SMB Websites Face Mass Meshing Attacks

-- Do your homework on Web hosting providers, and choose a good one. Hackers love to target shared hosting vendors, because when they find a vulnerability it often leads to a bumper crop of sites they can hit. "Choose your Web hosting provider wisely," Huang said. "Some hosting companies are well-known to have vulnerabilities in their shared hosting environments." He added that there are good online forums where SMBs discuss their experiences with various hosting providers.

-- Run current antivirus software on all of your PCs, and especially those used to manage the website. Huang said that reliable, free options such as Microsoft Security Essentials mean even the leanest SMBs have "no excuse" to not deploy antivirus software.

-- Stay on top of critical software patches. Huang lists Microsoft, Adobe, and browsers as the top three priorities and says SMBs shouldn't delay downloading and applying fixes, especially when mega-updates such as Tuesday's Microsoft release come out.

-- Likewise, if you use turnkey, third-party website components such as shopping carts or content management systems, always keep them updated with the most current version--especially if they're open source. For example, Huang said: "As soon as WordPress releases a new version, the whole hacking community knows about the vulnerabilities of the previous version and they're ready to attack."

-- Scan your site's custom code for vulnerabilities. There are commercial systems available, but budget-conscious SMBs can do this without spending money. Huang points to NetSparker's community edition, for instance, and said that next month Armorize will release its own whitebox version of CodeSecure that will scan up to 10,000 lines of source code free of charge. He also notes a variety of online sources for extra guidance, such as The Open Web Application Security Project.

SMBs looking for extra help in spotting mass meshing threats should look to their existing website vendors; they might be able to leverage monitoring services as part of an existing agreement. Huang said SSL-certificate providers such as Symantec's VeriSign often include such services.

If your site has suffered from a mass meshing attack, act quickly. Here's what Huang advises:

-- The first response for many SMBs--particularly those with limited internal IT staff--should be to call their Web hosting provider. The good ones, Huang said, will often be able to help and may have already identified a fix, particularly if they have other affected customers.

-- Change your site's admin password, but don't do so immediately: First, run an antivirus scan on the PC. If it's infected, the attacker will have access to the new password, too.

-- Scan your systems--including files, databases, and config files--for backdoors. Huang concedes that this might exceed the comfort zone of some SMB owners and staff; in that case, it may be time to bring in an outside vendor.

-- Finally, when the site is clean and secure, begin the crucial process of restoring its traffic and reputation. Google's Webmaster tools allow for blacklisted sites to request re-evaluation, for starters.

If all of this sounds like grunt work, it is. And it's absolutely necessary. Otherwise, SMBs are advertising their site to the wrong audience: Hackers. The bad guys profit when smaller businesses are too busy or careless to attend to online security. But SMBs should have a profit motive here, too. In a follow-up email, Huang wrote: "When attacks take your competitors down, your value will show."

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