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| Photocredit - Kubuq |
We will be talking about Seven (7) steps that you can familiar yourself with in this 2022 to improve your website security.
Looking out our web management services today, talking about bluehost, godaddy and the likes, we have alot of hackers working behind every schedule to steal information from websites.
We have highlight below seven steps you can follow in securing your website this 2022. Please read them carefully and practise them.
Keep your software and plugins updated
We can never stretch on the importance of updating software and plugins enough.
Software updates are issued to ensure that your website stays prepared to tackle cyberattacks.
Hackers are always developing unique ways to tackle security patches and compromise those websites that use outdated software.
Many CMS platforms also come with an automatic update system, so it is best to enable it if your platform has that option.
Software updates can be a make-or-break factor if things go south.
Employ HTTPS encryption For website security
HTTPS or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure encryption is necessary to protect your website’s URL. Through HTTPS, data gets passed securely without any chance of interception from hackers.
The ‘S’ in HTTPS can only be attained when an SSL or Secured Socket Layer certificate is installed on a website.
An SSL certificate is a security protocol that ensures the secure transfer of in-transit information by employing Public Key Infrastructure technology.
Absence of SSL results in data getting passed as plain text. Any third party can read the content you are sharing with your users.
Generally, users share all kinds of personally identifiable information (PII) on websites such as bank details, residential addresses, phone numbers, identification proofs, etc.
If hackers get access to all such information, they can steal it and sell it on the dark web.
With a plethora of SSL options available in the market, users are often confused regarding which brand of SSL to invest their hard-earned money in. Therefore, we suggest going for cheap yet superlative certificates from reliable CAs such as Comodo PositiveSSL, AlphaSSL, etc.
Use Smart Passwords
We used to talk about the importance of strong passwords, but times have changed.
A strong password won’t help because you have multiple accounts to protect in today’s world.
Use a strong password for ten different accounts and remember each one.
So, to counter this and improve website security, you can use a password manager.
That will relieve you from the hassle of remembering passwords, but it will also enhance your website security by generating a new password every time you log in.
Choose an Authentic Web Host.
What is the first thing you look out for when building your own house?
A genuine piece of land, right?
Think of your web host as that piece of land. If it is not reliable, you may lose all your data if it gets breached by hackers.
An authentic web host has a robust backup policy, offers SFTP or Secure File Transfer Protocol, does not allow any unknown user to access FTP or File Transfer Protocol, and keeps its software updated.
Watch Out for Administrative Privileges.
Admin accounts are at the helm of every business. For example, all activities on a website are governed by a central authority called an admin.
Generally, admin privileges lie in the hands of a few trusted individuals in a company. They can decide who can access the company’s website and how.
But what if everyone has unrestricted access to admin panels? There is no better sight for hackers than having access to a website’s admin panel.
Thus, it is best to restrict access to admin panels by holding everyone accountable and regulating their authority.
Backup Your Data
Bata backups are essential to keep data secure and readily available in a catastrophe.
Websites that do not have data backups can lose their entire business within a blink of an eye.
Hackers use advanced tools to crash websites. In addition, they may ask for ransom in return for website access.
So, to avoid such situations, it is best to be prepared. Use cloud-based technology for backing up your data. Also, enable automatic data backups.
Use WAF and Anti-Viruses.
WAF or Web Application Firewalls are a plug-and-play security service that monitors all the data by setting itself in between the website connection and web server.
No amount of data can communicate with your server unless filtered by a WAF. Moreover, to boost Security, we also recommend you buy anti-virus software.
An anti-virus can stop viruses from infecting your system by quarantining them. In addition, anti-viruses help protect devices where you might have stored critical business data.
Both these protocols are essential for a business to install. In addition, they complement security technologies like SSL certificates in protecting a website from hackers.