Your website holds sensitive data and information that needs to be protected from hackers and online predators. But what happens if your business has an unsecured website?
As more consumers are moving into digital spaces, you must ensure that your website is protected. Read on to learn why having a secure website is more important than ever and how to make sure that it is secured and your personal information is protected.
Why You Need Secure a Website
Large companies are the main target for hackers. They are also increasingly targeting smaller companies simply because their security is easier to break. Many businesses, especially small businesses, don’t have the resources to secure their networks, or they neglect to keep their software up-to-date.
No matter the size of the business, every website is potentially vulnerable to hacker attacks which can lead to stolen credit card numbers, lost revenue, and costly repair and maintenance. The good news is there are ways to secure your website and protect it from hackers.
How Does a Website Get Hacked?
A lot of business owners with a custom website design get hacked almost every day. These hacker attacks do not always look the same as each website is designed and developed uniquely.
Some common ways hackers use to attack your website include:
Compromised Passwords
The hacker can use password guessing techniques by trying common passwords, scanning through random combinations, or trying different possible passwords until they guess the right ones.
Gibberish Hack
These can be spotted on search engines such as Google. They are auto-created pages filled with fewer keywords that grab your attention. Once clicked, they will auto direct you to a non-secure site where they can easily hack you.
Security Policy Holes
These policies guide users on how to create strong passwords, administrative access, and file uploading protocols. Security holes can happen when there are fewer security policies in place to guide users when they use the website.
Software Vulnerabilities
Most website owners do not address all of the software vulnerabilities that may pose a threat. Hackers find these vulnerabilities, such as bugs, and use them to launch attacks such as Structured Query Language (SQL) injection and others.
Insecure Themes and Plugins
These are one of the main sources of vulnerabilities on a website. When used on Content Management System (CMS), it can add value; however, when they come from third-party integrations, it is not easy to control them, hence it provides an opportunity for hackers to exploit.
Do You Have an Unsecure Website? Here’s How to Secure it
Create an SSL Certificate
This certificate, which is now one of Google’s requirements for secure websites. It allows you to secure/encrypt sensitive information and communications passing between your website and your audience.
A lack of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) puts your business at risk and may even damage your brand image. Installing an SSL is an important first step to take when you have a website offering services to gain trust with your customers and improve your user experience. Several ways you can install SSL include:
- Getting a website builder with a built-in SSL
- Getting one for free
- Or paying for an advanced SSL
Use Anti-Malware Software
If you have an unsecured website anti-malware software protects you from malicious software and keeps your data protected.
Anti-malware addresses spyware, spam, worms, and other issues that are a threat to your website security. A good web design package should include anti-malware software and look after your website’s security as part of their plan. Hence this should always be a priority when looking to choose design solutions.
Make Your Password Uncrackable
Spend few extra minutes making your password stronger and this will bring you closer to securing your information and personal data. You can also make sure your users’ passwords are secure by enforcing strong password requirements, which are not easy to guess.
Other good password practices include ensuring they are stored in encryption values or salting the password. However, high-quality content management systems come with these security features already built-in.
Keep Your Website Up to Date
Updating your website regularly helps keep it running efficiently and is vital in keeping your site secure. Updates should also include the server operating system and other software that may be running on your website, such as a CMS. These updates remove security holes that keep your entire system secure.
Website Security Checks and Tools
After you have secured your website with enough measures, it is now time to test your website security. The security tests need to be conducted daily to ensure the measures you put in place are still intact. For instance, the most effective way of doing this is by using automated website monitoring tools and website security tools (penetration test).
There are many commercial and free programs to assist you with this. They work in the same way as some of the hackers’ attacks as this helps find and identify vulnerabilities in the website that can cause threats.
Make sure to pay attention to all of the details provided from the test reports and address any threat as soon as possible to ensure you maintain your website security.
Run Regular Backups
No matter what you do, you can never avoid all the security risks. And in case the worst happens and your website gets hacked, creating regular backups provides a way to recover your database, files, content, and media from your website.
Backups are recommended to be run daily or ever so often, and the more data that is backed up, the better.
Got an Unsecure Website? We Can Help!
Now that you understand the importance of a secured website, it is time for you to implement security measures to yours. Make sure it is secured by following the tips in this blog post.
And if you are thinking of building a business website, Content First Marketing can help. We have years of experience designing affordable, high-quality websites for businesses just like yours.
Schedule a free business review here to find out how we can help design a secured website that works for you!
