Could Your Website Pose a National Security Risk?

Most webmasters secure data and sites in to protect themselves and their visitors from abuse.

Most security efforts have a practical purpose.

But it comes down to more: could your server be hijacked and used for serious attacks?

Phishing Risks

Your server, once compromised, can easily be used to host content that’s part of a phishing scam.

Attackers upload fake sites to a hidden folder on your server and redirect innocent users to those pages.

Important passwords can be compromised, leading to breaches both in corporations and government branches.

Data Warehouses

Similar to phishing, a hacker places illegal data on your server.

Hackers do this to distribute illegal content anonymously.

Depending on the data, your site could be shut down by law enforcement while they investigate the issue.

Malware

Servers can be used for the spread of malware. This can be done through malware embedded in advertising, or site hacks.

The infections that result can spread very quickly. And since these infections can hit government and corporate machines the same as personal ones, these infections can do a great deal of damage to security on a much broader scale.

DDOS

Web servers are sometimes used as part of botnets.

A server is a perfect bot: it has a high-speed, always-on connection with lots of upstream bandwidth and usually isn’t being closely monitored.

These DDOS attacks often target government and corporate sites.

Middle Man

Most hackers use someone else’s computer to do their dirty work.

Web servers are often a natural choice for this kind of attack as they tend to be Linux-based.

Computers that are compromised in this way are used to attack a wide variety of targets, from PCs to major government organisations.

Is It Likely?

Given how tempting a target your server is, focus on security and make sure that your site is as locked down as possible. It’s good practice to get into this habit, regardless of risk.

Making yourself a tougher target is critical to ensuring that it’s not your site and your server that gets unwittingly drafted into a cyberwar.