Thousands of business websites get hacked every day. Website security is highly worrying because every business has an online presence. Without a website, you would struggle to attract the right consumers to your brand.
Approximately 46% of cyber security attacks target small businesses.
This means that everyone is a target for hackers, whether you are a large corporation or an individual site owner building a new company. Here are the details you need to know about protecting customer data and strengthening your business site.
Why Is Website Security Important?
All websites are prone to get attacked. This can happen anywhere and anytime. Many firms are under threat because hackers do not have a specific site in mind when they execute an attack.
Unless you are Elon Musk, you will only get explicitly targeted by a hacker if they need something only you can provide. So, cybercriminals use a series of programs.
These programs can automatically detect vulnerabilities in your business website. This is dangerous because you may not be aware of any vulnerabilities.
Hackers can steal website data and slow down all your pages if you are not careful. They can also steal sensitive customer data, such as credit or debit card information, phone numbers, and addresses.
Therefore, web security is more important than ever to protect your brand and website reputation.
It would help to ramp up your website’s security to prevent shutting down your business or coping with significant financial loss. When you protect your site’s reputation in terms of safety, you can retain long-term customers and site visitors.
Website Security Best Practices
Below are the website security measures you must take to protect your brand and customers’ sensitive information.
Since cyber-attacks are growing in speed and sophistication, businesses must focus more on when an attack can compromise their website. It is no longer a matter of “if a website attack will happen.”
Use HTTPS Protocols
HTTPS protocols should be a number one priority for all business website owners. These are crucial to help ensure communication between a client and a web server.
They also significantly improve basic security standards for your pages. The best thing is that an HTTPS protocol reassures users that all the communications done through the site are secure.
It basically tells your web visitors that the information they view or request from the server cannot be altered or intercepted by outside parties. Web browsers like Google Chrome also mark sites without HTTPS security protocols are “unsafe.”
So, whenever visitors access a website without HTTPS security protocols, they will receive a notification to inform them that the site is not secure. This usually deters people from visiting the site.
They may fearfully click away and never come back. If your site gets marked as unsafe, you risk losing hoards of potential customers. Your website will have fewer online customer interactions, so your products will never fly off the shelves.
Having HTTPS security keeps hackers at bay, so they cannot access any of the codes used to develop your website. Finally, an HTTPS protocol can also enhance your website’s SEO rankings.
This is because Google uses HTTPS security measures to reward sites that comply. Those sites then rank higher in search results to attract more customers.
Your business should deploy a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. This will encrypt all the communication between a web user and a server to ensure visitors feel safe.
Regular Software Updates
When it comes to cyber security and customer data, nothing is safe. It would be best to always be on your guard to prepare for ninja attacks. So, your website must use various software tools to run effectively.
These tools include content management systems, WordPress software, website plugins, and so much more. Updating your software tools is crucial to ensuring website security.
Besides fixing some bugs and glitches, you need proper software updates. It is critical to install the latest patches and security measures.
Otherwise, hackers can identify and target outdated software tools. Then they can easily exploit your site’s vulnerabilities while gaining an entry point to execute cyber-attacks.
Password Management
Did you know that nearly 30% of passwords can be cracked in a few seconds? Even though passwords are the easiest way of maintaining web security, they also cause the most considerable security risk.
If your passwords are not managed correctly, you risk getting hacked. Anyone with basic skills can use hacking tools to crack passwords.
Always change passwords often and use strong ones to protect your brand. Your passwords must be simple enough to memorize. But they should be complex enough to crack.
Access Control Measures
Your website must define the access permissions for all the digital users who can access your website. So, it would significantly help if you had strong access controls since humans are the highest cause of cyber-attacks.
Employees with access permissions to specific site areas must ensure they do not make errors. Or else your site could become vulnerable to attacks. It is best to deploy robust access control mechanisms.
Then you can easily rest assured knowing that you are limiting the number of people whose activities can expose your business to hackers.
Change Default Configuration Settings
It is best to change your website’s default security settings. Cyber attackers use AI to create bots that can automatically scan websites to spot vulnerabilities.
These bots can also pick up if any of your software tools have default configuration security settings. This matters because default settings will not give you the protection you need.
To protect your pages from a random attack, you should track your file permissions. Also check comment settings, information visibility, and user controls.
Protect Your Website Today
Now that you know the best practices for website security in 2024, it is time to strengthen your brand. Then you can proactively protect customer data to ensure that people can always trust your brand and business site.
It is necessary to develop and maintain a plan to enhance web security. Contact us today, and we can help your business website stay safe from cybercriminals.