Prevent Hackers From Breaking Your Code

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

MSN Live is now trying to convince us that you are in danger of being hacked and malicious software downloaded onto your website for your visitors to be attacked. Is that possible? Yes. But I don’t agree with the way that MSN Live is handling this.

First, it should be noted that MSN was the victim of web hacker last year. As a result, the search engine no longer reports inbound links to your website (or anyone else’s for that matter). Meanwhile, Yahoo! and Google seem to have web security down pretty good. And so should you.

The scare tactics that MSN is using to convince searchers that they have a handle on the hacker and malicious code problem just plain stinks. You can see it in action right here.

First, I disagree with the disabling of the links. Google doesn’t do that and manages to warn searchers of potenital malware issues. Why can’t MSN?

While it is possible for your website to be hacked and malicious software downloaded, it is not likely unless you have significant traffic numbers or you leave glaring holes in your security. And it doesn’t take much to maintain website security. Just be sure you are doing the following:

• DON’T let executable files sit on your server for long periods of time
• Change your passwords from time to time
• Use firewalls and anti-virus software on your computers
• Update your software, CMS, blogs, and other Netware every time an update is offered
• Web-based software with build-in security features are better than home-grown or open source
• Password protect your important folders
• Use your CGI bin
• Put an index.html file in all of your server folders
• Use log 404 files
• Audit your security every now and then

Website security is as important as anything else you do online. Don’t rely on chance.