Data breaches and hacks are getting common nowadays. You might think that it’s only for the big companies. Well, it’s not the case. Data breaches also happen to small businesses.
If you recently own a start-up business website, you might have been working so hard for it. Note that it’s also important to protect your website.
With this, read more if you want to protect your website from hackers with our step-by-step guide. However, before you follow it, have your website tested by reputable website testing services to ensure every aspect is working. In this way, you won’t have to waste time following the steps below.
Step 1. Select a Solid and Reputable Website Host
We all know it. Choosing a strong website host is the foundation of a secure website. If your website host website has backdoor access, what’s the purpose of having a strong password anyway?
We all tend to go for the most affordable route when buying a hosting website. However, your website is one of the most valuable assets your business could have. Rather than focusing on the cost, you should look for solid security features when you’re searching for a website host. If you want to take a look at one of the best hosting companies that have a great reputation.
Step 2. Consider Installing Security Plugins
Another way of protecting your website is by installing security plugins that prevent website hacks. A website has a content management system with security plugins available, and most of them are free. Some of them include:
1) fail2Ban
2) Antivirus Website Protection
3) Bulletproof Security
4) Watchdog Pro
5) iThemes Security
This list addresses the vulnerabilities of security that are present in every website platform. Thus, blocking every hacking attempt that could potentially threaten your website.
Whether you have a CMS from WordPress, Magento, or Joomla, installing a security plugin is worth investing in for your business website.
Step 3. Update Your Website and Software from Time to Time
Using a Content Management System with installed plugins and extensions offers many benefits. However, it has downsides.
One of the reasons website infections happen is because of these additional plugins. The reason is, some of these tools are open-source software programs that make their code easily accessible – both for good-natured developers and malicious hackers.
Because of this, you need to make sure your installed plugins, apps, content management system, and scripts should be up-to-date.
Step 4. Use Strong Passwords
Don’t just create a password such as 123456 for your website. You should do better than that. In this way, you could prevent login attempts from hackers.
Make an effort to generate a solid and secure password, or you could use a password generator. Aside from making it long, use special characters, letters and numbers.
You should also steer clear from easy-to-guess passwords such as birthday, name, or phone number. This is particularly important because if a hacker obtains information from you, he knows what password to use.
Especially if you have a team accessing your website, inform them to use similarly strong passwords. Besides, one weak password could make your website susceptible to data breaches.
Make sure to set high standards for your passwords because we’re talking about your business, literally.
Step 5. Utilize SSL Certificate
You might probably be seeing SSL certificates on various website platforms. They are used for multiple e-commerce sites where users provide sensitive payment information for purchasing goods or services.
Simply put, an SSL certificate will provide your website with a secure connection when transferring data on the internet.
Data uses a “plain text” to move back and forth. However, with an SSL certification, they will encrypt the plain text data, protecting it from hackers that could lay hands on your website. Hence, they are helpful for security and easy to set up.
On the other hand, it’s important to note that you should not overlook the login forms to your website when using an SSL certificate. If a hacker can intercept “plain text” login information, you’re out of luck.
Step 6. Restrict the Use of Admin Logins to Certain IPs
Another tip to secure your business website is by restricting your admin portal to specific IP ranges. This type of restriction allows you to block potential attackers from anywhere in the world while limiting access from random strangers.
While this step is a bit advanced, it’s not that difficult due to plugin availabilities and CMS configuration options. You might do a bit of research, but the time you invest in it is worth it.
Step 7. Use Automatic Backups
After you do the steps above, you’re still vulnerable to risks. Your website can lose its data after someone hacks it just because you forgot to do a backup. After all, a backup is the best way to protect your website.
A data breach is undoubtedly stressful. For this reason, recovering your website should be an easy task when you perform a backup. Make sure to backup to your website regularly. Or, you can invest in automatic backups to save time.
Conclusion
These steps will surely make your business website secure. Use a solid host, password, SSL certificate, update your software, and so on.
There are also other ways to enhance the security of your website, and this list is just the starting point.
Good luck with your business website, and we hope you find our tips helpful to secure it in the best way possible.
