How to keep website secure and safe

  • -

How to keep website secure and safe

Although your website may currently contain vulnerabilities that leave it at risk for a data breach or a cyberattack, there are a few things you can do today to make it safer. Here are ten of them.

Encrypt Sensitive Data with SSL

If your website handles sensitive information such as credit card numbers or social security numbers, then you’ll want to ensure it has an SSL certificate. What does that mean? It means moving from the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) to the HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure).

So, instead of your website URL looking like this: “http://mywebsite.com,” it will look like this: “https://mywebsite.com.” This means you’re adding an encryption layer of TLS (Transport Layer Security) or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to your HTTP, which will make your users’ and your own data even more secure from hacking attempts.

 Manage Your Directories and File Permissions

Every website is made up of files and folders that are stored in a server that’s hosting it, inside directories. To keep this information safe, each file and folder should have certain levels of permission that keep them safe and secure. Each file and folder should specify who can read, write, and execute it.

 Strengthen Access Control

Admins for your website should always use passwords that can’t be easily guessed when they’re accessing your control panels and dashboards or content management systems. Make sure their passwords are over eight characters in length and that the passwords contain diverse characters (i.e., one number, one capitalized letter, etc.). In addition, make sure their user names aren’t simple and easy to spot like “admin01,” and that they change their passwords regularly.

And consider implementing two-factor authentication for users who log in to your site. Two-factor authentication requires them to enter two pieces of information to access your site such as a password and a PIN, security code or question, etc.

Prevent SQL Injections and Cross-Site Scripting

An SQL injection is one of the most common ways a hacker can infiltrate a database attached to a website. If you have a web form or URL parameter that allows outside users to supply any information they want, then hackers can insert code into your website forms that allows them to hack into your databases with sensitive customer and company information that are linked to those forms.

To protect against this, establish parameterized queries that prevent hackers from inputting anything they want into the form fields on your website, and remove form auto-fill. Read this detailed post by W3 Schools for more information about what SQL injections are and how you can prevent them from happening.

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is like SQL injections except it involves hackers using a web application to send malicious code, generally in the form of a browser side script, to a different end user from a site that’s trusted. Some malicious scripts can even write HTML code on a webpage.

You can prevent this from happening by using a Content Security Policy (CSP) on your website, which allows you to specify and validate which domains your content and scripts should always come from. To learn more about how you can prevent XSS, consult this detailed source provided by the Open Web Application Security Project.

Pay Attention to Network Security

If you host your website on your own servers, then you must ensure hackers can’t infiltrate your networks on a minute-to-minute basis. In addition to having users frequently update their passwords, you should ensure each device plugged into the network is scanned for malware constantly and that logins expire after a certain length of inactivity.

If your website is hosted through a third-party, you’ll want to ensure they have 24/7 security for their servers. And you’ll want to verify they have ample security plugins and software available as well.

Back Up Your Site and Files Regularly

Back up all your files and systems every single day, multiple times throughout the day. Whenever a server you rely on backs up your files and information, it should save it in multiple locations for security (i.e., in cloud-based servers, external hard drives, etc.). Eventually, every hard drive and piece of hardware will fail or malfunction, so be sure you have all your critical website files backed up. Otherwise, you are at risk of losing critical components and files that are currently keeping your website safe and readable.

Keep Everything Updated

Whether you build a website from scratch or use a state-of-the-art website builder, you need to verify that everything on or connected to your website is updated at all times. It’s easy to ignore automatic updates for the software and systems you access, but hackers scan websites on an ongoing basis to see what sites don’t have the latest updates or bug fixes for their software, plugins, databases, etc.

If you aren’t using certain plugins or software integrations anymore, then delete them from your control panel and website. And always schedule updates for your software and systems on a rolling basis so they’re always running the latest and greatest versions.

Read more The most important website matters you need to care about

_______________________________________________________________________________

Please contact us for seo service packages at TDHSEO.COM.

TDHSEO Team

Email: tdhseo@gmail.com
Skype: tdhseo
https://www.facebook.com/tdhseo

Thank you!


  • -

Ways to protect your website

You need to protect your site, valuable data, and online assets from hackers and other tech-savvy thieves. This guide will show you how to protect your website, data, and business from ransomware attacks and other security breaches.

1. Employ Best Practices for Your System Updates, Logins, and Email

Robust website and business security starts with implementing best practices and sound preventative measures, system-wide, to keep attackers and other bad actors out. This means securing what you control. You need to:

a) Automate Your Operating System Updates

Today’s hackers know that many SMBs and individuals overlook updating their computer systems’ operating software. Many count on this to launch their attacks, as seen in the 2017 WannaCry ransomware outbreak stated above, which exploited a known Windows operating systems issue.

All users who had updated their Windows OS before the attack were secure. Unfortunately, such attacks can bring down entire websites, networks, businesses, governmental systems, and other institutional systems. The fix involves setting up automatic updates that will install the latest security patches and updates.

b) Update Your Website Platform and Software

You also need to update your content management system, apps, scripts, and plugins. The code of many of these tools is easily accessible to both malicious hackers and well-intentioned developers since they are created as open-source software programs. For instance, if your website runs on a WordPress platform, your base installation and any third-party plugins you have installed are potentially vulnerable unless you regularly update to the newest versions.

c) Use Strong Passwords

Creating strong passwords can protect your website by preventing access to hackers. Secure passwords are long and have a mix of special characters, letters, and numbers. Always refrain from using easy-to-guess keywords or personal information, and never use the same password across multiple online platforms. Also, ensure that everyone with access to your website use similarly strong passwords.

d) Use Multiple-Factor Authentication

You can also decide to use multiple-factor authentication where your admins, contributors, and employees with access to your website’s backend must enter a valid user ID, password, and a unique authenticator number.

e) Secure Your Email Systems and Procedures

Infected email attachments cause a large number of hacks, data breaches, and network attacks. Despite email security protocols such as spam guards and virus scans, hackers are still creating new ingenious ways to gain access to your email and infect your computer systems. You need to implement best practices that include employee scrutiny and education, as well as automated scans.

2. Use Parameterized Queries

SQL injections are a common website hack. Your website is susceptible if your web form or URL parameter allows outside users to supply information. Leaving these parameters fields too open can give someone access to your database by inserting code into them.

You must protect your website from this vulnerability because your database holds a lot of sensitive customer data. To protect yourself from SQL injection attacks, you need to implement the use of parameterized queries to ensure that your code is secure enough to prevent hackers from messing with it.

3. Use Content Security Policy (CSP)

Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attacks are another common threat you need to consider. These attacks occur when a hacker slips malicious JavaScript code onto your website pages, which can infect the pages of all your website visitors who are exposed to the code. Similarly to SQL injection attacks, using parametrized queries can ensure that any code you use for fields or functions that allow input to remain as explicit as possible to leave no room for hackers to slip in anything.

Content Security Policy (CSP) is another tool that can help protect your website from XSS attacks. It allows your site admin to specify the domains that browsers should consider valid executable scripts’ sources when on your page. Therefore, the browser pays no attention to malware or malicious script that may infect your visitor’s computer. Using CSP requires you to craft and add proper HTTP headers to your webpage that provide a string of directives that tell browsers which domains are okay and any exceptions to consider.

4. Protect Your Website, Systems, and Data from Malware

Business websites and online stores are susceptible to malware attacks. Ergo, you need to add malware protection to your site with automated alerts and updates. Remember that, unlike top online platforms such as Shopify or BigCommerce that use top-notch security against data breaches and malware, many hosting services do not protect you from malware. Thus, you need to add malware prevention security to prevent attacks, infections, defacements, SEO spam, and hacker ransoms.

5. Use an SSL Connection Site-wide

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate ensures the security of the online connection between your website and your users. SSL provides that all information that passes between browsers and servers is encrypted and transmitted securely. This prevents eavesdroppers and hackers from intercepting and accessing data in transit between users’ browsers and web servers.

6. Set Up Site Backups

Website backups are critical to the protection of your data from hackers, administrator errors, and loss. You need to contact your e-commerce platform or hosting provider to inquire if they provide automatic backup services. If not, you need to ensure that you either own backups or find a third-party service.

Read more: How to protect website from Google Fred Algorithm

_______________________________________________________________________________

Please contact us for seo service packages at TDHSEO.COM.

TDHSEO Team

Email: tdhseo@gmail.com
Skype: tdhseo
https://www.facebook.com/tdhseo

Thank you!