How to Maintain and Improve your Website Security
Understanding how to maintain website security can be more straightforward than you might think. Although SMBs are certainly targets for cybercriminals, attacks against SMBs tend to exploit known vulnerabilities. This means that taking basic security precautions is often enough to keep your website safe.
7 Security Tips for Maintaining Website Security
The are seven keys to maintaining website security. These are to make sure you choose the privacy option when you buy or renew your domain. Check your host’s security credentials. Choose your CMS with care. Implement HTTPS and SSL where appropriate. Implement two-factor authentication for your website login. Manage your accesses effectively. Sign up for a website-vulnerability scanning service.
1. Always choose the privacy option when you buy/renew your domain
When you buy a domain, you have to supply the provider with your details. Some jurisdictions demand that this information be kept private by default, but in others, you have to request it. In fact, it’s not unheard of for providers to make an extra charge for keeping these details private. If, however, you’re looking at how to maintain website security, this is money well-spent.
2. Check your host’s security credentials
Larger SMBs may host their own websites, in which case security is entirely on you. Most SMBs, however, are probably going to look for a third-party hosting provider. This is a huge industry and there are literally countless options, but only a relatively small number of these are likely to be suitable for business use, at least if you’re taking security as seriously as you should.
You also need to think carefully about whether or not you’re going to go for a shared hosting plan or a private hosting plan. In principle, a shared hosting plan is less secure because it means that an attacker which gains access to one website could gain access to other websites hosted on the same server. While this is true, it’s a relatively minor threat (assuming you have chosen a reputable host) and the cost savings can be very meaningful, especially to SMBs on a tight budget.
As a rule of thumb, the more sensitive information your website contains (and/or collects), the more you should lean towards private hosting and vice versa. If you go for shared hosting and you’re looking at how to maintain website security, then managing directory and file permissions should usually be a high priority.
3. Choose your CMS with care
If you choose an open-source CMS, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and so forth then you can basically customize it as much or as little as you want. You’ll probably find that there are all kinds of third-party customization solutions available, particularly for WordPress. If, however, you discover that none of these is to your liking, you can have your own solution made. On the flip side of this, however, your security is all on you. You won’t get any support from a vendor because there is none.
If you choose a proprietary CMS, by contrast, you’re going to be limited to what the vendor offers, but you can leave a lot of the security arrangements in their hands. Proprietary CMSs are generally provided with a hosting package and marketed as all-in-one website-building solutions. What they lack in customizability, they make up for in general user-friendliness. As such, they tend to be very popular with smaller SMBs who just want an easy route to a business-grade website.
4. Implement https and SSL where appropriate
At present, HTTPS and SSL are only necessary on particularly sensitive pages, for example, payment pages. It is, however, best-practice to use them on any page which collects information from your user, for your protection and theirs. If you can use https throughout your website, however, you will improve your security and possibly your search engine ranking.
5. Implement two-factor authentication for your website log in
TFA can vastly improve the security of a website. Remember, however, that you still need to use a strong and unique password. As an absolute minimum, change the password from the default.
Similarly, think about the authentication you use for other related services such as your hosting (if that is separate) and your FTP/sFTP server. Implement TFA there too if you can. If you can’t, at least change the password to something strong and unique.
6. Manage your accesses effectively
Keep administrator privileges for people who actually need them. As a rule of thumb, start by appointing two administrators, one main and one back-up. Everyone else gets lower-grade permissions. See how that works.
If there are challenges, look at the work-flow first (and the amount of other work undertaken by the administrators) before deciding whether you need to give more people administrative privileges.
If you have to “upgrade” someone temporarily, for example, if both of your usual administrators are out at the same time, then make sure you revoke their privileges as soon as possible. Never have them just use someone else’s username and password.
7. Sign up for a website-vulnerability scanning service
These services vary in what they offer, however, most, if not all of them will offer an anti-malware scanner and a firewall for your website applications. These can do a lot to keep your website safe.
Please click here now to have your website scanned, for free, by cWatch from Comodo.
How do I find out if a Website is Safe?
