Top Strategies to Secure Your Website Against Cyber Threats

Cybersecurity is something that is being talked about a lot right now. Almost daily we hear notifications reports about sites being hacked or user data being leaked. Addressing the security of your website can easily become an overwhelming task.

Anyone who sets up a website must expect that it will soon be scanned by bots from the “dark side”. Their purpose is to find potential opportunities to access sensitive information and data. How likely this is to lead to future attacks depends on how vulnerable the site is judged to be. If you have taken the most important measures to protect it, potential hackers will likely abandon the website and instead go for easier prey.

No company can afford to neglect or be complacent about website security. Not doing everything you can to prevent a data breach can be very costly. Not only will you pay for the damage you caused, but you will also be held accountable by the authorities for not protecting personal data or other sensitive information as you are required to do.

We’ve collected six stunning substantial things that hackers depend on you not doing or having in place.

1. Security Updates

All software developers regularly publish security patches. The purpose of these is to close vulnerabilities and fix bugs in the software and any additional applications (plugins and the like). As soon as a vulnerability becomes known, a security patch is developed and made available in a security update. It seems reasonable to assume that websites that have not been updated for security reasons are at the top of the hackers’ menu.

2. Strong Passwords

A strong password must consist of at least eight characters. It must not contain, whole words, or personal information, especially one’s own name or company name. It should also be unique, historically speaking, that is, not used before by the user. Global passwords that a user uses for multiple systems are a jackpot for hackers, who test a user’s password for all of their known logins. All companies should have and invest resources in instilling a good password culture among employees.

3. Use SSL

SSL, Secure Sockets Layer, is a standard solution for ensuring that information can be transferred between sites in a secure manner. This is done by encrypting the data so that third parties cannot access it. SSL is usually mentioned as synonymous with the digital certificates that are used to authenticate the website so that SSL and thus also the more secure HTTPS protocol can be used.

Backup

There are several very good reasons to back up both systems and data. For most companies, even short downtimes are noticeable. Losing data at the same time can be very costly. If systems and data can be quickly restored, the effects of any incidents or breaches can be significantly mitigated.

Check on the Users

This is where it is a bit like keys and real estate. Does everyone need their key? How many keys are in circulation? Where are they located? Does everyone need access to all spaces? The same thinking can be applied to the management of users for different systems. A good routine is to deactivate all inactive users and let them request access again if they need to. The same thing with “strange” users that you don’t recognize.

Mapping of Systems and Responsible Parties

Locating all systems, affected parties, contact channels and contact persons only in the event of an incident is, of course, far too late. Such a mapping should be completed in all companies that handle sensitive systems and data, preferably together with a crisis plan that can be quickly pulled out if the worst happens.

Think Like a Hacker

Hackers are not sitting still. They are constantly finding new ways and methods to access sensitive information. That is why you must continuously work on the security of systems and websites. Imagine that you are a hacker yourself. How would you go about getting into your business? Look for vulnerabilities. Where are the procedures lacking? Where are you careless?