8 Ways to Secure your Business Website
In this article we will be discussing the importance of securing your website, to protect it from hackers and cyber criminals. First we will discuss why you might be prone to a cyberattack, why you need to be secure, and then we will discuss the methods to prevent and secure your business website.
Reasons to attack
The main purposes that cyber criminals might attack your website can vary but it might be just to prove their power and your business’s weakness. If your business website has valuable information or monetary value, such as an online shop, they might want to gain power over it to steal information or win your sales for themselves. If your brand has enemies, beware, maybe they are trying to get back to you for revenge. Whatever the reason, you should try to find the holes in your brand and first of all secure your business website.
Why you need Security
When your website is hacked, the first thing you will lose is a reputation and your business revenue. If you have user information in your website, your customers will lose trust in you, as hackers can steal their information too. Also, your domain might become blacklisted, which means it will take a lot of time and energy to clean up. So just how you might protect your physical business office, with CCTV and other types of theft protection, you should act for securing your business website too.
How to Secure
1- Web Hosting
One of the most important ways to secure your website is to have it based in a secure hosting. In case of WordPress CMSs, we recommend using a WP-Managed hosting like Siteground. For a normal business website, the GrowBig plan is a great place to start. It includes automatic WordPress core updates and plugin updates. Also, the PHP server and MySQL database is also always up-to-date. This plan also offers security scans, as explained in point 7 of the article. Not using a secure hosting is like placing your wallet on the sidewalk for passer-by’s to pick up if they need it. The hosting service provider acts as the main container and security wall of where your website is placed. So no further comments, think twice when you want to purchase your business hosting.
2- Admin Area
Nowadays technology has advanced so much that you can tell the platform of a website by just installing a plugin like Wappalyzer. So if anyone can tell your website technology through such plugins or through the structure of your website URL, then they can access the backend URL as well. Hackers will know the backend URL of a Joomla website is /administrator as a default, or a WP website will be /wp-admin, or for a Drupal 8 is /user/login. In order to secure your business website, you can change your backend admin area URL to another phrase that cybercriminals can’t guess easily. To take extra measures, you can disable directory and file browsing through your .htaccess file as well.
3- Passwords
Careful what kind of passwords you use for your backend admin. In order to truly secure your business website, you should use passwords with over 8 characters, and usage of both small and capital letters, and numbers and symbols all combined. You can use online password generators like this one or this one to create strong passwords. Also, note to not use the default “admin” as your username.
4- Login Attempts
Limit the login attempts of your website backend so if cybercriminals are using the brute force method, they won’t be able to infiltrate. Brute force attacks are a trial and error method to find your username/password by applications used to decode your encrypted data. You can always limit login attempts with plugins like Login LockDown for WP.
5- Backups
If you have a great hosting like Siteground, as I mentioned in the first point, it will get automatic backups for you and preserve them for up to 30 days. You can always get manual backups from your website using backup plugins like Duplicator or WP-DB-Backup for WordPress CMS. Remember to store your backups in 2 locations, one on the cloud and one locally to reduce any risks.
6- Use SSL
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. As a default, a web browser uses HTTP to communicate to a web server and show you the information of a website. Now if you are entering data in a form, such as an online shop, or any other kind of information such as logins, contact info, this information is at risk. So, SSL provides a secure channel between these two devices and creates an encrypted protocol on this communication. HTTP on its own will be insecure and subject to eavesdropping attacks as the data being transferred will be plain text between the two endpoints. But SSL secures the information by encrypting it and securing it from interception. You can tell if a website is using SSL if there is HTTPS in the URL, instead of HTTP. Also you will see a padlock on the address bar.
7- Scanners
If you’re using a WP website or another CMS, there are security scanner plugins, such as the Sucuri Security Scanner which belongs to a global security firm, Sucuri Inc. with specialization in WP Security. This plugin will offer security activity auditing, file integrity monitoring, remote malware scanning, blacklist monitoring, effective security hardening, and much more.
8- Extra measures with WAF
WAF stands for Web Application Firewall (WAF) which is setting up a firewall to control traffic before the malicious traffic hits your website. A WAF will monitor, filter and block data packets that can cause harm to your website. It can be network-based, host-based or cloud based. Sucuri has a WAF/IPS plan offered here, which can be a layer of extra security on your website, protecting you from evolving threats, DDoS attacks, and other forms of hacking.
Let’s Recap
I hope this article gives you a scope of what you need to do to secure your website. In case you have a WP website, this article is also a great reference to read more. Let us know in case you have any questions or need to secure your business website.