Protecting Your Website: Why It Matters

If you run a website, your personal contact details are often just a WHOIS lookup away. Anyone — a competitor, a disgruntled visitor, or a lawyer — can discover your name, address and phone number in seconds.

This can lead to spam, identity theft, harassment and even legal action. The “big” companies protect themselves with layers of legal and technical safeguards. You can protect yourself too, with a few simple steps.

How to protect your website

• Register an anonymous (masked) domain so your personal details never appear in the public WHOIS database.
• Use private web hosting that does not require your full personal information.
• Keep your business and personal identities separate to protect your “moonlighting” projects.
• Use strong passwords and keep your software up to date to prevent hacking.