The impact of attacks on your website and the potential for data breaches cannot be underestimated. In less severe scenarios, these incidents may pose major inconveniences, diverting your attention from business growth. However, in more dire situations, they can result in significant financial losses, severely hamper your business operations, and even lead to legal repercussions.
Even if you think your website has enough security measures, it is essential to take proactive measures toward maintaining site security and establishing a robust web gateway. Strategic planning and the implementation of preventive measures represent the most effective approach to reducing potential security issues on your website. In this blog, we’ll discuss some ways you can maintain your website security.
Set Up and Verify Your SSL Certificate
Why is it Important?
All reputable websites have a small padlock icon beside the web address in the browser’s address bar. This is one indicator that the website has an SSL certificate and is secure.
An SSL certificate encrypts the data that is transmitted between a user’s device and your website. This helps protect sensitive information such as logins, personal information, and payment information. It also sends a message to browsers that your website is secure and trustworthy which makes them feel more comfortable filling out forms and making purchases on your website.
How to set it up
While many website developers include SSL certificates in their premium plans, if you opt not to hire a website builder, you’ll need to install your own SSL certificate.
The first step is purchasing an SSL certificate. Make sure you select a reputable certificate authority (CA), there are both free and paid licences available. Once you have purchased it, you need to login to where your website is hosted and create a certificate signing request (CSR). Next, submit the CSR certificate to your CA. Your CA will ask you to verify you own your domain; this can be done either through email verification or uploading a specific document. Once you have verified the domain, you can then install your SSL certificate.
Lastly, you must verify your SSL. This step is crucial as failure to do so may result in your visitors encountering a “your connection is not private” message, adversely affecting your site’s visitor numbers.
Firewall Configurations
Why is it Important?
Installing anti-malware and firewall software is one of the simplest and most effective methods to secure your website. This approach shields your website from a range of cyber threats, including malware infections and unauthorized access attempts.
How to set it up
Select a reputable provider of anti-malware or firewall software, proceed to install the chosen solution, and configure it as per the provided instructions. By taking this measure, you create a defence mechanism, fortifying your website against potential security breaches and enhancing its overall protection. Remember, investing in reliable anti-malware and firewall solutions is an essential aspect of maintaining the security and integrity of your online presence.
Guard Your Website Against DDoS Attacks
Why is it Important?
Protecting your website against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks is crucial in today’s digital landscape, where such attacks are becoming increasingly common. A DDoS attack involves numerous compromised devices flooding a website or online service with a high volume of traffic, overwhelming its resources and rendering it inaccessible.This can cause significant downtime, loss of revenue, and damage to a company’s reputation.
How to Avoid DDoS Attacks
Using a DDoS protection service or firewall will detect and mitigate DDoS attacks by filtering through website traffic and only allowing legitimate visitors to access your website. Additionally, employ traffic monitoring and analysis tools to identify potential attacks promptly. By taking these proactive measures, website owners can improve their defences and ensure the uninterrupted availability of their online platforms in the face of DDoS challenges.
Opt for Secure and HTTP-Only Cookies
Why is it Important?
Cookies are small pieces of information exchanged between your website and its visitors that help you remember key details about individual users. They aid in expediting future interactions and creates a personalized browsing experience for your users.
To enhance the security of your site, you must implement HTTP-only cookies. This ensures that all data transmitted between your website and visitors is encrypted. Furthermore, it restricts access to your cookies from client-side scripts, effectively minimizing the vulnerability to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. By adopting this measure, you contribute to safeguarding the integrity and confidentiality of user data during interactions with your website.
How to set it up
The first step is to enable the HTTPs and make sure your entire website uses HTTPs to encrypt data transmission. When creating cookies, set the secure attribute. This ensures that cookies are only sent over HTTPS connections. Lastly, make sure that you apply the HttpOnly attribute to your cookies. This makes them inaccessible to JavaScript and this more resistant to XSS attacks,
Consistently Perform Website Backups
Why is it important?
While it may seem straightforward, consistently backing up your website serves as an excellent defence against various attacks. It safeguards your data and maintains business continuity in the event of a security breach, data loss, or compromise of your website. By having recent backups readily available, you can easily restore your website to a previous, secure state should any security incidents arise.
It’s crucial to back up both website files such as HTML files, scripts, stylesheets, multimedia content, and other files your website uses, as well as databases.
How to set it up
In order to set up an automated backup, you need to find a reliable backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or Vaultpress. Next, set up the backup frequency, choose what files you would like to backup and where you would like to shore the backup.
Regularly Check for Website Vulnerabilities
Why is it important?
Employing automated tools for vulnerability scanning proves beneficial in identifying potential issues and weaknesses within your website code, configuration, or server settings. Utilize tools like Detectify or StackHawk to effectively highlight potential concerns. Alternatively, you may choose to collaborate with a website security expert to ensure a comprehensive assessment of your website’s security posture.
Ensure the Security of User Data and Inputs
Why is it important?
Protecting your website against SQL injections is crucial in preventing security breaches and protecting sensitive data. This will not only help safeguard sensitive user information such as personal and financial data, but also help maintain user trust and confidence in your website security.
Methods to protect your website
To protect your website against such threats, consider the following measures:
Implement Thorough Data Input Validation: Adopt data input validation procedures to scrutinize and authenticate user inputs effectively.
Utilize Prepared Statements for Parameterized Queries: Employ prepared statements for parameterized queries to thwart SQL injection attacks. This method separates SQL code from user input, preventing malicious code injection and enhancing the overall security of your website.
Regularly Update and Patch Your Website’s Software: Stay vigilant in keeping your website’s software up to date by applying regular updates and patches.
By implementing these measures, you significantly enhance the security of your website against SQL injection threats, contributing to a more secure online environment.
Partner with GlobeSign
At GlobeSign, we understand that the digital world is constantly changing, and with it, the nature of cyber threats. Our commitment to staying ahead of these changes, coupled with our comprehensive maintenance services, ensures that our clients’ websites are not just operational but secure and resilient in the face of cyber threats. In essence, partnering with GlobeSign means investing in peace of mind and the assurance that your digital presence is in safe, expert hands.
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