With all the news spreading about hacker attacks and phishing schemes, boosting your website’s security should be a top priority in order to protect your information and your business. This doesn’t mean going back to school to learn about basic cryptography or buying the latest, state-of-the-art security software that will have you spending thousands. Sometimes, the things you need to do it are the simplest ones.
Your apps have their own security in place. It is crucial that these apps stay updated not only to keep up with the different changes to the software, but also to improve their security. Most hackers will specifically target any flaws that your apps may have. Keeping your apps up-to-date will certainly patch up those holes in your apps’ security.
Always keep your passwords strong. This doesn’t mean having to encrypt all your passwords. This just means making sure you use a variety of characters for each password. Hackers make use of sophisticated software that use brute force to crack passwords. In order to protect yourself from brute force attacks, include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols on your passwords and enforcing this policy throughout the entire organization.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Encryption allows the sharing of sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and login credentials over your network securely. Anything intercepted throughout an encrypted network will be meaningless to them. By installing SSL Encryption, you are able to protect any private data passed through your network.
When choosing a web hosting platform, it is important to consider the host’s reputation, especially in terms of website security. Have they been vulnerable to attacks in the past? Did they act on their vulnerabilities? Are they even aware of threats? These are the types of questions that you need to ask yourself when getting your site hosted because it is an essential component in keeping your site secure.
Just like your applications, your website should be kept clean, as well. This means deleting old files, databases, or applications from your website that are no longer in use or outdated. This eliminates any potential point-of-entry for any hacker. It is also important to organize your file structure to make it easier to track any changes and delete old files.
Regularly perform web security scans to look for website and server vulnerabilities. These should be performed on a regular routine schedule and after any change has applied to your web components. This helps you find and correct any potential vulnerabilities in your system.
You should regularly back up your site in order to keep a copy of everything in your site in case of inaccessibility or data loss. Your web host provider should provide backups of their own servers, but you should still backup your own files regularly.