AI is a tool that can help keep your business website secure (Getty Images)
From cyber-attacks to slow web pages and outdated code, business websites can face many problems. This can impact your bottom line. Because if your website goes down, you could lose out on important sales channels and new customers.
There are traditional ways to monitor your website, such as manually checking for errors or relying on software updates. However, these can be occasional rather than continuous, and can be expensive, especially if you’re paying the developer a check. Additionally, you may miss something or be unaware of new risks.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a role by checking websites for risks continuously rather than once in a while. This can be cheaper and faster than paying a developer or managed hosting service provider.
AI support options include using ChatGPT or Claude to create reports that highlight errors on your website. Alternatively, you can access AI tools from providers like Hostinger and Ionos to ensure your website is secure by obtaining an SSL certificate.
Gareth Hoyle, managing director of AI and search marketing agency Marketing Signals, says: “AI tools can monitor your website 24 hours a day and react quickly, often spotting problems before you even know they’re happening. The added benefit of this type of protection is that they tend to improve your site’s performance and reliability at the same time.”
If you want to learn more about some of the ways AI can help secure your business website, keep reading.
Threat detection
Instead of occasional security scans, AI regularly monitors servers and websites for potential hacks, suspicious login attempts, and bot activity.
Hosting platforms like Hostinger and Cloudfare detect malware and unauthorized file changes without requiring business owners to wait for monthly system scans. This means you can quickly identify problems.
AI regularly monitors website safety (Getty/iStock)
Santiago Pontiroli, lead security researcher at Acronis Threat Research Unit (TRU), emphasizes that most website attacks still rely on basic weaknesses such as exposing administrative areas and reusing passwords.
AI-powered tools automatically flag these risks, rather than forcing businesses to discover them after an issue occurs.
“One of the key changes is that security is no longer a one-time check. Traditionally, things like vulnerability scans and penetration tests were done once or twice a year. With AI, those kinds of tests run continuously in the background, constantly checking for new weaknesses, misconfigurations, and suspicious behavior as your website evolves.”
Scanning website for errors
Outdated plugins and code can be a common entry point for hackers. AI tools perform audits and automated diagnostics to identify and fix problems on your website by scanning how your content management system (CMS) and plugins are configured, and flagging outdated or broken code.
This helps protect your business by catching issues like broken web pages before they impact customer relationships. Plus, you don’t have to pay any developer fees.
Scott McKinnon, chief security officer for Palo Alto Networks UK and Ireland, said AI continuously audits and neutralizes threats in website code and third-party plugins such as WordPress.
“Small businesses no longer have to wait for monthly audits, they can also identify vulnerabilities and automatically patch them before they can be exploited,” McKinnon said.
performance issues
If you’re busy running your business, it can be difficult to track your website speed. However, if your web page is slow, your customers may notice and look elsewhere.
AI can help address these issues with performance audits that monitor speed and instantly reveal server issues.
AI eliminates the need to manually check your website for performance errors (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Content and data protection
Business owners may also worry about AI bots scraping their content. There are concerns that unwanted AI crawlers may access websites to help train their own large-scale language models (LLMs) without permission.
But there are AI tools that can help you find and stop bot traffic, block unwanted crawlers, and help your website appear in legitimate places like search engines. This helps protect sensitive data or information that may be accidentally left in your website’s code.
Hoyle says, “For companies that want to be more selective about who can scrape their websites, they can use robots.txt files or more advanced tools to block these bots while still letting good bots, such as search engine crawlers, do their job. That way, they stay visible on Google, but don’t become free training data for someone else’s LLM model.”
Beyond security, AI can also help with compliance risks, such as identifying privacy and GDPR issues and ensuring that privacy policies and cookie notices comply with regulations.
AI security risks
Experts warn that while AI can help when it comes to web security, it is not the only solution. Phil Chapman, cybersecurity subject matter expert at Firebrand Training, says that while AI can be a powerful first line of defense when used properly, monitoring remains key.
“Teams need to be properly trained to handle these ever-evolving technologies. Security isn’t something you automate and forget. If you stay involved, AI can help you stay current,” Chapman says.
“Human insight and experience remains a critical component of cybersecurity management, and when used responsibly, AI is just one of the accompanying tools to help organizations defend themselves.”
You should also make sure you know what you are agreeing to when adding an AI tool to your website.
Simon James, managing director of AI and data strategy at Publicis Sapient, warns that connecting AI assistants to your systems can reveal information across your organization. This may include things that certain people shouldn’t see, such as commercially sensitive material or customer data.
Business owners should ask honest questions about what AI tools are actually doing, he summarized, adding, “Small businesses that get consistent value from AI aren’t necessarily the first to make the transition. They’re the ones who asked those questions before they started.”
