you manage to escape legal consequences, you still run the risk of seriously damaging your company’s reputation. A vulnerable website isn’t just open to hackers looking for personal information; it is also open to viruses. If a visitor gets a virus from your website, they will quickly spread the news and your reputation will suffer a serious hit.
3. Loss of business:
If your vulnerable site is hacked into, any damage will lead to a loss of business. Customers won’t feel safe shopping with you and as mentioned above, they will tell their friends and family. Word of mouth is a powerful advertiser. In this digital age, consumers have started writing reviews of their experiences with businesses, as well as taking to social media to vent their frustrations. So you can be sure if somebody has a bad experience due to a lack of website security, they will tell others and this, in turn, will cause you to lose a significant amount of revenue.
As you can see, website vulnerability is a big problem with potentially serious consequences. That’s why it is so important to make sure you are hiring a good, reliable web designer to create your site. They will know the best security encryptions to use and will be skilled in the very latest security technology. It is also important to keep updating your website with the latest security measures as hackers become more skilled at what they do as time goes on.
