Businesses use their website as a means of enhancing their outreach to their customers.
As more people are going online to research various products and purchase stuff online, companies use their websites as a base for their campaigns. Hackers are always looking to attack vulnerable websites to get hold of the underlying customer data. Data breaches led to around 36 billion records being exposed in the first half of 2020.
Businesses must strive to ensure a secure website that will not lead to any data breach in the future. As you store a massive amount of customer information, hackers will always be after this data.
They try several means to get hold of this data. You must deploy several best practices to prevent any incident such from happening. This article will discuss some of the ways to protect your website.
Install security plugins
One of the benefits of using a CMS is that you can utilize various security plugins to ensure website security from hackers.
They help enhance the website’s security and prevent any hacking attempts that can threaten your website. The plugins can monitor the website continuously and suggest if there are any vulnerabilities on the site.
It can aid in detecting malware and engage in virus scanning apart from other activities to improve website security.
For example, Drupal users can choose Security Kit; Magento users can choose Amnesty, Magefence; while the WordPress users can use Wordfence, Sucuri, iThemes Security, etc.
Take regular backup
It is better to have safety precautions in place. For this reason, you must take regular backups of the website at regular intervals. While daily backups are the ideal option, you may request your IT team to decide on the ideal frequency.
Manual backups can be a problem. Hence backup plugins are the optimal option for your website. When you take backups, ensure that you create separate copies and keep them in different geographic locations. It will act as a precautionary measure during an untoward incident.
Remove form auto-fill
The form auto-fill feature can help provide a better user experience, but it can make the website vulnerable to attacks. It becomes easier for hackers as the login credentials could be there due to the auto-complete feature.
The developers should control the auto-complete feature to prevent hackers from taking control of the website. The hacker can also get hold of financial information and use it for their malicious activities.
Install SSL Certificate on your website
You must install an SSL certificate for website security from hackers. Moving to the HTTPS platform allows the communication taking place with the visitor’s browser to be encrypted.
As a result, no third party can have access to the information being exchanged. Only the designated recipient of the communication exchange can decipher the message.
E-commerce sites must move to the HTTPS platform to adhere to the PCI-DSS guidelines, which requires them to add an SSL certificate. Moreover, non-HTTPS websites are being marked as “Not Secure” by Google Chrome. SSL can be of different types and there are multiple options that offer cheap SSL certificates in the market.
There are diversified categories for SSL products like you will find cheap wildcard SSL certificates for securing the first level of subdomains, on the other hand, there is multi-domain SSL for securing different level of domain and subdomains.
Search engines are also taking website security seriously, and Google uses HTTPS as a lightweight parameter during a keyword search.
Implement Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
One of the primary ways to confirm website security from hackers is to implement two-factor authentication. It adds a device where you will receive a code for logging in to the website. The process provides a higher level of security and prevents hackers from gaining access to user accounts fraudulently.
It will ensure that only the authorized users are granted access. The 2FA methods use a biometric factor or a security token that can authorize access. You can take the help of various applications that can provide this feature for your website.
Use parameterized queries
Hackers utilize SQL injection to launch cyberattacks against websites. If you have a web form or URL parameter allowing outside information, it can lead to SQL injection.
You must protect the site from the vast amount of customer information in the database. You can use parameterized queries that can help by protecting the site from SQL injection attacks.
It is a means of pre-compiling the SQL statement, and you can then provide the parameters for the statement to be executed. The database can recognize the code and differentiate it from the input data. The user’s input is automatically quoted, while the supplied information can cause a change in the intent.
Update the applications regularly
One of the best ways to secure website from hackers is to keep the applications updated at regular intervals. Whenever there is an update in the CMS, you must migrate to the newer version.
Mostly, these versions contain security upgrades, too, and plug any vulnerabilities in the earlier version. Your IT team must activate notifications to keep them informed whenever an update is available.
If you are using themes and plugins, you must update them too. It ensures that your website is safe and all loose ends have been plugged.
You must also use premium themes that are updated frequently with new features and security processes. These updates also come with additional features that add to the features already available on the website.
Hide admin pages
As a web admin, you would not like the admin pages of the website to be indexed during a keyword search. The search engines must not list them out and must use the robots.txt to block access to the admin pages.
Conclusion
Over the years, there has been a significant increase in data breaches across different industries. The hackers target the bigger companies, but they are increasingly targeting the smaller companies. It becomes necessary to secure a website from hackers; else, you could face stringent penalties from government agencies and loss of customer trust.
While protecting your website is essential, you must also be aware of your organization’s steps and processes to prevent a data breach. You must install an SSL certificate and ensure that your employees get trained on the security processes too. We have given a few of the tips that should keep your website safe.