The technological world is now evolving at an astonishing rate. Every few days, we hear of a new breakthrough or invention. Processes that took days are now carried out in fractions of seconds and appliances that were once massive in size are getting smaller and smaller. As most would say, the world is becoming a better place thanks to technology. Things are now easier to do and information much easier to acquire.
Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world and the new technology serves good and evil equally. This means that the number of people with malicious intentions have risen and there are more and more cases. Because of this, businesses especially those with an online presence need an extra layer of security to ensure they are not compromised.
This GoDaddy SiteLock website security review article will explain one of the best products available on the market that businesses can use to secure their online presence to ensure their information is safe and that their clients will not be hacked while using their websites.
What is SiteLock and Why You Need It
GoDaddy’s SiteLock is one of the most powerful website security solutions available on the internet. It scans your website for any loopholes that can be exploited and notifies you so that you can fix them in time. Apart from this, it also scans for malicious software installed by hackers to steal your information or that of your clients.
Depending on the plan you choose, GoDaddy SiteLock can help you automatically remove malware or fix vulnerabilities on your website on a daily basis. You therefore get a worry-free experience and can spend more time worrying about how to grow your business instead of how to protect it from people with malicious intentions.
Why You Need It
While there are lots of products available that can scan your websites for signs of infection or possible loopholes that could be exploited, none fixes these issues for you. This makes it a challenge especially if you are not a tech-wiz. But with SiteLock, your site is scanned, and if malware is found, it is automatically removed. It also cleans any suspicious links on your website.
This is therefore a solution that you need for your business especially if your users submit sensitive information on your site. If your users do not feel secure on your site, they will not come back and will probably advice their friends against visiting your site. However, if you can show them proof that their info is secure, you will earn yourself lots of return customers and great referrals too.
How It Works
GoDaddy SiteLock works by scanning your website for vulnerabilities that hackers normally use to break into a site. Some of the things it checks include SQL injections, phishing, cross-site scripting, URLs, posts, submit forms, comments, and more.
If vulnerabilities are found, it sends you an email containing the exact location of all the malware and vulnerability it has found, making the work of fixing them very easy. If you have the professional or premium plan, the SMART malware removal tool will remove any malware found automatically without any intervention from you.
In very bad situations, a team of professionals is always on standby to help you fix your site and ensure you are back online as fast as possible. You therefore get ot prevent undue loss to your company.
GoDaddy SiteLock – Key Features
1. Detect Attacks Before They Happen
Hackers usually deploy malicious software to your website and wait for the opportune moment to launch an attack. In the meantime, the software could be made to launch attacks using your website as a ‘base of operations’ or steal information from your site, or capture your customer’s passwords or credit card numbers and send them back to the hackers.
SiteLock’s advanced heuristic system scans your website to find any suspicious code on your server and remove it before it can do any damage to you or your customers. You are therefore assured of safety for yourself and your customers too.
2. Daily Scans
Hackers are always at work and they are relentless in their efforts. If they are caught and stopped today, they will try again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, until they eventually get what they want. If your site receives a huge amount of traffic, you are a prime target for these attacks and need a high level of security to keep their efforts at bay.
The good news is that SiteLock understands hacker’s behaviors and knows how they operate. It therefore scans your website in a daily basis to root out all viruses, backdoors, vulnerabilities, and suspicious code. It therefore does not matter how relentless hackers try to break into your site because SiteLock will always find them each and every time they try.
3. SMART Tool Takes Care of All the Work for You
Whenever malware or vulnerabilities are found on your system, SiteLock sends you an email listing the location of all the issues found. You then have to go and fix each and every of the vulnerabilities manually. If you own a huge website or several websites, it is easy to see how this can easily become a very tasking job. Additionally, you require some technical knowledge to be able to remove malware safely without accidentally removing system files and crippling your website.
But if you have a professional or premium plan, SiteLock’s SMART tool does all the heavy lifting for you. Once malware has been found, the tool removes them automatically before they have a chance of running on your system. This keeps your website safe and also prevents it from being blacklisted by Google and other search engines.
4. Show Your Customers They Are Safe
Everyone values their privacy, especially when sensitive data is involved. As such, people would willingly transact on a website that gives them a visual indication that every transaction they carry out on the site is secure. They would however, be quite hesitant on one that has no visual indication, even if the site actually has updated security features. In fact, research has shown that 70% of visitors look for a sigh that the site is secure before doing any transaction on the website.
There is therefore much to gain by using SiteLock on your site. The SiteLock Trust Seal acts to show your visitors that your site has been scanned and is safe to use for online transactions.
GoDaddy SiteLock Plans
GoDaddy SiteLock has 3 main plans and an additional one for web owners experiencing difficulties with their websites. Each plan is explained in better detail below.
1. SiteLock911
This is plan is meant for people whose sites are experiencing problems and are in need of immediate help. SiteLock offers tools that can help in restoring a site and ensuring it is free from malware and vulnerabilities.
For a one-time fee of only $199.99 per event, you can have your site scanned for vulnerabilities and malware. When malware is found, it is removed automatically. What is more, you get a hands-on review by a SiteLock technician who will advise you on steps you can take to ensure your website remains safe and free of malware.
No technical skills are required to use this package.
2. Basic Plan
This plan is excellent for small websites that need daily malware scans. For as little as $1.49 a month (billed annually at $17.88), you can have your website scanned daily for malware. If malware is found on your website, you get an email detailing its location so you can easily remove it.
If you own larger websites however, professional of premium plans are better suited because the basic plan only provides protection for up to 25 pages on one website. You also get one vulnerability scan per year and are also protected from spam and being blacklisted by search engines.
Some technical knowledge is required if you choose this plan because you would have to manually remove the malware found on your website.
3. Professional Plan
If you own a medium sized website, this is the perfect plan for you. It is also great for people with no technical knowledge since malware is removed automatically.
Starting at a only $3.99 a month (billed annually at $47.88), you can have the power of SiteLock protecting your website. The professional plan provides protection for up to 100 pages on one site and offers daily malware scans where detected malware is automatically removed and one vulnerability scan per year. In addition to these, you get file change monitoring. You can therefore get notified when malware or hackers gain access to your website and try changing files.
You also get protection from spam and are prevented from being blacklisted by search engines.
4. Premium Plan
If you own an eCommerce site, this is the best plan. Fees start at $6.99 a month (billed annually at $83.88).
It protects up to 500 pages from malware with daily scans and also offers ongoing vulnerability scans. When malware is found, it is removed automatically using SiteLock’s SMART tool. You also get file change monitoring and protection from spam and search engine blacklist monitoring.
How to set up GoDaddy SiteLock for your site video by GoDaddy
Conclusion
GoDaddy SiteLock is the best solution when it comes to keeping your website safe and therefore a must-have for any website that takes its visitor’s safety seriously. It provides daily malware scans and vulnerability scans that help you identify loopholes that hackers can exploit.
It protects from numerous online threats that include Invalidated redirects, SQL Injection, Cross-site scripting, Insecure direct object references, Broken authentication, Cross-site Request Forgery, Security misconfiguration, and more. And it's cheap, starting at $17.88 per year but you can also get more discount (dropped to just $11.62/yr) on this service by using godaddy sitelock coupon when you buy it. Hope this article can help you know one of the best ways to security your websites. Wish you success, good luck 🙂
