What happens after you've been hacked?

We hear about websites, email accounts and cloud information being hacked everyday.  What should you do if this happens? Firstly, you should take a good look at who your providers are and change to one that is more secure. There is no reason why your website should be hacked at all.

For this reason, I only use the Morphogine Cloud platform, which, ("touch wood") has never been hacked and is policed daily using an advanced software program to check for rogue code and hacking attempts. All my clients use this platform for this reason.

So where does that leave you? Recently a local Charlotte web design and hosting company was so badly hacked that it left 100's of its clients without websites for days.

1. Change your passwords REGULARLY. Like every 3 months at least. And have a complicated one. There are useful sites that can manage your passwords so you don't have to keep remembering what they are.

2. Try and avoid using free email addresses like gmail, yahoo, aol etc. They are the most vulnerable. Use a URL that is linked to your website and make sure that the host of the URL is secure and checked regularly. Also using a free account for business is not recommended. If you can't be tracked to your company, it just doesn't look very good from a credibility point of view. All hackers and scammers have these email addresses for this reason.

Do your homework and research the history of the company you place your business with. Being offline for even a few hours can be devastating to your business, not to mention your search capabilities. If your email address is also hosted by them - even worse damage can occur if you clients can't get hold of you!

Here are some useful tips to help you through a nightmare experience if you suspect someone has stolen your credit card info that is stored on many websites and in your purchase history:

1. Place an initial fraud alert with ONE of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. (The bureau you notify, will advise the others.) With an alert on your file, a business will have to verify your identity before approving any credit card purchases. This alert is free and stays on your file for 90 days.

2. Order a full Credit Report. With a fraud alert in place you will be entitled to one free report from each of the 3 bureaus.  If you have had a credit card account hacked, contact the company by certified mail immediately. And call them up too.

3. File an Identity Theft Report with the FTC and print it out to use for your Identity Theft Affidavit to file a police report. Go file a Police Report. This is useful when you want to remove fraudulent information from your credit report.

And lastly, take control of your online life and business, before someone else doe sit for you!