Every web server with poor security controls, outdated software, misconfigurations, and overall lack of administration could be subject to numerous cyber-attacks and exploits. The increase in cyber-attacks that started in 2020 has spilled over to 2021, and the attacks are even more advanced.
If you want to stay ahead of the hackers, staying ahead of the cyber-attacks can easily turn into almost a full-time job. Fortunately, there are ways to secure your site and make it safer for users, such as taking advantage of business continuity software products. Finding a hosting provider that handles the security of their servers and your site seriously is a step that you should never skip, even if it costs more money.
Educating yourself on phishing attacks, installing SSL/TLS certificates, updating your software regularly, and making frequent backups are all crucial when it comes to keeping your website safe. Because thousands of websites get hacked daily, you should also have a disaster recovery plan, so you can mitigate any potential losses and plan your response strategy before disaster hits. Continue reading to learn more about how to keep your website safe.
Choose the Right Hosting Provider
Depending on your website’s needs, you can choose between a shared hosting plan, a VPS hosting plan, a dedicated server plan, and a cloud computing plan. Each hosting provider has unique security measures in place to make sure your site is safe while it’s online.
However, if you choose a good hosting company, all the security measures should be in place. If you chose a reputable hosting provider that uses the latest operating system and offers regular updates for their software, you could rest assured that your website will be safe. All web hosts offer backup services and tools that will enable you to roll back any changes made by hackers to your site.
The best hosting providers also offer advanced firewalls, malware protection, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and other security features that together can help you maintain a safe website.
Educate Yourself on Phishing Attacks
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data. It occurs when an attacker, who pretends to be an entity that can be trusted, tricks a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message. It’s designed to dupe people to reveal sensitive information or deploy malicious software on the victim’s infrastructure.
Phishing attacks are on the rise and growing more sophisticated, meaning that you need to be extra careful and educate yourself on how to recognize and avoid them. These attacks usually target the company’s employees and try to trick them into sending out sensitive data such as usernames, passwords, credit card information, etc. The most common way for these attacks to happen is by sending an email message that looks very similar to an official email from the company.
Install SSL/TLS Certificates
One of the best ways to protect your website is to install an SSL/TLS certificate. It will encrypt all the information sent between your server and web browser, including emails and logins. This way, hackers will not be able to steal the data and use it for their purposes.
Be aware that each certificate has a limited life span and needs to be renewed on a regular basis, meaning that you have to pay for it annually.
Update Your Software Regularly
Many website owners make the mistake of not keeping their software updated regularly. Hackers know this and use it against you, so it’s essential to keep up with updates so you won’t have any security holes in your software.
A good rule of thumb is to update your software at least once a month unless a critical security patch requires installation as soon as possible.
Make Frequent Backups
Another critical element that will help you secure your site is making frequent backups of all your data. This includes your website’s core files, as well as your databases and plugins. By doing this, you will have a recent backup of your site available at all times, so you can restore it if anything happens unexpectedly.
Be sure to keep the backups safe and accessible from any location, as well as encrypted on your web server for added security.
Disaster Recovery Plans Are Crucial
Disasters can happen at any time without warning, and your disaster recovery plan should be ready whenever something happens. By creating a disaster recovery plan, you will know how to respond when an attack takes place and what you should do afterward to mitigate the damage and repair the site as quickly as possible.
The plan will help you determine which services you should use, such as a monitoring service or a backup provider. It will also help you decide if you need a recovery plan for your entire site or just for specific elements such as your database, core files, or plugins.
Many types of disasters can occur, including but not limited to software failures, hardware failures, natural disasters (floods, hurricanes), human error (accidental deletion or overwriting), hacking attacks, and malicious activity.
The type of disaster recovery plan that works best for you will depend on the type of site you have and the amount of data that needs to be backed up. Ideally, both your web server and your off-site backups should be part of the recovery plan so you can quickly restore them after an attack or a corrupted file or database occurs.
Conclusion
When talking about cyber security, it is crucial to understand that there is no single perfect solution that will work for everyone – it should be a set of security measures. While we’ve outlined some general principles and strategies, you will likely need to tweak things to match your website and your needs. You might think that even if something happens, your company will be fine because you have insurance. However, it’s crucial to realize that while your insurance plan will pay for the damage that is done, it won’t replace lost time, corrupted or lost data, and the effort of people who created it.