When you own a business, your website is one of your biggest assets as it represents your brand and values on the web. A safe and secure website ensures the protection of your brand, reputation, finances, and customers.
However, identifying malware and cyberattacks is not always easy as cybercriminals are constantly coming up with new strategies to infect your website as subtly as possible.
Securing a website from a growing threat landscape that is fueled by a long-drawn pandemic and rapid digitization is nothing short of a nightmare. We’ve covered a few important website security tips that you need to follow to maintain web security.
8 Website Security Tips to Protect Your Website from Hackers:
- Install an SSL Certificate
An SSL certificate protects the data that is transferred between the client and the server. When enabled, this prevents third parties from listening in on the conversation by encrypting all the data.
In addition, SSL certificates affirm your identity and help to build customer trust which in turn leads to improved search rankings. SSL-enabled websites use HTTPs instead of HTTP, which makes them easier to recognize and trust.
- Update Plugins Regularly
Did you know that plugins are responsible for 98% of the vulnerabilities in content management systems like WordPress?
One of the best ways to avoid potential hackers is to keep your plugins always updated. This is because hackers are always scanning your website for exploitable vulnerabilities. When you install updates regularly, you’re already ahead of the hackers.
While plugins are meant to improve the website function, some of them have previously been used by hackers to inject malware into websites. So, ensure that you only install trusted plugins from reliable and reputable developers.
- Limit Login attempts
Some malicious elements attempt to login to your website with a possible combination of credentials. To improve your website security, you should limit the number of failed logins per user. This will ensure that the attempts of potential hackers trying to break into your site are blocked.
- Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Any business that has an online presence is susceptible to cyberattacks. Today, a lot of information is constantly circulating on the internet, including sensitive details like bank account details and login credentials. Only a website that is fast, robust, and secure can deliver a high-quality customer experience. Secure CDNs help to accelerate website performance while enhancing the security of the website. They are built to absorb and analyze any unusual or sudden spikes in traffic. As a result, they can prevent DDoS and botnet attacks.
- Scan for Malware
Malware is any unwanted element on your website or computer, such as a virus, trojan horse, key logger, etc. Malware can harm your website in the following ways –
- Steal sensitive data
- Slow down or crash your website
- Remove your website from search engine results
- Disrupt traffic
Sometimes, malware can stay hidden in your website, and you could discover it only when it’s already too late.
To protect your website from hackers and other malicious attacks, you’ll need a competent website vulnerability scanner that can discover vulnerabilities, malware, and a variety of other security issues. Website Scanners like Indusface WAS not only remove known malware but also search for threats regularly and notify you immediately if anything is found, limiting the amount of harm that may be done to your site.
- Prevent Spam
Spam on websites can be of various types ranging from comments, email, or search engine spam. The most prevalent form of spam is comment spam, which is a fundamental challenge that website owners deal with regularly. Bloggers and website owners frequently abuse the comment section of other websites to win a free backlink to their sites. Such irrelevant comments create a bad user experience and negatively impact the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your website.
To effectively manage comments, you must use a comment-moderation system that will allow you to review and approve comments before they are published on your website/blogging platform. For instance, content management systems like WordPress already have built-in moderation options to help prevent the appearance of spam on your site.
- Use Secure Web Hosting
Web hosting is a protected place on a server designated for your domain. It creates a dedicated place for your domain where you can store and access your files and documents at any time. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that you pick a hosting service that comes with built-in security features that can safeguard your data. While evaluating your web hosting options, don’t just pay attention to the cost, but also the reputation, reliability, and security features that are offered.
- Backup Your Website Regularly
When you’re a business/website owner, it is best to assume that attacks are inevitable and will strike someday. In the event of an unfortunate attack, backups help you to restore your site to how it was. So, the last but most important in our list of website security tips is that you must backup your website regularly. The simplest method is to back up your database and files separately so that if something goes wrong, you just have to restore one or the other.
Fortify your Website Security with Indusface
Securing your website while simultaneously managing and growing your business can be a daunting task. In addition to following the above-mentioned website security tips, choose Indusface as your managed security partner to take care of your security needs while you focus on growing your business.
With a wide range of application security services, including next-generation WAF, Bot mitigation, anti-DDoS solution, and API security, we offer comprehensive protection for your critical assets from bot attacks, DDoS attacks, and other latest threats without any dip in legitimate traffic and accelerating website performance. Sign up for a free website Security Check now to power up your website and boost your security instantly.
