50 Best Companies To Watch 2018
The Silicon Review
“We provide website development and security solutions for the smallest websites to enterprise level websites needing extreme customization’s and functionality”: Michael Jones
Hackers are constantly breaking into innocent websites and using them to infect visitors with malware, lure them to dodgy sites and infiltrate databases to grab sensitive customer information.
Small businesses are especially vulnerable to hacking because they usually lack the technology expertise and site security that larger companies have. They also suffer more if their lack of expertise slows repairs and their ability to get back to work.
911 Website Repair specializes in repairing and securing Joomla, WordPress, Drupal and any open source PHP-Based content management system websites.
911 offers solutions for small to medium-sized businesses and individuals looking for affordable programmer options. 911WSR has a track record of fixing extremely complex and difficult repair work, where others have failed.
The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Torrington, Connecticut.
Interview Excerpt: Michael Jones, CEO
Rewind: Getting off the Ground
911 Website Repair started its journey as a website development company and shortly it switched to making components and plug-ins for WordPress and Joomla. Later, after discovering that most of the websites – belonging to reputed companies/individuals – were broken so 911WSR diverted its business interest and got into website repair domain. And again about five years ago, 911 ventured into malware removal and website security business instead of just fixing websites as there was a rash of website hacks – due to which the company was able to spread its wings across multiple spheres.
In Full Swing: Thinking Beyond the Box
A company had developed a (software firewall) to protect it’s network from malicious mischief went out of business. That company gave 911WSR / Sitesassure the firewall which we modified considerably. Now the firewall is on its 4th version and is called SitesAssure. Once malware is removed a website needs to be secured. Securing a website is not the responsibility of the hosting company, they only secure there hosting environment. It is the responsibility of the site owner to secure their website. If not secured, the site will be reinfected in minutes.
In a nutshell, we do things differently. Automated file cleaning can remove much needed core website files, so 911WSR / Sitesassure manually clean websites by sifting through the files.
We make sure we have a high end, a low end and a middle end product because customers need to compare – it’s just the way our mind works. That way they get to pick the right service needed for their solution and at there price point.
Challenges: Taking the Bull by the Horn
Look at what we did. We started off with website and software development, soon switched to website repair and malware removal and then finally, as the market demanded, we ventured into the website security zone. You have to react to the needs of the market and its’ constantly changing nature. There are organizations that don’t follow the latest trends. As a result, their sales are going down; they are not expanding. Keeping that in mind, we spot the fresh developments in the industry as to provide the best in class website security solutions. That’s how we manage the needs of this highly-volatile market and stay ahead of the curve.
Our firewall is not cloud-based as most of the firewall security providers these days provide. 911WSR believes in complete protection. These providers take over your website, running everything through their DNS. But there are issues – problems with caching and editing of websites, managing and configuring the cloud, moving websites or getting assistance – because editing DNS information is way too complicated for most people.
The 911 Platform: A Much Needed Solution
911WSR / Sitesassure contributes to the global IT platform considering our constant approach to find new solutions to website security, as mentioned above. Simply put, we were able to stay ahead of the pack in identifying problems the industry had failed had failed to spot in the first place. Just the shear volume of work gives us the opportunity to identify future problem trends before the average company can.
Plus, we are aware of key technologies that are in the industry and we have contacts who inform us about the future developments. Hence, we are fully equipped to out perform our competitors.
For instance, there are agencies that are building websites in PHP 5.3 or 5.4. These versions are too old compared to the current standard PHP 7. Websites which are being built in PHP 5.3 or 5.4 face grave concern of crashing without notice as the hosting company can update their servers at any time without warning. If website are not kept up to date, a simple server update can crash a site, and it will remain down until the site is fully upgraded for compatibility.
Comparatively, we build for the new versions of PHP 7+, Bootstrap 4 and WordPress or Joomla.
In addition, Flash has been discontinued and organizations have to find an alternative. Even though it’s going to run for another year, we have already identified and found solutions to keep our customers’ website going once flash is no longer recognized by the browser. Technologies come and go and our tech teams are proactive to keep websites working as the environments and compliance rules change.
Overview: Products to be Released
Yes, we are launching a new plug-in for firewall for WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. What makes us and our firewall different than the rest is – it happens to have a built-in malware scanner. Therefore, you can scan your website and indentify issues. The other thing we are launching is – a Joomla eCommerce plug-in called Mail Order Manager. A customer service rep can place orders for the person on the phone. I believe this is much more efficient and easier to use, and we are just getting ready to roll it out.
Future Arrangements: Sky’s the Limit
We are well positioned right now. In the coming years, we will double in size and continue to deliver apt solutions to our clients.
We currently support websites in 13 different countries and our staff is also international. We will continue to expand our business across all geographics.