Deceptive website warnings on Google Chrome are designed to protect users from potentially harmful or fraudulent websites. These warnings appear when Chrome detects that a website may be attempting to trick users into providing personal information or downloading malware. Similar warnings also appear on other browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Safari, Firefox or Opera.

If you come across a deceptive website warning on Google Chrome, it’s important to take it seriously and avoid interacting with the website in question. Here’s how to remove the warning and stay safe online:

Leave the website immediately. Do not enter any personal information or download any files from the website.

Clear your browser’s cache and cookies. This will remove any trace of the website from your computer and help protect you from potential malware.

Use an antivirus program to scan your computer for malware. This will help ensure that your computer is free from any malicious software that may have been downloaded from the website.

If you believe the website warning was a mistake, you can request a review by the website owner by clicking on the “Details” button on the warning page. The website owner can then request a review from google and if the website is found to be safe, the warning will be removed.

If you continue to encounter deceptive website warnings on Google Chrome, you may want to consider using an browser extension like “Web of Trust” that can help protect you from potentially harmful websites.

By following these steps, you can stay safe online and protect yourself from potentially harmful or fraudulent websites. Remember to always be vigilant when browsing the web, and never provide personal information or download files from websites that you are not sure are safe.

If you are a website owner, having such warnings appear on website can result in a huge drop of the number of the visitors to your website, a significant impact on your online (and offline) reputation and, for businesses, on your revenues and profits. Most small business owners are not tech savvy enough to deal with such issues, and most web hosting companies will simply suspend the affected website and will not help with resolution. If you need professional assistance in cleaning the malware from your website and making sure that your visitors can visit your website without such warning, please check our Malware Removal Service which can be completed within 6 hours. Cost starts from only $99 (one-time fee) and this comes with 30-days free post-cleanup support to ensure that the issue does not reoccur.

Starting a small business can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also comes with many challenges and risks. One of the biggest risks you’ll face as a small business owner is online security. With the increasing number of cyber attacks on small businesses, it’s essential to take steps to protect yourself and your business online. Here are some key steps you can take to protect your small business online:

Use Strong Passwords: Use unique, strong passwords for all of your business’s online accounts. Avoid using easily guessed information such as your name, company name, or common words. A password manager can also be helpful in generating and storing complex passwords.

Keep Software and Systems Up-to-Date: Software vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers to gain access to your systems. To reduce the risk of this happening, ensure that all software and systems used by your business are kept up-to-date with the latest security patches.

Use Firewalls and Anti-Virus Software: Firewalls and anti-virus software provide an additional layer of security for your systems. They can prevent unauthorized access to your network, and detect and remove malware.

Train Your Employees: Your employees are the first line of defense against cyber attacks. Provide them with training on online security best practices, including how to identify and respond to phishing scams.

Back Up Your Data: Regularly back up your data to a secure location. This will help you to quickly restore your systems and data in the event of a cyber attack.

Be Careful When Using Public Wi-Fi: Public Wi-Fi networks can be a great convenience, but they are also a security risk. Be careful when using public Wi-Fi, and avoid accessing sensitive information such as financial accounts while connected to these networks.

Utilize Cloud Services: Cloud services can provide a cost-effective and secure way to store and access your data. Encrypt your data and be careful when granting access to third parties.

Implement a Cybersecurity Policy: A cybersecurity policy can help you establish clear guidelines for protecting your business’s sensitive information. It should include procedures for incident response, data backup and recovery, and employee training.

In conclusion, starting a small business comes with many challenges and risks, including the threat of cyber attacks. By implementing the steps outlined above, you can help protect your business from cyber threats and keep your customer data secure. It’s also advisable to get advise from cybersecurity experts and consultants to ensure your business is secure and compliant.

As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, the importance of website security has never been greater. With more and more businesses turning to the internet to connect with customers and sell products and services, the number of cyber attacks on websites has increased dramatically. As a result, it’s vital that businesses take the necessary steps to protect their online assets and keep their customers’ information safe. One important step in this process is to conduct a website vulnerability audit.

A website vulnerability audit is a comprehensive assessment of a website’s security posture, which includes identifying and assessing any potential vulnerabilities or weaknesses. These can include things like out-of-date software, unpatched vulnerabilities, weak passwords, and incorrect configuration settings. By identifying these vulnerabilities, a website vulnerability audit can help a business to understand the risks they face and take steps to mitigate them.

There are several reasons why a website vulnerability audit is important. First and foremost, a website vulnerability audit can help a business to identify and fix any vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers. This can include things like SQL injection vulnerabilities, which can be used to gain access to a database and steal sensitive information. By identifying and fixing these vulnerabilities, a business can significantly reduce the risk of a successful cyber attack.

Another important reason to conduct a website vulnerability audit is to comply with industry regulations. Many industries have specific regulations in place to protect customer data, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for businesses that accept credit card payments. These regulations require businesses to take certain security measures, and a website vulnerability audit can help to ensure compliance.

Furthermore, website vulnerability audit can improve the overall user experience. This is because vulnerabilities can make the website run slower, generate incorrect information and even crash the website. By identifying and fixing vulnerabilities, the website can run more smoothly and efficiently, improving the customer experience.

Finally, a website vulnerability audit can help a business to save money. This is because a successful cyber attack can be extremely costly, both in terms of lost revenue and damage to a company’s reputation. By identifying and fixing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by hackers, a business can save money and avoid the costs associated with a successful cyber attack.

In conclusion, conducting a website vulnerability audit is an essential step in protecting your business from cyber threats. It allows you to identify and fix vulnerabilities, comply with industry regulations, improve the user experience and ultimately save your company money. If your website hasn’t been audited for vulnerabilities, it’s time to take action and schedule one. As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

If your website is critical for your business, and you want to be proactive in ensuring that it is not vulnerable to cyber threats, please consider purchasing the Website Security Audit service of Samurai Defender.

Monitoring your website’s uptime is important for a variety of reasons. Here are six key reasons why you should make sure to keep an eye on your website’s uptime:

1. Uptime affects your search engine rankings: Search engines like Google take into account a website’s uptime when ranking pages. If your website is frequently down, it can negatively impact your search engine rankings. This means that if you want to rank highly in search results, you need to ensure that your website is up and running as much as possible.

2. Downtime can cost you money: When your website is down, you are losing potential customers and revenue. If your website is an e-commerce site, each minute of downtime can translate into lost sales. Even if your website is not an e-commerce site, it can still be costing you money if it is frequently down. For example, if your website is a lead generation tool for your business, downtime can mean lost leads and opportunities.

3. Downtime can damage your reputation: If your website is down, your customers and clients may become frustrated and lose confidence in your business. This can lead to negative reviews and a damaged reputation, which can be difficult to repair.

4. Uptime monitoring can help you identify and fix problems: By monitoring your website’s uptime, you can quickly identify when there are problems and take steps to fix them. This can help prevent extended periods of downtime and keep your website running smoothly.

5. Uptime monitoring can help you plan for maintenance: If you know that your website will be down for maintenance at a certain time, you can inform your customers and plan accordingly. This can help prevent frustration and ensure that your website is down for the shortest possible time.

6. Uptime monitoring can help you make informed decisions about your website: By tracking your website’s uptime over time, you can identify trends and make informed decisions about your website. For example, if you notice that your website is frequently down at a certain time of day, you may want to consider upgrading your hosting plan to one with more resources.

In conclusion, monitoring your website’s uptime is important for a variety of reasons. It can impact your search engine rankings, cost you money, damage your reputation, and help you identify and fix problems. By tracking your website’s uptime and taking steps to improve it, you can ensure that your website is running smoothly and meeting the needs of your customers and clients.

Samurai Defender provides website uptime monitoring services for just $10/month/website. This includes website monitoring, keyword monitoring, ping monitoring, and SSL monitoring. Uptime monitoring is also included for free in our Web Defender packages. Not only do we inform you quickly by email, SMS, Slack or Teams, if your website happens to be unreachable, but we also proactively contact your web host, for them to take action and get the site back online, giving you peace on mind that your clients and prospects are able to access your website at all times.

As a website owner, security should be at the top of your priority list. Not only is it important to protect your own business and customer information, but it’s also crucial to ensure that your website is a safe and trusted place for your visitors. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing some key considerations for maintaining website security and how to secure your site against potential threats.

First and foremost, it’s important to have a strong password policy in place. This means requiring all users to create unique, complex passwords that are difficult to guess or crack. You should also consider implementing two-factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to enter a one-time code in addition to their password when logging in. This code is typically sent to a user’s phone via SMS or generated by a authenticator app.

Another key aspect of website security is keeping your website software and plugins up to date. Hackers are always finding new vulnerabilities to exploit, and by ensuring that your software is up to date, you can protect against these potential threats. It’s also a good idea to regularly scan your website for malware and vulnerabilities, and to use a web application firewall (WAF) to help protect against cyber attacks.

One common threat to website security is SQL injection attacks, which occur when an attacker injects malicious code into a website’s database through a vulnerable form field. To protect against this type of attack, you should always validate and sanitize user input, and use prepared statements when interacting with your database.

Another way to secure your website is to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. SSL helps to secure the connection between your website and your visitor’s browser by encrypting the data that is transmitted between them. You can tell if a website is using SSL if the URL begins with “https” instead of “http”. SSL is especially important if you have an online store or handle sensitive information such as user passwords and credit card numbers.

Finally, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place for handling security breaches if they do occur. This should include regularly backing up your website data, as well as having a process for quickly identifying and fixing vulnerabilities. It’s also important to have a communication plan in place for informing your users in the event of a security breach.

In conclusion, website security is an essential consideration for any website owner. By implementing strong passwords, keeping your software and plugins up to date, protecting against SQL injection attacks, using SSL encryption, and having a plan in place for handling security breaches, you can help to ensure that your website is a safe and trusted place for your users.

As the most used website management platform globally, WordPress is also one of the most targeted by malicious actors. Keeping your WordPress site secure can quickly become challenging especially for small business owners who have 1,000 other things to do. Luckily, there are security plugins, that can be installed right from within WordPress, that can make the task easier for you and help you keep your website away from cyber attackers.

Some of the functionalities usually provided by site plugins include, among others:

->Web traffic monitoring
-Malware scanning
-Security hardening
-Malware scanning
-Malware cleanup
-Automated backup
-Brute force attack protection
-Unusual login notification

We have reviewed the most used plugins in the community, and have come up with this list of three plugins which you can consider to add to your WordPress site. The first two are comprehensive security tools that offer a free (albeit limited) version. The third one is a backup tool that is very affordable. Make sure to choose one of them and take a few minutes to install it for your WordPress site.

#1 WordFence
Free version available: Yes
Paid version pricing: $119/year and up (compare versions)
Key Features:
-Very easy to use
-Built-in Web Application Firewall that blocks malicious traffic
-Malware scanning of files, plugins and themes before upload
-2FA and login limits to prevent brute force attacks
-Real time live traffic and analytics
-Over 4 millions downloads to date – one of the most popular WordPress security pluginsSome plugins would focus on one or two of these roles, while some are more comprehensive and include a wide range of security features.

#2: All in One Security (AIOS)
Free version available: Yes
Paid version pricing: $70/year (compare versions)
Key Features:
-Provides insights for best practices (such as renaming ‘admin” username)
-In-depth reports about website users and their activity
->Hides login page from bots
-Login lockout function to prevent brute force attacks or users with invalid usernames
-Configurable forced logouts to prvents users being logged in indefinitel
-Two Factor Authentication
-Password strength tool

#3 VaultPress Backup by JetPack
Free version available: No
Paid version pricing: $5.5/month or more
Key Features:
-Great for membership sites and Woocommerce stores
-Real-time backups
-Includes 10GB of cloud storage (get up to 1TB storage for double the price)
-30-day activity log archive
-Unlimited one-click restores from the last 30 days

We hope you have found the recommendations above useful. There are hundreds of other security tools available for WordPress, so it is worth to take the time to review some of them to find the one most suited for your needs. As we alway say, running a WordPress site is not do and forget thing. If you need help in keeping your site secure and want to outsource this function to a knowledgeable, trusted partner, while you focus on growing your business or magnifying the impact of your cause, please consider subscribing to one of our Web Defender packages today.

WordPress is by far the most used content management system and website builder globally. Millions of individual site owners, organizations and businesses take advantage of this easy to use platform to build their website or blog. In 2021, about 35% of the 1.3 Billion of active websites were estimated to be using WordPress. WordPress however is also, unfortunately, one of the most targeted platforms by hackers and other malicious actors. Launching a WordPress site without taking the necessary measures to keep it secure, is a disaster waiting to happen.

While the average site owner might not be a cyber security expert, understanding the basics of website security and taking a few actions can prevent your WordPress website from being hacked in 95% of cases. Here are 7 steps you can take to keep your WordPress site secure.

1) Keep your WordPress installation and plugins up to date
Most hacked websites happen due to the site owners not having updated WordPress to the latest version, or using an outdated plugin. WordPress is NOT a set up and forget it system. As a website owner, you need to make sure your WordPress installation and all plugins you use are always kept updated to the latest version.

2) Install a security plugin
There are various security plugins available from third-party providers, that can help improve the security of your WordPress site. Such plugins can help scan your website for vulnerabilities, block IP addresses where brute force attempts originate from, disable access for malicious visitors and bots, prevent your WordPress files from being modified among other features. Make sure to use one from a reputable vendor.

3) Change default settings
By default, WordPress comes with a default admin URL and a default admin user (“admin”). Obviously, these settings are known to threat actors and are the first ones to be used by malicious actors trying to hack your website using brute force or social engineering. Make sure to change those default settings when launching your WordPress site. You might even consider removing altogether your admin user after creating a new user to which you would have given admin privileges. Another default setting that is often targeted is the wp-config.php file which host key information about your installation. You need to take action to harden that file using the .htaccess file, and restrict its access to unauthorized parties.

4) Monitor your website
It is important to monitor your WordPress site for changes that may be indicative of malicious activity. This can be done using plugins, third party remote tools, or having a website security company handle that function for you. Samurai Defender offers. You can consider our Web Defender website security packages which include monitoring for uptime, online reputation, blacklists and more.

5) Choose a reputable web host
Not all web hosting companies are the same when it comes to maintaining a secured WordPress website. You need to choose a web host which provides WordPress hosting or is familiar with hosting WordPress sites, and maintain servers with secure software including up to date PHP and MySQL versions. If you are looking for a new host to your WordPress site, we recommend HostGamma.com

6) Install a SSL certificate
Enabling SSL/https ensure that traffic between your website’s visitors browser and your server is encrypted. Not having SSL enabled will have a warning on most major browser and Google next to your website, which has a negative impact on your website reputation. SSL with help with SEO, your visitors first impression, but also is an important component of your website security posture. Many hosts today offer SSL certificates for free. If not, look into purchasing one from your host or from a third party SSL provider. Samurai Defender does not sell SSL certificates as of now, however we can help install SSL for your site for just $29.

7) Backup your WordPress site
If all fail and your WordPress site happens to be hacked, the last thing you would like would be in a situation where you have no backup available to revert your site to. Even if your host offers automated backups, you cannot rely on those. We have seen so many cases where hosts backups failed, were corrupted, or just too old. Luckily, there are many options to backup your WordPress database or complete files to a remote location. You can also download manually a backup manually at regular periods, which is an option available from cPanel, Plesk and other major control panels today. Samurai Defender also offers a secure backup service for just $10/month

We hope you have found this article interesting. By implementing the above steps, you will strengthen the overall security of your WordPress website and make it more resilient to online malicious threat actors. If you need professional help in securing your WordPress website, you can check our WordPress hardening service. Alternatively, simply contact us to discuss your needs.