02 February 2007, 19:45 PM
  • Hacking specialist, Encryption Ltd, is urging small business owners to be aware of the threats from malicious hackers, and to make sure their web designers take adequate steps to secure their website.

“The sort of ‘open doors’ that a web developer can unintentionally give to a malicious hacker often include placing details on the web site that would allow a hacker to find valuable information,” warns Tony McDowell, director of Encription.
Mr McDowell also listed other common mistakes by web designers, including hosting the web site on a server that is not secure, leaving comments in the web site program that tell the hacker how the site works, or using passwords that are easy to guess.
“Unbelievably, the average hacker can crack a four digit password in less than five minutes,” continued McDowell.
According to Encription, many small businesses looking for a web designer often choose the cheapest option and do not ask basic questions about website security.
Encription has urged any small business planning to launch a website in 2007 to ask the following questions when choosing a website designer. Do you know what code injection is and how to prevent it? Have you had your web hosting security tested? Is your password policy a minimum of eight characters mixed upper and lower case, numbers and letters? Do you ‘clean’ your code when you have finished building a site? Do you hash passwords in databases?