The internet is a dynamic place.  And a weird one.  Not only are there constant changes wrought by software companies forever fixing and improving their products, and people like myself who muddle through and make mistakes along the way, but the information highway mimics society at large with its criminal element.

Security software is an absolute necessity for website owners and administrators because their are varmints out there in cyber country that fully intend to rustle every website they can lasso.  Bots, spiders, and other web critters roam about looking for weaknesses to exploit.  Brute force attacks are made using computers that try password combinations at lightning speed in hope of finding the key to the site before the security software shuts them out.

The West was not this wild!

But good security software, SSL/TLS connections that secure the connection to the server, login URLs not based on a default, usernames that are not easily guessed (NEVER use “admin”), and complex passwords that combine upper and lower case letters, numbers, and characters from the top line of your keyboard, i.e. !@# etc, help keep a site safe.  Two-factor authentication is also advisable for most sites, as well (requiring a phoned in or emailed code as well as your password).

Most hackers these days are not kids playing with computers or nutbars intent upon getting their political message out, but organized criminals after money. Nonetheless, if you take precautions, you may be able to withstand the assaults you can expect from roving rustlers and cyber spies of the wild world web.

How is your online security? Have you ever been hacked?

[Thanks to pixabay.com/Tumisu for the featured image.]