"Hacking into my website? It'll never happen to me"

When was the last time you gave any consideration to the security of your website? Not worried? Then can you answer the following 3 questions?

1. Who hosts your website?
2. How is your website backed up?
3. If your website is not available, how long is it before it starts to impact your business?

If you don't know, or you're begining to get a gnawing feeling of unease, you might want to give the slightly boring issue of website security a second thought.

Andrew Henning, MD at Redweb, the south's leading digital agency, takes website security extremely seriously. "So do our clients." states Henning.

"Neither the Identity and Passport service (IPS) or the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) can afford to have public data in the wrong hands, nor Norwich Union or Principality have customer financial transaction information exposed. Myself and my team are committed to ensuring website security and contingency plans are a given."

He adds 'We are the one of the few digital agencies to have attained the Information Security Management System ISO:27001 and Quality Management System ISO:9001:2000. You might say 'so what?' but part of that entails us being audited quarterly on our contingency planning for every client. That's a serious investment on our clients' behalf.'

Security is something most companies either take for granted or give no thought to until that dreadful day when something goes wrong.

Examples of potential security breaches include intentional malicious attacks against the server or website - this could even be from your staff, or accidental breaches such as unauthorized logins. Both of these can lead to loss or theft of data, website corruption or server downtime.

So act now, prevention is better than a potentially damaging and expensive cure!

Your company check list:

• Check your back up procedure is adequate
• Check your server access and account privileges
• Check your firewall configuration
• Check the quality of your website code