How to improve Website Security (5 Tips)

Even a small data leak can result inhave major con­se­quences for a company: loss in turnover, damaged rep­u­ta­tion, lawsuits, etc. Many online shoppers trust large companies (most of them online retailers) with their personal data and sometimes even their credit card in­for­ma­tion. Cyber-attacks on online busi­ness­es occur daily, and sensitive customer in­for­ma­tion as well as important internal in­for­ma­tion should always be protected. According to the GDPR, website owners must ad­e­quate­ly secure sensitive user data. In addition to carrying out regular website security checks, there are a host of other security measures that busi­ness­es and companies alike have at their disposal.

The promise of many providers: your own website in just a few simple clicks. Nowadays, it’s easy to get your own site up and running with little IT knowledge. For blogs, stores, or news sites, there are many different web ap­pli­ca­tions currently available on the market. But aside from their con­ve­nience, content man­age­ment solutions, e-commerce systems, and forum software have something else in common: they present con­sid­er­able security risks. This is due to their open-source nature. Not only is the source code of such resources available to all users, its open system structure makes it a prime target for hackers and other cyber criminals.

If you prefer not to use a content man­age­ment system but are looking for simple tools to build your website with, a Website Builder is a good choice. Their modular struc­tures allow you to create your website step by step, without having to configure more complex set-ups. But that also means that your web service provider will be taking care of your website security. Thank­ful­ly many of the best website hosting providers include several security features with their packages.

More than 35 percent of websites online are based on the WordPress content man­age­ment system (CMS). Much like Joomla or TYPO3, the WordPress community boasts many active members. Each and every member of these CMSs has the ability to in­de­pen­dent­ly develop ex­ten­sions, plugins, modules, or templates and introduce these to the user community. This open-source approach is popular among users, not least because of cost factors. But hackers have also proven to be loyal ‘fans’ of these popular CMS programs and their plugins, as they are always on the lookout for widely used programs.

By locating weak­ness­es within these systems, cyber criminals put them­selves in a position to cause enormous damage. Phishing schemes are able to trick users into de­liv­er­ing sensitive customer data, like login or payment in­for­ma­tion. Trojans and viruses can also be implanted and in­cor­po­rat­ed into drive by downloads, a ploy that involves getting users to un­know­ing­ly download malware, which is later used for spamming. Such viruses can lead to server outages and cause extended periods of downtime, sub­stan­tial­ly affecting turnover in the process.

Some of the con­se­quences of in­ad­e­quate website security are:

• Misuse of data
• Identity theft
• Damaged rep­u­ta­tion
• Loss of turnover
• Lawsuits

Gaps in security can be closed before any sort of damage occurs. The key here is making sure that you notice such instances before online criminals do. A website security check is the first step of this process, and there is a wide array of providers that can help you on this front:

• SIWECOS
• virus­to­tal
• WordPress Security Scan

In order to check a website’s security, most providers begin by carrying out what’s known as a pen­e­tra­tion test. These tests simulate hacker attacks (e.g. an unau­tho­rized system intruder) to find potential vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties within the system.

1. Stay up to date

The internet community is con­stant­ly de­vel­op­ing and updating open-source solutions. Bugs and security gaps are found quickly and usually removed even faster. De­vel­op­ment teams are only able to profit from these quick reactions if their system is always main­tained according to the latest standards. Many CMS solutions offer automatic update plugins for in­stal­la­tion. With the Easy Update Manager for WordPress or SP Upgrade Joomla extension for Joomla, it’s easy to keep these systems up to date, which in turn boosts website security. Given that plugins and other add-ons are separate programs them­selves, these also have to be pe­ri­od­i­cal­ly checked for updates.

Even if you’ve con­fig­ured your website without the help of a CMS, you should check for regular updates. PHP or MySQL should always be kept up-to-date to avoid open doors for hacker attacks.

2. Regular backups

Despite careful pre­cau­tions, some hackers still manage to find a way to discover and exploit security gaps. Once this step has been reached, they’re able to do con­sid­er­able damage to whomever they target. Data espionage and misuse of data aren’t the only con­se­quences to be wary of; many hackers go to great lengths to cover their tracks, and this can sometimes even involve erasing entire databases. This is why it’s so important to regularly back up data. Doing this serves as a double pre­cau­tion of sorts, as it’s possible to overwrite in­di­vid­u­al­ly aligned system files even with standard updates. Regularly updating all data is an absolute ‘must’ for any company serious about security concerns. Helpful plugins are also available for this step. For WordPress, many different plug-ins are available and other CMSs can be extended using relevant plug-ins and ex­ten­sions to make a full website backup easy. If you’re not using a CMS, you can save your server content manually on an external drive or use tools like rsync.

3. Secure login data

While the im­por­tance of selecting a secure password may seem obvious at first, the internet’s most popular password serves as a painful reminder that, for many, it isn’t. ‘password’ and ‘123456’ were revealed to be the most popular passwords for many. Making matters worse, suggested usernames like ‘Admin’ or ‘Ad­min­is­tra­tor’ are also adopted by many system users. Those who adopt such thought­less security settings are making them­selves es­pe­cial­ly vul­ner­a­ble to hackers. For both passwords and usernames, it’s best to follow these simple rules of thumb: no real names or simple and easy-to-remember com­bi­na­tions should ever be used.

A secure password requires a random arrange­ment of character strings.

4. Stay informed

Those striving to protect their site from hackers and other attacks should always stay informed about the latest dangers and security gaps plaguing the cyber world. The first point of contact for this is, of course, the cyber community that you’re a part of. There are countless threads on the topic of cyber security in most forums. Here, members discuss possible security risks, how to identify them, and ideally, remove them as well. For in­for­ma­tion on current news, back­ground articles, and forums, sites like computer.org or Wired are good places to start.

5. HTTPS and SSL cer­tifi­cate

HTTPS secures the exchange of sensitive data on the internet. With the help of SSL (Secure Socket Layer), data exchanges occurring between servers and clients are encrypted. This makes it difficult for hackers to transfer or intercept data. These cer­tifi­cates are available on multiple websites (e.g. GeoTrust). Many hosting providers also include them in web hosting packages or offer them for an ad­di­tion­al fee. Another advantage is that users are able to recognize the website security cer­tifi­cate as such by the ‘padlock symbol’ in the browser and the https transport protocol.

The first step in not giving hackers the chance to cause harm requires regularly checking the security of your website. A security check is a good start and should be carried out in periodic intervals. Cyber criminals are always looking for security flaws that they’d be able to exploit. Ensuring that your system is up to date decreases the risk of intruders gaining unau­tho­rised access. Certain con­di­tions may warrant con­sult­ing the advice of an IT expert. Last but not least, it’s important to make sure that your own team is well aware of the dangers lurking in cyber space; an un­in­formed coworker may just prove to be the weak link of an otherwise well-thought out security strategy.