Image credit: caribnog.org
The first three months of 2013 are full of instances of websites and Twitter feeds of various brands, in particular, being hacked. Those responsible have ranged from the online ‘hacktivist’ group Anonymous to people linked to both sides in the current Syrian uprising.
While there is understandably concern in the minds of anyone who has a website, social media feed, or has ever posted any information about themselves online – almost every internet user, in that case – can getting hacked ever be a good thing?
It is something of a ludicrous suggestion, but here us out.
A Wake Up Call
One thing that the global financial meltdown of 2008 did was make many individuals and businesses a lot smarter with their finances. People now have more respect for ‘disposable income’ and they realize the value of having cash at hand in the bank.
Having a social feed or a website hacked can have the same impact.
Were all of your passwords the same?
Did your company have a lackadaisical approach to data security?
Were your servers not fit for purpose or not maintained correctly?
Those are just three of the questions you might ask yourself when you have been the victim of a breach.
None of us ever wants to be complacent, but if we do slip up, it is the perfect opportunity to get our house in order and ensure it never happens again.
[Read also: I’ve Been Hacked! 5 Things to Do!]
Brand Recognition
Admittedly, this is something of a cynical point of view, but with many businesses still in the line of thinking that they can turn any publicity into a positive, it is certainly one worth exploring.
The New York Times, McDonald’s, Google, and most recently the BBC were no doubt angry that they were victims of a hack, but it gave them the opportunity to get their brand out there and front and center of the public consciousness once again.
[Suggested reading: 7 Ways You Are Vulnerable to XSS Attacks]
Many new business guides talk about having any excuse for a press release to bring attention to yourself, and that is precisely what has happened in the case of these businesses.
“Yes, we were the victims of a breach of security, but check out our latest news channel, online offer, or feature and rest assured that you are safe with us.”
The best businesses will use being hacked to send their PR machine into overdrive. What odds that McDonald’s were even busier than normal in the days after their hack became public?
[Read also: LinkedIn Hacked – How Safe are Social Networking Sites?]
Best Avoided
Of course, at the heart of all of this is the issue of being hacked, and the fact that you would never want it to happen.
Anything from confidential business information to employees and customers’ personal information, even in the “only for a short time” that hacking victims like to indicate can be accessed and compromised.
The best approach to hacking is to make the best of a bad situation. Yes, certain things are at risk, but take the opportunity to reassure your customers and make the first steps to proving how trustworthy and safe you are.
[Recommended read: Is Hacking an Inside Job?]
Thoughts, suggestions, comments? Tell us in the comments.
Ohh, Brother. I have been hacked 3 times in my blogging journey so far. And mind my words, it’s a killing situation. If you will look up in my archives you will find posts starting from April 2012. But I had started in Novemebr,2011. Months of my initial effort were lost. I hope no one ever gets hacked!
So what happened in the end, Aditya? How did you manage to recover your site after it got hacked?
Great one. I never though in this way. Hacking could really be advantageous rather good thing. At least, we are getting popular, this can be assumed. But we not recommend that remove your security, so that hackers get a chance to do so.
LOL yeah 🙂
I am thinking that internet security professionals is going to become a very popular career if it’s not already. Although I am not sure if I would want to be the one in charge and responsible for a big corporations security. I would hope that a lot of bigger companies and corporations have a plan in place in the even that they do get hacked or compromised.
I sometimes think that people who created antivirus software are creating the virus too just that the software could sell. Just a thought.
Hacking is a crime if you’re a victim, but hacking is fun when you’re the hacker!
So which one are you, Praveen? The victim or the hacker? 😉
You’ve got a point, some hackers only hack sites who are worthy of their effort, time and a potential source of income. It’s not a good thing to be hacked, glad I don’t experience it yet. It’s always better to keep our website secured. It’s a good investment for a long term basis.
Yeah you’re right! I don’t care if being hacked has the possibility to be a good thing or not, I just hope all my accounts are safe and well protected forever!
I have also hear about many website that have been hacked in 2013 MacDonald is the one of them .And my also account hacked 2 times
Which account of yours got hacked?
Getting hacked is one of the worst things anyone could experience. But we can look on the brighter side it will have on us. We have to be more keen and careful never to let this hacking thing happen again.
Hello Robert
I doesn’t have any direct experience of being hacked till now and i don’t want be further.But one of my close friend suffers from this two week before.His blog is hacked by someone .First time Google warned him that his blog contains malwares and Google also blocked his site. That was really a very bad experience.
That’s bad! So what happened to your friend’s blog now?
His blog is working properly working now.He nothing get much infected.But the point is anybody can have a cyber attack .
Hey Peter,
Nice post and I think no one ever gets hacked because its very tough situation as you lost all your data, hardwork. We have to make our password hack proof by choosing strong password. Thanks for sharing this post.
I have hacked many times. So the experience makes me comfortable now even if I got hacked my blog’s. It seems good if we have hacked once in our lifetime. It gives a type of experience.
Hmmm… I’m not sure if I wanted to get an “experience” on that 🙂