Company websites are becoming more and more important as the amount of time spent shopping online increases. However, this also serves to make them an increasingly attractive target for hackers. Therefore, you need to put all the proper security measures in place to ensure that your site is protected. If you are not really sure where to begin with this, the following blog post presents you with a few of the most common ways that you can keep your site and your customers safe.
Keep Informed
Knowledge is power in this world. Therefore, you need to keep updated with current hacking threats and where you need to protect your site. Even if you have a security team or an external manager who is in charge of monitoring this for you, it is still worthwhile having a good level of knowledge yourself. There is plenty of information available online, and it makes sense that you try to follow this as closely as possible. This includes everything from proper firewall security to the importance of strong passwords.
Update All of Your Software
While it may seem that your programs are constantly asking you to make updates, there is a reason for this. Often, they are responding to the latest threats out there and putting in place security measures for you. So, rather than seeing updates as an annoying distraction that prevent you from working, you should see them as a priority instead. After all, you can always set them to install during your non-working hours, so there is no need for them to cause any sort of disruption.
Tighten Up Your Network Security
Your website servers may be providing an easy route in for hackers. Therefore, it is particularly important that you keep your servers properly protected. There are a few things to ensure. First of all, logins should expire after a period of inactivity. Next, your passwords need to be changed on a regular basis, and every time a new password should be used and it needs to be ranked strongly. Also, you should never write these down and leave them in a place that can be easily accessed. When you attach a new device up to your network, you should always make sure that it is scanned to seek out any malware that may be lurking.
Install a Strong Firewall
Your firewall can either be software or hardware based. Either way, it is designed to read the data that passes between your server and the data connection. Many of the modern firewalls are cloud-based, which means that you pay a regular monthly subscription fee on them. Essentially, they monitor all traffic coming in. Once you have a strong firewall installed, this helps to provide you with the peace of mind that you know hacking attempts are being blocked and unwanted traffic is being diverted away from your website.
Consider Security Applications
While they are often not considered to offer as much protection as firewalls, security applications can serve to make it more challenging for hackers to get their hands on what they are looking for. Some of them can help to protect against the kind of automated hacking tools that are designed to seek out specific vulnerabilities on websites.
Use SSL
An encrypted SSL serves to transfer personal information between a website and database. Essentially, this prevents the data from being read when it is transitioning. Also, a lot of people who are in the know see the SSL badge as a mark of authenticity and trust – if you do not have it you may find that customers immediately leave your website.
Hide Your Admin Pages
Your admin pages are for your own use and you do not want these to be listed by search engines. Therefore, you should keep these hidden and stop them from becoming indexed. This way, it is going to take much more of a sustained effort from the hackers to find them.
Limit Your File Uploads
Another step that you can take to protect the integrity of your website is to limit the files that can be uploaded. Hackers can often upload bugs to them, which can lead to hackers accessing the data from your site.
These are just a few of the current ways that you can prevent hackers from accessing the private data on your website. However, going back to the point made at the start, there are new methods coming out all the time. Therefore, you need to be the one who remains on top of the current information flow. In this way, you can make the necessary tweaks and adjustments to your website that can play such a significant role in keeping your site protected from people with malicious intentions. Not only is this important for your business, but it is also a duty that you have to your customers to keep their information safe and private.
