If you’ve seen what’s trending on the Internet lately, you’ve more than likely heard of a family of security bugs known as “Shellshock” or “Bashdoor”, which can allow hackers to run programs on other people’s computers, giving them access to personal information and full control over the machine. Many Internet daemons, such as web servers, use Bash to process certain commands, allowing an attacker to cause vulnerable versions of Bash to execute arbitrary commands.
The bug was found in the software “Bash” on September 24, 2014. By September 25, 2014, botnets based on computers compromised with the bug were being used by attackers for distributed denial-of-service attacks and vulnerability scanning. Millions of attacks and probes related to the bug were recorded by security companies in the days following the disclosure.
Why are so many IT specialists concerned about this bug? Well, the vulnerable software is built into more than 70 percent of machines that connect to the Internet. It is typically only used by programmers and shouldn’t be open to the wider world, but this virus has changed that. Shellshock poses the biggest threat to web and email servers but could affect the personal devices of Mac users. And one of the most shocking aspects of shellshock, no pun intended, is that it took 22 years for it to be discovered. The National Institute of Standards and Technology said the vulnerability was a 10 out of 10 in terms of severity, impact, and exploitability, but low in complexity meaning it could easily be used by hackers. The bug could potentially be used to compromise millions of servers and other systems, and it has been compared to the Heartbleed bug in its severity.
Within just a matter of days, there have been 17,400 attacks noted on more than 1,800 web domains, originating from 400 unique IP addresses. Two days ago, the website performance firm Cloudflare said it was tracking approximately 1.5 million attacks and probes per day related to the bug.
What does this mean for YOU?
The more presence your business has online, the more you’re at risk for attracting hackers. Humans only generate 49% of online traffic, so you really can’t be sure who is visiting your website. Using a cheap website platform and hosting solution is putting your online business presence at a large risk of becoming compromised. With more people and companies leveraging the Internet for commerce and information-sharing, security must become a priority for your company.
Mediaura Secure Hosting is the best-managed cloud-hosting provider in the Midwest. We’ve built our own virtual private cloud with enterprise-level hardware and cutting edge technology for hosting both websites and mobile applications.
If your website is down, your brand, identity, and consumer confidence are all negatively affected.
Let Mediaura Keep You Secure
With over two billion people accessing the Internet from all over the world, protecting your digital investment from the unforeseen is now more important than ever.
What makes Mediaura’s hosting solutions better than the competition? Simply put, our dedication to speed, security, and customer support is second-to-none. What most people don’t understand, is the reason why secure website hosting needs to exist in the first place – and that’s because the internet for all its convenience is also home to more nefarious characters. We’ve touched on this topic before; but the truth is, as more businesses develop an online presence they are running the risk of attracting hackers. Some hackers simply do it because they can, while others are looking to compromise the security of both your business and your clients. This can be anything from personal information, emails, credit card information, banking details, customer details, etc.
If you think you know who is visiting your website, you may need to think again.
Cheap, budget website platforms and hosting solutions may seem attractive at first, but those savings won’t seem so spectacular after you’ve damaged your bottom-line and the future of your business because your website and/or database have been compromised.
When your website is down, even for a mere moment, it compromises a great deal more than simply your website operations. It negatively affects your brand identity, consumer confidence, and it attracts MORE hackers, etc. Stop putting your business at risk.
For more details on our hosting packages and services please visit www.mediaurahosting.com or give us a call at 502-909-3099 and one of our team members will be happy to assist you.
