Hacking has become a more realistic problem as the number of companies victim to hacking attempts has spiked within the last year.
Earlier this week, America got to witness first-hand two less serious and more entertaining hacks on the company Twitter accounts of Burger King and Jeep. Although these hacks do not seem directly harmful to the success and well-being of these huge companies, it does affect their brands.
Both the Burger King and Jeep Twitter accounts gained several thousand followers as word spread quickly about the ridiculous tweets being posted from their accounts. At the end of the day after the hacked account was under control, Burger King tweeted, “Interesting day here at Burger King, but we’re back! Welcome to our new followers. Hope you all stick around!” Getting hacked is a major problem, but in this case, Burger King was happy about the outcome of so many new followers to market to.
But in terms of a small business or a startup company, there will be no branding benefits to getting hacked. Chances are slim that you would gain thousands of followers on Twitter or gain social media and news coverage of your business that isn’t yet as well-known as Burger King and Jeep.
Looking back, the American banks hacking attempts come to mind. Thankfully, banking systems are much better protected than Twitter accounts, or America could be in ruins. Imagine that your bank was one attacked in the hacking attempts, and the hackers broke through and found a treasure of money, social security numbers, and other important information. Would you ever trust that bank with your money again? I’m going to bet your answer is “no.”
On top of the stress it would cause you and your company, getting hacked could greatly decrease your flow of customers and definitely leave your brand scarred with doubt. Customers will forever be wary of whether or not they can trust you to hold and keep their valuable information and products.
Even more embarrassing…
Jeep published a blog post titled “9 Tips for Better Social Media Security” a mere 15 minutes before their own Twitter was hacked. The Burger King hacking scandal was the main reference point of this post, complete with puns and everything. Quite comical, if you ask me.
Here are a few posts where you can find helpful information and tips on how to prevent your website from being hacked and to prevent your brand from being scarred.
Simple Ways to Avoid Being Hacked
How to Prevent Your Website from Being Hacked (prevalent to WordPress)
14 Ways to Prevent Your WordPress Blog from Being Hacked
Feel free to visit the link to Jeep’s 9 Tips for Better Social Media Security, although I’m not sure how helpful they will be.
You may also want to check out Paul’s blog post, A Beginner’s Guide to SSL Certificates, on Buckeye’s blog to learn the basics of website security.
