5 Ways to Secure Your Website

If you’re responsible for the security of your business’ website, it can feel like you’re playing an eternal game of whack-a-mole. New vulnerabilities are constantly being discovered by security researchers, but patching them promptly is more important than ever before. Here are some tips to ensure that your website’s security is up to scratch.

There is always something to be worried about regarding website security, but it doesn’t necessarily feel urgent most of the time. Why is that? In general, if your website isn’t having any security issues, it’s pretty straightforward to forget about it. But not wearing a helmet is like riding a bike without any protection. It’s liberating to feel the wind blow through your hair, but when you’re surrounded by unforgiving concrete, you’ll forget that feeling of freedom.

To secure your website, here are five factors to consider:

Ensure that your admin password is strong

When it comes to security, we sometimes overlook the obvious. It’s surprising how many weak passwords are used, considering the obvious benefit of using strong passwords. These passwords are indeed easy to remember, but using brute force attacks, they are also very easy to crack.

Avoid using birthdays or a sequence of consecutive numbers. A good combination of passwords is one with a special character, a capitalised letter, and a combination of alphanumeric codes. This will ensure your security is robust and at the same time, difficult to decode given the number of combinations out there.

Make sure your website is hosted by a solid provider

The foundation for a good website is a reliable host. If you follow all the suggestions in this post but fail to acquire a dependable hosting company, your hard work will be in vain. If you have a weak link, your security will be weak too. When your hosting provider’s software allows backdoor access to your website, what good are rock-solid passwords?

It is tempting to choose the cheapest hosting solution that meets the minimum requirements when it comes to hosting. With many sites charging 100 euros per month for hosting, it’s easy to understand why many people are tempted. However, we’re discussing your company website, which may be one of your most valuable marketing assets. Focus on security and features instead of squabbling over monthly savings when you’re comparing hosting options.

Maintain Your Website Software

What content management system (CMS) do you use? How frequently do you update your CMS platform? In addition to implementing useful features, the updates often contain important security updates.

There is no such thing as perfect software. Bugs and vulnerabilities may appear during the maturing process. Outsiders could take advantage of these vulnerabilities to harm your website under the right conditions.

To keep CMS platforms running smoothly, they need regular maintenance just like gutters, cars, roads, and railways.

Secure your site with an SSL certificate

Securing your website with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates is extremely important. These certificates are fairly easy to set up. By installing an SSL certificate on your website, you will have a secure connection when you are downloading data from the internet. In place of plain text, SSL certifications encrypt traffic so that data can move back and forth securely. If the data on your website is compromised as a result of a hacker, it wouldn’t be very valuable since it would be a garbled mess of encrypted characters.

It is well-known that SSL certificates are used for e-commerce sites where sensitive information about payments is passed over the internet. There are, however, many other applications for SSL certificates. The security of login forms on your website is one of the aspects you should not overlook. If a hacker intercepts plain text login information, they could have a field day with your website.

Limit the IP address from which administrators can log in

Your administration portal can also be restricted to certain IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses, which provides an additional layer of security. Logging onto your company website would require you to physically visit your corporate headquarters. You can achieve great security results by restricting access to your website, as you are not only blocking potential attackers across the world but also limiting access to your site from across the street.

Even though this suggestion may seem more complex, due to the configuration options or plugin availability in the CMS, it may not be too hard. Look up your CMS on Google and you may be pleasantly surprised.

Bonus Tip: Select a host that performs automatic backups

In addition to choosing a host that uses automatic backups, another super helpful tip when it comes to avoiding website vulnerabilities is to find one that uses them. The frequency your website needs to be updated will be based on how frequently it is updated, but once a week or even every two weeks is usually enough for many companies.

What are the reasons for this? It’s a catch-all. Security is something you want to take seriously. You should do the best you can to protect yourself. Even if you do not miss an important security hole, automating backups is an added layer of protection.

Automated backups are excellent, but what’s better? One-touch restores from automated backups. Combine these two features, and you’ll find security for your website a lot easier to manage.

Conclusion

There is no silver bullet to ensuring the security of your website. There are various ways and methods for you to adopt. The key is to explore and conduct further research on your own. However, this list is a great starting point for you. If you are still unsure of the specific steps you wish to take, consider talking to one of our experts so we can help us curate the security architecture of your website.