Do you have a website? If yes, this blog is undoubtedly for you. Of course, others may read it too, but for website owners, this is a must-read. What can be worse for a web owner or a blogger, seeing their works being copied or altered by some unethical hacker?
Data breaches and website hacking is the news of the town! Every now and then, we come across such malware. If you are also worried about your website security, then it is nothing wrong. Of course, you should! Pay no heed to statements like “You are a newbie, why would anyone hack your site?” Whether a startup or an established brand, your work is your hard work, and you have all rights to protect it, whether it has 1 post or 100 posts.
Going by the statistics, 43% of the hacks happen to small businesses. Big brands already have a security department; it is small or new sites that are vulnerable to these hacks.
Thereby, it is crucial to learn tips to protect your website.
Let us look at a few simplest ways to secure and protect your website from the jargon of these online hackers.
5 Simple Steps To Protect Your Website In Minutes
Today, here I am going to discuss a few very basic Level 1 security steps which any newbie can start with. With no professional web knowledge or technical know-how, you can yourself secure your website with these essential web security tips.
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Install a security plugin
The first and foremost thing I would recommend at the time of creating a website with a best Content Management System is to install security plugins right away without wasting any time. The only reason for this being that the online world is full of hackers; nothing is safe over here.
While creating a new website, you got to install multiple themes, other designing, and functional plugins. A few of these are secured while a few aren’t adding to your risks.
Each of the top web development platforms has there own set of security plugins, such as:
Plugins for WordPress – iThemes Security, Sucuri, Wordfence, Bulletproof Security
Plugins for Joomla – jomDefender, JHackGuard, RSFirewal
Plugins for Majento – Watchlog Pro, Amesty, MageFense
Each of the above-mentioned security tools, protect your website from external vulnerabilities on the respective platforms, along with foiling other add-on hacking attempts.
2. Get an SSL certificate
As a customer, you must have seen some sites with a green lock image with the site URL. You must have also heard that you must transact only with a green locked https site. Did you ever wonder why so?
Significance Of The Green Locked Https Site:
This is where the role of an SSL Certificate (Secure Socket Layer) comes. It is an additional layer of security that protects the transactions between your website and the user. For example, when any user shares his/her credit card details with your site, this add on layer protects the card details from being hacked by the hackers.
Installing an SSL certificate, your website shifts from HTTP to HTTPS. You can easily get your site secured by purchasing the SSL certificate from your web server host or an SSL provider to encrypt your site data.
3. Keep your website updated
Who likes regular update notifications? Don’t we tend to defer it till the last moment? At least I used to always ignore it till possible. But, I used to, not anymore. After coming across the essentiality of these updates and why technological experts keep updating their tools and software, I am the first one to install an update.
Major cause of being hacked:
The above mentioned CMS platforms come with packages of plugins and extensions to help you build the perfect site. The only trouble being many of these are open-source tools whose codes can be easily hacked by these smart web hackers.
These web hackers are smart, but our technological gurus are smarter. As soon these hackers get a hack of the codes and are to pore on it, the tech giants come up with an update to protect your website.
Knowing one of the major causes of getting hacked is outdated versions; keep all your plugins, tools, apps, system, scripts, and functionality updated to secure your website.
So, no more defying the updates from today onwards!
4. Secure your username and password
How many of you still use your birthdate or have #1234 as your passwords? These are the two of the most commonly used passwords and most easily hackable passwords.
It’s time to go different with a mix of numbers, letters, and a special character!
I understand we always want to keep passwords that are easy to remember, and these are the easiest ones. But, trust me, its time to go mix! The simplest reason being a mixed password firstly makes it a strong one, and secondly, detecting what combination of a password you are using is much more difficult.
One single easily trackable password in your team can make your site easily vulnerable, provoking the hacker towards data leak.
5. Opt for a reliable automatic backup
Even after taking all the above steps, there is no 100% guarantee that your website will not be hacked. Uncertainties tend to happen at the most unexpected time! So, it is always sensible to be prepared in advance. Fixing a hacked website is no less than digging down, and not having a backup copy is like endless digging.
However, stressful data breaches may be, the recent backup of your website is always a blessing in the dark. You can surely keep taking manual backups, but if by chance you miss to take one and unfortunately your site gets hacked at that very time, you will wash your hands off the recent updates.
This makes investing in automatic backup options a wiser choice as it keeps recording the latest backup the moment you make any changes to your website.
Author’s words,
These are the most basic and simplest ways which any of you with a website can opt for without any technical know-how to keep your website safe and secured. Going for advanced and level 2 security measures is any day the best option, but these are, for sure, the most essential security measures, not affordable to be missed.
