For as much as I love AI, there are certainly some serious downsides to it. One of those downsides is how easy it is for AI to hack other entities on your behalf. Sometimes it’s almost funny (like the guy whose AI hacked in a pilates studio to get him into an oft-full class), but it’s also getting quite dangerous.
A great example is Microsoft, who is putting out security patches for Windows at a rate unheard of in the history of the company. This is largely a good thing for them (they’re using AI to patch the holes before AI gets in), but it’s going to be an arms race. Companies will be patching holes as quickly as AI is finding new ways to attack, and this battle is going to get much worse before it (ever?) gets better.
This matters for you, too.
We monitor sites for signs of hacking, and try to reach out and assist as often as we can, but the numbers are rising dramatically. As of this writing I’ve just found 94 more small businesses, mostly in the metro Atlanta area, that are hacked and don’t know it. These hacks usually hide themselves, so companies inadvertently promote casinos and various drugs through hidden links on their site and are none the wiser. This makes Google drop them from the rankings, which is awful for the companies affected.
Who is getting hacked?
Hackers aren’t going after companies they hate, or even any companies in particular. They send AI bots out to look for security holes and attack. Looking at our list of hacked sites right now, I see:
- A poultry plant in north Georgia.
- A kitchen and bath center in Johns Creek.
- A law firm in Alpharetta.
- A county board of commissioners in south Georgia.
- A structural engineering company in downtown Atlanta.
- A small restaurant chain with a dozen locations in the area.
- A pawn shop in Norcross.
The list goes on and on, and it’s getting worse. Thankfully, it’s not too hard to stay above the mess simply by staying on top of your stuff.
The kitchen and bath firm has gone 200 days without running some basic security updates. The pawn shop is 600 days behind. The restaurant chain is more than two years out of date. It’s frustrating to see, but I get it. These are small business owners trying to run their business, and security patches on their site aren’t the priority.
However, it’s quite simple and affordable to keep things running smoothly. I think the problem is similar to my post about broken forms, where many people only care after they’ve been burned.
While this tool of ours is used to scan many sites at once, you can plug in your own site and see how you score. No need to give me your email address or anything, just scan away for free and see how things look: https://relayscanner.com/
If you get any concerning results from the scan, reach out and we can chat.
