As the internet becomes ever increasingly popular, to nobody’s surprise, so is the amount of private information that is shared over it and with this, the number of hackers and people trying to steal this sensitive information.
Even with the GDPR law implementation in 2018, many websites are still insecure and the information is still prone to be stolen and misused. Stealing information is unfortunately very common in this day and age with big corporations such as the NHS and TalkTalk being hacked and security breaches always showing up on the news.
This guide is to help you increase your website security and prevent hackers from gaining access to your website, downloading malware and stealing information.
How to protect your website
There are various website security procedures you can follow to help protect yourself from hackers. With many layers of website security, it usually means even if the hacker would manage to penetrate one of the defences there will be many more that will stop them in their tracks. Here are just a few ways you can improve your website security and protect your business:
Secure Servers
Some companies are in the belief that it is a good idea to self-host their own websites as it is a cost-effective solution and all of the website data is kept in-house. We are inclined to believe that this is not such a great idea, as these servers tend to be insecure and therefore a potential website security breach. We recommend hosting your website on a secure server that many companies, including ourselves, can provide. To read more into the different types of hosting available click here.
Strong Passwords
This may not come as a surprise to a lot of people but we cannot stress it enough the importance of strong passwords. A strong password is just not the combination of characters to make a secure chain it is also making sure it is memorable and known by as few people as possible. Your password can be the as complex as you want it to be but it means nothing if you cannot remember it. Complex passwords tend to end up being written down and placed in an easily accessible location; this, of course, does not really improve security when the details are out in the open for anyone to find and use.
Updated Software
Software is constantly being improved upon and updated to the extent of when you open the program and there is an update available you get mildly annoyed. Although once you update the software and seems that nothing has changed, the odds are something has and that something has to do with an improvement in website security to prevent any breaches. The reason software is so regularly updated is because as soon as a security flaw is located hackers will try to capitalise on the situation and will attempt to breach the software to get into your website.
Using HTTPS
You probably recognise these letters from May 2018 when the newest GDPR laws were rolled out throughout Europe, you can read more about GDPR here. If you missed the whole GDPR situation then you will still definitely recognise it from many website URLs, such as ours. Using HTTPS does more than just put a quaint little lock icon next to your website name, it also ensures that the content your website is sending is secured and cannot be tampered with or viewed by any unintended people whilst it is being sent across cyberspace.
If you are unsure on how to secure your website or want to make sure your website is on a secure server then contact us or call us on 01925 563 960 and we will move you to our servers and install a FREE SSL certificate.
Security plugins
We are big fans of WordPress here at Mosaic and with WordPress comes the vast selection of plugins available, with those comes the security plugins. There is a huge variety of different security plugins available to install such as WPMU’s Defender and Wordfence. These plugins are amazing at locating and locking down any security flaws it detects throughout your website and comes with the added feature of being able to scan your site files to detect any potentially hacked files that may have already snuck their way through your website security and breached some files.
If you’re fearful of the potential of your website being hacked and would like assistance in setting up website security and protecting you and your client’s information why not give us a call on 01925 563 960 or Contact Us to discuss how we can help you.
