How to Create a Secure Website: 7 Must-do Steps

The global threat of cybersecurity poses a constant danger to businesses and individuals. With websites falling victim to hacks daily, the consequences can be especially devastating for small businesses. As hacking techniques become more sophisticated, prioritizing website security is crucial.

Inadequate security measures expose websites to risks such as hacking, phishing, data breaches, and potential legal ramifications if client data is compromised. Small businesses are particularly vulnerable targets due to their often less robust security compared to larger corporations.

Identifying and addressing website vulnerabilities proactively is crucial to prevent exploitation by malicious actors. This proactive approach not only safeguards your interests but also protects your customers.

Table of Contents

• Why You Need To Keep Your Website Secure
  • Protecting Customer and Business Information
  • Escalating Cyber Threats
  • Revenue Loss Due to Reputation Damage
  • Expensive Cleanup
• How to Create a Secure Website
• Go for a Reliable Hosting Provider
• Install an SSL Certificate on the Website
• Use Strong Passwords
• Select a Reliable Content Management System
• Access Restrictions
• Carry out Regular Security Audits
• Carry out Regular bBckups
• Conclusion

Why You Need To Keep Your Website Secure

Protecting Customer and Business Information

In an era of extensive online activity, users entrust personal information to various platforms, including your website. Whether collecting names, email addresses, or handling transactions, a breach could expose sensitive details like payment information, addresses, and social security numbers. Prioritizing website security is crucial to safeguarding customer data against identity theft and fraudulent activities.

Escalating Cyber Threats

Cyberattacks are on the rise, with an alarming number of daily hacks. In 2021, bot traffic constituted 42.3% of internet activity, emphasizing the prevalence of cyber threats. While not every attack succeeds, the risk is significant. Employing the right technology and strategies can mitigate this risk, establishing trust and potentially boosting sales.

Revenue Loss Due to Reputation Damage

A hacked website not only jeopardizes revenue by eroding customer trust but also tarnishes your business reputation. Publicizing a data breach can lead to customer hesitation and negative publicity. Browser warnings and blacklisting further impact sales as potential customers are deterred by security concerns. Sales losses result from customer departures, compromised assets, and reduced visibility in search results.

Expensive Cleanup

Recovering from a hacked website is costly. After malware installation, the cleanup process involves hiring professionals to remove malicious code, thoroughly test the site, and ensure its safety. Proactively implementing security measures is more economical than dealing with the expensive aftermath of a compromised website.

Go for a Reliable Hosting Provider

As I will always say, the web hosting company that you choose can make or break your website. The security and the success of your website depend on the hosting provider that you go for.

Each web hosting provider will carry unique benefits that will improve your website. For instance, some web hosting companies will provide clients with features like Web Application Firewalls and Denial-of-service protection, whereas other hosts will not.

The question is, why should you choose a web hosting company that does not provide WAF and DDoS protection? The two play a very key role in averting attempted security breached to your website.

Web Application Firewalls will scan your website and monitor it for issues such as SQL injections and cross-site scripting and put in place measures to protect your website from such issues.

A reliable and capable web hosting provider will also have a data recovery plan in case of a successful data breach to your website. To create a secure website, you should consider going for a reliable web hosting provider. There are so many reliable web hosting providers available in the market you can choose from it or you can ask experts to select your web hosting.

Install an SSL Certificate on the Website

One of the most appropriate tools that have proved to be of utmost essentiality in securing digital resources and guarding essential information is the SSL certificate. Such information termed ‘vital’ includes credit card details, debit card details, financial information, health records and other personal information.

Such information is of great interest to hackers and cybercriminals. They will lay traps to try and intercept the information when in transit and use it for their own malicious purposes. When they succeed in getting hold of the information, the repercussions are severe.

An SSL certificate protects your data from being accessed by unauthorized parties. When your website has an SSL certificate, all information is transmitted through a coded format and not a plain text as will be the case when your website does not have an SSL certificate.

Apart from just offering the required level of encryption, an SSL certificate also plays other roles in your website. You have no choice but to buy an SSL certificate.

You will boost your ranking in Search Engine Results Pages and also establish trust in your business partners and customers, which is vital. So stop waiting, rise to the occasion, and buy an SSL certificate. Here is a list of best SSL certificate Providers to buy SSL certificates.

Use Strong Passwords

No cybersecurity topic can be completed without mentioning the essence of unique and strong passwords. A unique password can be defined as one of its kind which is only used on a single account. Using one password on all platforms can put you into hot soup.

All a hacker will need to do is get access to the password and he will be able to access all your platforms. Don’t create a password like your birthdate, mobile number, or any other which is easy to guess for anyone. As a password best practice, ensure that you use a different password for different platforms & make it a long password.

A strong password is one that is capable of resisting any attempts by a hacker to get past it. The following are characteristics of a strong password:

• It should be made up of both numbers, letters, and special characters.
• It should be of an ideal length- not too short to be guessed and not too long to be forgotten. About eight characters are good for a password.
• Should be original and not so obvious. For instance, using the names of your pet or your close family members looks so obvious.

Apart from protecting your website with strong and unique passwords, an extra layer of security called the multiple factor authentication can also be of great essence.

Here, apart from just using a username and a password to access your account, you will need an extra step of verification. For instance, you will have to enter a unique code or a one-time password that is sent via mail or text message.

Another form of multiple-step authentication is the use of biological tools such as fingerprints or face recognition. To make your website more secure, you should consider adding such verification steps that will prevent intruders from accessing your website.

Select a Reliable Content Management System

A robust CMS is needed when creating a secure website. It is a worthy tool that is of the essence of creating and managing content. With increasing vulnerabilities and security concerns facing websites, a robust Content Management System can be of great use in defending your website and sealing security vulnerabilities.

Numerous mainstream CMS platforms, like Joomla, WordPress & Magento are easy to use and encourage wellbeing, which makes installing modifications helpful for your development as well as your marketing staff. CMS is subject to frequent updates that target to address the security loopholes and vulnerabilities and new versions releases are all aimed at withstanding recent hackings tricks and addressing the security issues that existed in the previous versions.

Make sure your CMS is scalable. Scalability should come as an easy decision. Change is inescapable for any developing business, and changes sway your sites. Ensure you pick a CMS solution that can rapidly develop and scale as needed.

Access Restrictions

Sometimes, some of the worst data breaches are those that are brewed from within your organization. Out of ignorance or for their own malicious reasons, your employees might be the biggest enemies to the security of your website. This is why access restrictions are inevitable.

Restricting access to specific resources of the website can be of great essence in protecting errors and cyber breaches by employees.

The principle of the least privilege should apply where possible. Only those who have business with a specific component of a website should be allowed to access the website. Doing this will help reduce the insecurities caused by your employees.

Carry out Regular Security Audits

Security audits and scans will help you identify the specific vulnerable spot. You can hire the services of a security expert to undertake the security audits. You can also undertake ethical hacking which also helps to identify security hotspots. After identifying the loopholes, you will then need to put proper measures in place to seal the loopholes. So you need to carry out regular security audits to secure your website from any cyber-attacks. One of the essentials to create a secure website is to block malicious websites by implementing strong security measures such as firewalls and regularly updating anti-virus software.

Carry out Regular Backups

All these security protocols put in place do not provide your website with absolute immunity from being hacked. Hackers are clever and they will always come up with new means of carrying out their hacks.

Question is; what if they successfully manage to access your website despite the security measures that you have put in place? Here is where the essence of backups will come in.

A backup is like a contingency scheme that assures you of all your data long after a successful hack. You will be able to successfully retrieve all the data you had before the security breach took place. You should endure creating regular backups that will help you in times of uncertainties.

With Magento 2 Support & Maintenance services by Mageplaza, you’ll get a smooth and secure online store. Our experts will help you:

• Maintain your Magento website frequently to ensure the best security
• Optimize your website performance
• Install/uninstall modules and configure them
• Install new security patches per your requirement
• Audit your SEO and fix any issues that may affect your ranking on SERPs
• Upgrade and/or update your extensions

Contact our maintenance experts for free consultations now!

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Read more:

• 7 Magento security tips to keep your store safe
• Why you need an SSL Certificate for eCommerce Website?
• How to secure Magento 2 online stores
• How to do a Magento Security Audit?

Conclusion

Having a website for your business and having a secure website are two very different things. Do not just have a website because your competitors do, make sure that you create one that is capable to withstand the waves of insecurities that are now rampant.

This article gives you some insights that you can use to create a better and secure website. One measure is never enough, ensure that you use all the measures that have been mentioned in this text to strengthen the security of your website.