Top 7 factors to focus on when Website Security is First Priority

Website Security is First Priority

As we move ahead with technology, the dark web rears its ugly head now and then. The risks faced by your website security is tremendously high now. According to Varonis, 4.1 billion records were exposed to hackers in the first six months of 2019.

You can thus imagine the magnitude of risk faced by you! Here, website security plays an important role and an SSL certificate should be on your website to secure moving data between the server and the browser.

A data breach affects not only your customers. It affects your ordinary course of business and could lead to significant losses through lawsuits, government penalties, and above all, loss of reputation and, thereby, customers.

Varonis has further reported that despite data security laws like the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act, organizations continue to store vast amounts of sensitive data that is not required in the ordinary course of business.

Buy SSL Certificate for your website security

If you are worried about your SEO rank, it is time that you shifted to an HTTPS site. This is because search engines, led by Google, are penalizing non-HTTPS websites by giving preference to the HTTPS websites while ranking.

So, it is time to procure an SSL certificate like Comodo EV SSL to get the most robust protection for your website and activate the visible indicators on the browser.

An SSL certificate will ensure encryption of the communication between your web server and the visitor’s browser. The EV SSL certificate will provide trust and assurance apart from strong encryption capabilities.

Use captcha in your websites

The use of bots in filling online forms has increased drastically. There have been instances when zealots have used forms or online surveys to insert wrong data and make surveys useless. It has also been used by hackers to bypass the verification system and run havoc using a bot.

There has been a data breach at Target, and during an audit, it was found that one of their vendors did not have a mechanism to find out bots that had somehow gone into the system. The use of a captcha will allow you to check and verify whether only humans are entering your site.

Start using website security tools

You need to monitor unauthorized access to your website and monitor the security of your website. If you are using a WordPress website, you download some of the best WordPress security plugins. You can use the plug-ins to harden your login page, making it difficult for hackers to log in to the back end of your site.

The plug-ins can hide the error message or limit the number of login attempts. Some plug-ins can also change the database prefix making it difficult for cybercriminals to access your database.

Update your applications and plug-ins frequently

It is not advisable to use free WordPress and plug-ins. One of the reasons is that free applications are not updated on an ongoing basis. It could lead to severe issues in your security framework.

You should update your themes as well as the periodic WordPress updates. And, all the plug-ins you deploy for your website. This is because the updates come with any security improvements that plug the gaps left by the earlier versions.

It would help if you turned on the notifications to get an alert when any such updates are in place. It will be easy to install the updates if you are using WordPress as your CMS. Otherwise, your IT team needs to devise ways to download the updates and ensure the applications are updated.

Devise smarter passwords

You must deploy a globally acceptable smart password policy. It should apply across your company covering all employees. To ensure that a strict password policy is followed for entry into your office network also.

Having a strong password could prevent the brute force attacks that wreak havoc across networks. It would help if you were shocked to know that most passwords that people use are easily hackable. It would help if you utilized a mix of alphabets, numbers, and special characters in your password.

See Also: Make PDF file password protected

Also, it becomes necessary to change your password frequently. According to a finding by Varonis, around 61% of all companies have a non-expiring password. It increases the risks of the hacking manifold. There must be a strict policy to change passwords frequently, or at least, every three months.

Using two-factor authentication improves security

It provides an additional layer of protection to identify whether it is the authorized person who is trying to access the network. Moreover, it will require a code to be sent to the hand-held device that you have registered with the system.

It will prevent any unauthorized access, thereby minimizing the risk to your website. It is also cost-effective to add another security layer for your website and other applications.

Take periodic backups

It would help if you took regular backups for your website. While you will not want your website to get hacked, you must stay prepared for the worst. Having a backup will allow you to have the website up and running within a short period. It is therefore suggested to have a reliable backup policy in your overall IT strategy.

See Also: Hard Drive cloning software for backup

It is also necessary to store the backups taken in another geographical location. Moreover, it will also minimize the risk of any natural calamity.

Conclusion

Your website is your presentation to your target market. It helps you to reach out with your targeted messages. However, according to a study by SSL Labs, only 23.9% of sites surveyed were secure. It only increases the risk of your site being hacked.

In this article, we have listed out some of the necessary steps that you can take to improve the security of your website. It is essential to follow these simple steps for the sake of your site. These steps will ensure that cybercriminals will find it difficult to break into your website.