The simplicity with which websites may be created has increased in recent years. Business owners are now webmasters thanks to content management systems (CMS) like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, Squarespace, and Wix. The duty for website security has now been placed in our hands, yet many website owners are unaware of how to keep their sites secure. It is not until a security threat has occurred that best practices about Website Security in Orange County become a priority for most local website owners.
The most serious threat to websites is cyber insecurity and persistent hackers. Every day, around 30,000 websites are hacked. I’m not mentioning this to terrify anyone, but it’s the reality of our current world.
You can’t think to yourself, “It won’t happen to me.” This is a common sentiment among businesses that I encounter. They believe that hackers are preoccupied with other issues and have no motive to target their websites. That isn’t the case at all. In reality, small companies are the target of 43% of cybercrime.
I don’t have a mystical crystal ball or any other ability to see into the future, but my instinct tells me that cyber thieves aren’t going to quit hacking websites one day. My point is that hackers will never stop attempting to get an advantage thus, we must maintain our website’s security on a regular basis.
There are several ways to ensure that your website is secure for yourself, your company, and your visitors. It doesn’t have to be a guessing game when it comes to website security.
Take the necessary actions to improve the security of your website. No solution can ensure that your site will remain “hacker-free” permanently. The implementation of preventative measures will decrease the vulnerability of your website.
The process of securing a website may be both easy and complex. Before it’s too late, there are at least ten important actions you can do to increase website security.
Even in the digital era, business owners must protect users’ information. Take all essential measures and don’t leave anything to chance.
Most common types of Security Threats to Websites
Websites are targeted in a variety of ways. So, before we get started, let me give you a quick rundown of some of the most prevalent security risks to your website. When it comes to security, these are the things you’ll want to be prepared for.
Spam
We’ve all been messaged by some sort of people that need to collect money. It’s usually irritating, but if you ignore it, it’s pretty harmless.
Spam, on the other hand, may be more harmful at times. On the internet, spam in the form of comments is quite widespread. Bots can clutter your website’s comments area with links to other websites in an attempt to get backlinks.
These remarks are harmful to your website because:
- They don’t look good on your site and may turn off people who would otherwise interact with your material.
- If your website visitors click on phishing links, they may be infected with malware, which can harm them.
Furthermore, Google’s crawlers are frequently capable of detecting bad URLs and penalizing your site for hosting spam. Your SEO rating will drop as a result of this.
Malware and viruses
Malware stands for “malicious software” in case you didn’t know. Viruses and malware are fundamentally the same things. Malware is, without a doubt, the most serious danger to your website. Every day, up to 350,000 malware strains are produced.
These viruses are frequently used to get access to confidential data or to consume server resources. By accessing your website rights or permissions, criminals can also generate money with advertisements or affiliate connections. Malware may be introduced into your computer system through a variety of methods, including employee emails, redirection, and direct hacking.
The most important piece of advice we can provide you is to avoid clicking on strange links. That may appear to be a no-brainer, but it’s actually a lot simpler to slip into the trap than you think. Make careful to teach your workers, as well as any other users who may be utilizing your company’s computers, the significance of staying safe online.
Both you and your website visitors are vulnerable to viruses. A visitor to your site could click a link that installs a harmful file on their system. It is your responsibility to maintain your website safe and secure in order to avoid this.
Registration of a WHOIS domain
Purchasing a domain name is similar to purchasing a home. The firm selling the house has to know who they’re selling to and how to reach them. Furthermore, anybody can go to the county auditor’s office and obtain information on any address.
The same is true when it comes to purchasing a website. You may be obliged to reveal certain information about yourself that is recorded on WHOIS data, depending on the location you are in. This includes information about your URL nameservers in addition to your personal information.
This information can be used by hackers to narrow down the location of the server you’re utilizing. This may be used as a means for them to connect to your web server.
DDoS attacks
DDoS attacks prevent visitors from accessing a certain website. The hacker essentially utilizes fake IP addresses to flood servers with traffic. The website is effectively taken offline as a result of this action. Consider it as a kind of spamming your website’s visitors. However, instead of profiting from more visitors, the result is your Website is down or the Website not working.
Now the host must rush to get the server back up and running as soon as possible, leaving it susceptible to malware—not to mention the loss of money and reputation for you.
Blacklists in search engines
If you don’t secure your website, it will have repercussions in other aspects of your business. If your website is attacked, for example, Google may detect and lower your SEO ranks.
According to recent research, 74 percent of hacked websites were targeted for SEO purposes, such as the addition of backlinks. They can even add new web pages to your site or show a whole other site to lower your rating and raise the ranking of any site they choose.
What steps should you take to keep your website safe?
Now that you’ve learned about some of the most prevalent security risks, you should take steps to prevent them from ever occurring on your website.
You can’t just take it for granted that your website is safe. It’s potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks if you haven’t done anything to tighten up the security. Even if you’ve taken steps to safeguard your site, you must continue to update it and ensure that it remains secure. The Internet is a fast-paced environment. There’s no place for the word “probably” here.
These are the actions you should do in 2022 to increase the security of your website.
1. Follow Best Practices for Passwords
Passwords are like the key that keeps attackers out of your website. The complexity and originality of a password are important in site security. Before utilizing other methods to get access to your servers, hackers will try to crack your password.
It may only be a matter of time before your website gets hacked if you use weak passwords. The only way to avoid this is to use strong, one-of-a-kind passwords. Eight or more characters make form a strong password.
Letters, numbers, and special symbols should be used to create the characters. Passwords that are only used on one account are known as unique passwords. The purpose of having unique passwords is to prevent hackers from figuring out your passwords and using them on numerous accounts.
When you choose a different password for each of your accounts, hackers will find it more difficult to get access to your website.
It’s great if you think about how you’ll keep the passwords as well. Your website may be vulnerable to hackers if you save passwords poorly. Password management software will help you protect and organize your passwords, keeping them secure from brute force attackers. Password manager software can also generate strong and unique passwords.
2. Select a Reliable Web Hosting Company
The web hosting provider you select will have a big impact on the security barriers that surround your website. Web hosting providers are typically beneficial to websites, especially in terms of security. Your website will profit from the security procedures implemented by your web hosting provider on its server if they are sturdy and trustworthy.
The majority of website owners will opt for a shared hosting package. They are far more concerned with the cost than with the security aspects. A shared hosting package, as the name indicates, involves sharing a server with other websites.
In any event, if one of those websites is the target of a cyber-attack, your website will be exposed as well. This isn’t meant to discourage you from utilizing a shared hosting provider. All I’m saying is that if you care about the security of your website, you should think about using a reputable web hosting business.
3. Be wary about phishing scams
Phishing scams are responsible for 32 percent of all verified data breaches, according to Verizon’s 2019 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), phishing attacks present a major danger to overall security.
A phishing attack occurs when a hacker pretends like a legitimate individual in order to entice and deceive the victim into clicking on a malicious link. They’ll take advantage of this to try to steal data from users.
The type of links that website owners click should be carefully considered. Even better, you should strive to avoid phishing emails from dangerous senders as much as possible. It would be beneficial if you performed your study before clicking on a link to check the user’s true identity.
4. Access Restrictions
The concept of least privilege is used here. Users’ privileges are restricted to the absolute minimum required to carry out their responsibilities.
In terms of website security, the notion of least privilege is quite important. This approach should be applied when restricting staff access to your servers. Someone who has no business accessing your server should not do so.
5. Ensure that your software and plugins are up to date.
Every day, a large number of websites are harmed as a result of obsolete software. Outdated software sometimes can be a reason why other Website is down or Website not working at a particular time.
The website is being scanned for potential hackers and bots to attack. Your website’s health and security depend on regular updates. Your site is not secure if its software or apps are out of date.
Take all requests for software and plugin updates very seriously.
Security upgrades and vulnerability fixes are frequently included in updates. Check for updates on your website or install an update notification plugin. Automatic updates are another method for ensuring website security on some platforms. Your site will become less secure the longer you wait. Make it a top priority to keep your website and its components up to date.
6. Make use of two-factor authentication.
Passwords alone will never be enough to keep attackers out of your servers. According to a 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, weak passwords are responsible for 81 percent of all data breaches.
Passwords had previously been compromised in the past. The second layer of identity verification should be implemented. This work is well-suited to two-factor authentication.
In two-factor authentication, you will be needed to provide a unique code given through mail or text message in addition to your password and login to access your servers. Using several types of validity verification procedures, such as fingerprint and face recognition, might be beneficial.
7. Security Audits on a Regular Basis
There are technologies available that can monitor your website’s security and help you prevent cyberattacks. WordPress security plugins may be used to build a firewall to your website and battle attacks in real-time.
You may or may not be using WordPress, but your content manager almost certainly has security add-ons that you should utilize.
Conduct security audits on a regular basis to uncover vulnerabilities and take actions to strengthen security and fix any flaws. Use a vulnerability scanner to achieve this since it mimics what hackers would do to identify vulnerabilities in your site — only you’d be the one who found them first.
Use a vulnerability scanner on a daily basis to keep an eye on your security.
8. Make data backups
This is the harsh reality: even if you follow all of these guidelines, you will not be completely safe from cyber-attacks. Hackers are fashionable and well-educated. They’ll have devised a new way to access your website before you realize it.
They’re going over and above to commit that data breach. What if they are successful in compromising your website’s data? The backup files are the only thing that can rescue you. A backup file is a backup plan that ensures you have access to all of your data even if there is a major data breach.
9. Set up an SSL Certificate
SSL certificates are extremely important for website security. SSL certificates are a must-have component of any security strategy.
What is SSL, and how does it work?
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a security technology that encrypts all data sent between your website’s servers and web browsers. The SSL certificate will achieve this by encrypting all communication and turning it into a coded format.
The communication can only be decoded by the intended recipients who have access to the necessary private key. Intruders find it difficult to access communication when it is encrypted.
What is HTTPS, and how does it work?
HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, and it is the secure version of HTTP. The HTTPS protocol is responsible for data transit between web servers and browsers.
SSL certificates should be installed on all websites, especially those that store sensitive data such as credit card and debit card information, login credentials, and other personal information.
Website owners, for example, should commit to covering all subdomains. You don’t need to get a separate certificate for each subdomain. A Wildcard SSL certificate is the best solution since it secures numerous subdomains across a wide range.
10. Hiring a professional security service provider
When it comes to securing your website, building a connection with a company that offers security services may be a lifesaver. While minor issues may be addressed by yourself, numerous security measures should be handled by a professional. Security service providers may scan your website for vulnerabilities on a regular basis, do comprehensive website security audits, monitor for harmful behavior, and fix your website if necessary. You and your team must continually be on the lookout for ways to secure your website, and these practical ideas are only the beginning. Never stop looking for ways to make your website more secure. Allowing hackers to get access to your website is not a good idea.
Conclusion
Websites are critical to every company’s success. They have the potential to be valuable assets. With the numerous security risks that exist on the internet nowadays, your website may end up becoming a liability.
Security concerns have grown in importance, and it is the responsibility of every website owner to keep their site safe from hackers.
When it comes to securing your company’s and customers’ data, always be proactive. If you are in need of services for Website Security in Orange County, we are here to help. Let us help you protect your website and users from cyberattacks. Check out Orange Web Group, LLC to see what we can do for you, or give us a call to discuss how we can make your website more secure.
