If your website is hacked we will immediately shut it down for the safety of our server and other hosting clients. We will then contact you with the following options:

1. Fix the site, clean up the hack and get you on one of our Security Maintenance Packages.
   This is our recommended option as it ensures that we are taking proactive measures to prevent your website from being compromised in the future. We will help you choose the package that is right for you.
2. Rebuild the website in a more secure fashion.
   Many times a website is built for a client to be able to manage the content themselves, the cheapest way possible. Ongoing security was not much of a thought when the website was built. Sometimes a quick rebuild is the best option to reduce ongoing long term costs.
3. Fix the site temporarily, clean up the hack, pay the bill and wait for it to happen again.
   We will contact you and let you know the estimated cost to clean up the hack and temporarily secure the site. When you give us the green light we will clean up the damage and update the site so that it is secure until hackers figure out new ways to hack it.
4. Move to our insecure server with other sites that pose security threats.
   If you do not have the means or desire to get your website up to snuff for security’s sake we will re-instate your website on a server with other people in the same situation so you are not putting customers at risk who are doing their part.

We understand the inconvenience of this and realize it may at first be upsetting, so let’s address a few objections we commonly hear or you may be thinking:

1. “You’re the host, isn’t this your responsibility?”
   It’s not. Owning a website is like owning a car. It is up to the owner to put snow tires on in the winter, put gas in it and change parts as they break down. It takes work. Somebody has to do it and should be paid for it. Our hosting is secure, but a well protected server cannot fully protect you from an insecure website. You need both.
2. “We should have been informed of this when our website was built!”
   Over time, the issue of website security has become a lot more pressing as hackers develop more intuitive ways to compromise servers and use them for evil gain. This likely wasn’t such a major concern when your website was built. It has taken us some time to figure out exactly how we want to handle all of this because we want to ensure we have educated you properly and are offering you the best solutions.
3. “You could just hack our site yourselves or pretend the site is hacked to create additional paid work for yourselves!”
   Well yes, I suppose we could. But that would be supremely twisted and goes against everything inside of us as individuals and as a company. We would never do that. Besides that, we would run the risk of you going and getting a second opinion and exposing us as frauds.

Please take the time to read this 3 part blog post that I have written on the subject of website security. It is a complicated topic but we want to help you navigate through it in the best way possible based on your unique situation. The approach to securing your website will vary depending on how your website was built and what your needs are.

Contact us so we can figure out the best option to keep you safe and secure. We’re available at the phone number or form below.