Page 87 - Cyber Warnings

How a Cyber Attack Could Kill Your Website Permanently

by Phillip Adcock, Managing Director, Shopping Behaviour Xplained Ltd

Shopping online has become the standard way to do things. But with many shoppers wary of
online services, site owners should be aware that there are serious consequences for sites that
have been hacked.

With it becoming easier and easier to have your identity stolen, shoppers are becoming hyper-
cautious, with many people afraid to bank online due to security fears. In addition, Google has
stiff penalties for hacked sites with consequences that can be hard to reverse.

Younger generations are the most likely to use online services, with 65% of millennials using
their phones to shop online. As well as being more technologically savvy, they often work long
hours. The convenience of not having to shop in-store and instead have products delivered is
attractive, with many choosing to shop online over physical stores.

But as well as being quick to adopt online services, they are quick to jump ship if the site is
having security issues, especially if the site has been hacked. This, in combination with
Google’s policy of delisting sites with security issues, means that you need to pay a lot of
attention to your online security.

Loss of Customer Trust: The Short-Term Effects of a Hack or Data Breach

Hackers like to make their work obvious to the site owner and visitors, leaving a signature of
some kind. And even when they don’t, they often leave behind malicious code which is visible to
Google.

If you are hacked, many customers will leave you out of fear for their own online privacy,
whether their information was leaked or not. It’s little wonder, as a hacked site is inherently
unsafe. It may bombard your customers with ads or even steal their payment information. The
recent hack of TalkTalk led to a loss of 101,000 customers.

But what happens in the long term after a breach?

The Long-Term Effects
You might think that once the malicious code is removed, your site can return to its former
ranking and reliability. But it’s more than likely that the hacking activity will have been noticed by
search engines. Google is quick to penalise suspicious activity, with penalties including having

87 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine November 2016 Edition
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