Cybersecurity is all about protecting your digital infrastructure, securing all your networks and systems from hackers. There is a need to invest adequately in every bit of cybersecurity, including the security of your business website. The size of your business holds no importance for hackers.
They will plan and hit on your small business website without any mercy. You need to protect the reputation of your organization, secure all your data and your customer’s files. The reason for doing this can be explained by the high cost of repairing a cyber breach. A recent official annual study report by Cybersecurity Ventures now shows that the cost of repairing a successful cyber breach will hit a staggering amount of $6 trillion by 2021.
Proper security strategies should be instigated to help in the war against cyber breaches that target small business websites. This article has pointed out some of the security strategies that should be put in place to help protect your small business website against cyber threats.
1.Use Strong Passwords
Cybersecurity professionals have identified the use of strong and unique password as one of the top recommendations for securing your business’s digital resource, including your website. Funny enough, this is one of the least followed recommendations because of ignorance on what it means by a strong and a unique password.
A strong password, simply defined, is one that can withstand an attempted hack, including brute force. Brute force is where a hacker will try to use all the possible passwords until he identifies the right one. On the other, a unique password is one of its kind that is only used on one account.
One of the key reasons website’s security why this recommendation is of utmost essentiality to your website’s security is because of the recent surge in cyberattacks resulting from weak passwords.A Verizon 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report shows that 81% of all data breaches result from weak passwords. To be on the safer side, ensure that the simple guidelines that experts recommend such as having a long password, a password with a mixture of characters and proper password storage are all adhered to.
2.Carry Out Regular Updates
It does not matter the web hosting provider that you are using for your small business website, carrying out regular updates remains a crucial practice for every webmaster’s life. It is your duty to check for any available updates for your plugins, Content Management System, operating systems, and software.
Your website will always remain vulnerable to hackers. Web developers and designers are always awake to try and figure out the location of these loopholes and vulnerabilities. They will then release a new version that is more secure that addresses the security loopholes. Failure to carry out these updates once they have been released and updated will put the security of your website in great danger. It will leave your website with the loopholes that will be used to the advantage of the hackers.
Hackers will always scan millions of websites within a very short time to try and figure out those websites that are using old security configurations. They will then make these sites their target. Your small business websites should never be a target for hackers. All you need to do is to keep yourself on top of the game. You can do this by ensuring that you carry out those regular updates once they pop up on your computer screen.
3.Use a Web Application Firewall
Web application firewalls are an essential component of website security. Every small business website owner who does value of his website’s security should install a web application firewall on his/her website. There are different types of web application firewalls with which a user can install on his website.
Some are simple hardware-based firewalls, while others are software-based. In the real-life context, firewalls will analyze the strength of fire and then stop the fire from crossing the other side. The same way, a web application firewall will analyze every bit of traffic that is coming in and going out of the servers of the website and prevent any attempt by a hacker to carry out a cyber breach.
Firewalls might seem unnecessary; however, when you are running a business website that contains susceptible information, you need to consider mitigating an attack by using the firewall to find vulnerabilities and preventing any attempted attack on the site. So, if you are running a business website but you do not have a firewall, it is about time you started thinking about acquiring one. It is for your safety and the safety of your website and all that it contains.
4.Access Limitations
A hacker might not target the code of your website, it might be targeted by one of your employees. Therefore, the principle of the least privilege is important. You should only grant your employees access to those systems and files that are essential for them to perform their employment tasks. This will make it hard for any insiders to carry out a security breach.
5.Install an SSL certificate on the Website
The customers and clients to your small business will need an assurance that all the information they share with you is safe and secure from the hackers’ hands. They will even go ahead to check for some of the indicators that show that your website is a secure one. One of the things that they will be looking at is if your website has an SSL certificate.
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. it is a very important component of website security that comes with a myriad of benefits to both the website owner and the visitors to the website, apart from just ensuring for the utmost security of your website, the SSL certificate will increase the trust of your clients and also play a vital role in improving your rankings on the search engine results pages.
An SSL certificate is an encryption tool that protects all the information that comes in and goes out of the website. All information transfers that take place between the website’s servers and the clients’ browsers will be encrypted to ensure that no intruders can intercept the communication. Every website that has an SSL certificate is therefore assured of the security of all its resources.
There are different types of SSL certificates that fits different sizes of organizations. An ideal SSL certificate that will be perfect for your website is the Extended Validation SSL certificate. The EV SSL certificate will give your website a padlock that acts as a security symbol. It will also offer the highest level of encryption to your website. When acquiring the EV SSL certificate, it is crucial that you acquire it from a trusted SSL certificate provider. Just make sure that your website has an SSL certificate to be on the safer side.
6.Use Scanning and Monitoring Tools
You should always monitor each step of your website to ensure that your business website is safe. You should always know any vulnerabilities that can pose a threat to the security of your website. Without scanning and monitoring tools, how will you tell if your website is vulnerable or has been compromised? Just ensure that you conduct those security audits and seal all the loopholes that might be exposed by the scanning and monitoring tools.
7.Conduct Regular Backups
You can never know whether a hacker will succeed in going past all your security measures. So if the precautions that you have put in place fail and you still find yourself at the jaws of a cyber breach, then only one thing will able to redeem you from the information loss that you suffer. That is the backup file.
Carrying out data backups is very important; carrying them more frequently will even be better. The frequent the data backup, the less the impact of a data breach. You should also keep different copies of the data backup file as a precautionary measure if something goes wrong with the original copy. A backup will act as a contingency plan in a situation when a cyber breach occurs.
CONCLUSION
Websites are vulnerable to security breaches. Hackers do not care whether you are running a small business or a large E-commerce store. They will target all businesses ventures and execute a data breach that will leave your business at the brink of collapsing. Proper measures should be put in place to ensure that your business website is safe from the risks posed by the hackers. This article has explained some of the measures that can be put in place to ensure that your website is secure. Usually, I will recommend for every user to use multiple measures to strengthen the security walls.