This morning I sat down to my computer planning to write a blog post and discovered that my website had been hacked. Not a good way to start the morning! A little research and a phone call to my hosting company resulted in a successful outcome. My site is being cleaned and I’ve installed some extra protections to prevent it happening again.
This situation reminded me that as business owners we really need to do a good risk assessment of our businesses on an annual basis to see where we might be lacking. I’ve had my website for 16 years and had never been hacked. I thought I was safe due to the hosting package I purchased and the plug-ins that I’d installed on my website. But somewhere along the line, I’d gotten lulled into security by a lack of bad things happening, so I hadn’t reevaluated my situation considering potential new threats.
There are so many areas where our businesses are open to risk and that we should be evaluating regularly:
- General Liability
- Workers Compensation
- Employment Practices
- Data Security
- Contracts & Agreements
- Finances
- Business Continuity
- And more
I have friends and colleagues who are insurance brokers, business and employment law attorneys, bankers, accountants and HR consultants. I appreciate their advice when they speak to the need for a little prevention to avoid a lot of pain. It’s true, as I found out (again) today.
Thankfully, my pain in this case was of short duration, and the fact that I’ve published (and you are reading) this blog post is proof that my website is back up and functioning properly again. Maybe today you’ll take a small step and review a risk factor in your business that’s been worrying you.
If I can be of help to point you in the right direction for your needs, I’m happy to talk with you. Here’s to your success!