Note from Jen: Hey everyone! I know this isn't our normal YOUmoz post but it's something that could affect every single one of us. Taking this survey will help them to create a product to help combat hackers and malware on your site. Plus you get a free subscription when it launches!

We are currently working on a new product to make sophisticated solutions to prevent hacking simple and affordable enough for the small web business owner and we need to get some feedback from designers, developers and site owners.  These answers will help us make sure that our product contains the features you want and need. The survey should take less than ten minutes of your time.  If you complete the questions, we’ll give you a free one-year basic subscription to the product when it launches.

In August 2009 Google reported that 350,000 websites per month were hacked and distributing malware.  That number had doubled in less than six months. Hackers go after websites to steal credit card numbers or other customer information, to influence search engine rankings and to infect the computers of people who visit.

Malware infections can hurt site owners or even put you out of business.  You may lose customers who suffer computer damage or have their personal information stolen.  Malware that steals payment card information can lead to fines and expenses in excess of $200 per customer record, which can quickly add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. When search engines detect malware infections, you are removed from search results. Users attempting to visit the site directly may receive an ominous warning from their browser that “this site may damage your computer.”  Even if you identify and remove the malware completely and promptly, there is no guarantee of recovering customers, search rankings, traffic, and revenues.

Large enterprises and sophisticated developers use VPNs to access their internal network and push updates to their site, subversion repositories to manage code and monitoring systems to protect themselves against Malware. These features are currently time consuming, difficult to implement and cumbersome to work with.  Current solutions also require expertise and resources beyond the capabilities of most website owners.  Only companies with dedicated IP departments or sophisticated developers can take advantage of these features.

We are working on a new product to hacking defenses simple and affordable enough for the small web business owner and we need your help.

Take the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CodeGuard

Thanks

Jonah Stein