Website Security Tips: 6 Security Tips to Protect Your Website From Hackers

As the owner of a website, one common problem that you could have is hackers turning up. Sadly, hacking has become increasingly commonplace in the internet world.

Indeed, with many websites under risk, some are more at risk than others. For example, anyone in the tech, government, or retail industries are most at risk, with 95% of all site breach records coming from these three industries.

Cybersecurity, then, is so important. If you are outside of these three markets, though, don’t just presume that you can ignore the importance of good, high-quality cyber security.

Instead, we recommend that you spend even more time building up your security strength.

While most of the hacking resources go into the ‘big three’, those attacking your industry might be just a bit more committed to causing havoc and chaos. If you wish to avoid that problem, then we recommend that you take a look at our following security ideas and plans. When put into place properly, these should go a long way to making sure your site is not going to become fodder for hackers.

1) Always Ensure Your Software Is Up to Date

First off, you have to ensure that all of your software is up-to-date. This means your server, your website base (WordPress, Joomla, Magento etc.) and also all of your third-party tools. From plugins to backup tools, making sure everything is running at 100% capacity is essential. If you wish to make sure that your software is up-to-date, then simply go to the website for each of the systems that you use.

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You can then check out on their official page if the software is going to be good to keep on using. If it has not been updated in a while, then we recommend that you maybe look around for a new alternative. Many software packages will be left behind or the people behind it will not work on it any longer due to a variety of reasons. Whatever the reason, you would do well to keep an eye on the software and ensure that it still meets your needs.

If it does not, then you should look to upgrade it rather than update it. Anything that your website is using, from a theme to a plugin, should be kept updated.

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 2) Secure Your Blog With Strong Passwords and Usernames

If you have any kind of login access to your site, then you would be crazy not to make use of a good series of passwords. Passwords are often broken because people get lazy and keep with basic passwords. Key tip: making your password your dogs name is not a good idea; especially if you post about your dog on social media all day!

Hackers are sophisticated, and will look for any way in that you could possibly give them. If you make the mistake of giving them access to your website with a simple username or password, you will be putting yourself at needless risk. Instead, take the time to come up with a username and password system. Using a tool like BitWarden, for example, you can make sure that you can create usernames and passwords that are made to fit a particular protocol and minimise the risk of you being hacked.

Another thing to change is the lead account, or admin account. Calling it ‘admin’ is silly. Change it to something unique – a number combination or something more unique. Take it away from the obvious, and you can make sure that hackers need to work much harder.

3) Make Use of Security Software

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If you are not using modern security tools, you are making a mistake as a business owner. We recommend that you get your website secure and safe by getting various security plug-ins and tools. Depending on what you have built your site on, this should be quite easy. Many security plugins exist for WordPress, for example. You could, for instance, add in the ability to stop people from being able to try to log-in unsuccessfully more than once.

You could use geo-blockers to stop people from getting access to your site from places you would rather they did not. You can do a huge amount to help make sure that your website is nowhere near under the pressure that many would expect it to be. It’s for this reason that security software is such an important part of anti-hacking prevention.

If you keep on using tools like this, you make it far more likely that your opponents will not be able to access or enter the website. Good security plugins can help to protect the back-end of your site, meaning that people cannot get in and make edits where they would be most dangerous, so be sure to invest in security. As shown by research from Betipy, GDPR has meant that website owners are responsible for their customers’ data, and any breaches or leaks relating to this data can result in large fines within the EU.

4) Create Perfect Backup

Always build a strong backup plan – it is the essence of just about any website worth using. If you are to trust a site, you have to be able to trust the fact that it can do the job you would expect. This is why you should create a backup plan that is exactly what you would have expected: incrementally managed, stored elsewhere on a cloud.

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Backup systems exist for each of the major website building tools, such as Magento and WordPress. This allows for you to easily store your website data somewhere easily accessible but not necessarily easily entered. Now, you can make it much easier for your website to build and to grow naturally, as this helps to create a backup system that puts an end to potential headaches.

A backup is needed, not just recommended. Without a backup, you run the risk of your site being left damaged or without key data being retrievable. While it might not stop a hacker outright, a good backup system will help you to undo much of the damage that could be done. It can also help to make sure that technical faults and failings don’t leave you with nothing to work with.

5) Make Use of VPN

If you are serious about keeping your site safe, then you need to get a VPN – Virtual Private Network – to use ASAP. VPNs are a major part of website security and will make sure that you can make it much easier for people to use your site. Why does this help? because it allows internet users to save data using an encrypted, safer connection. VPNS will help to add an extra mask to your IP address, meaning that you have a much greater level of anonymity than you would have if you were to do it all through your normal internet connection.

Using a VPN for anything that you do when editing the website can make a lot of sense. Not only is it another layer of privacy, it’s a great way to help further mask your activity and make it tougher for people to know what you are doing. If you like to keep things private when using your website, a VPN is a good idea.

VPN hosting should be looked into, also. While more expensive than your normal hosting plans, they tend to make it much easier for you to make the progress that you would have intended in the first place.

6) Watch Your Email Transmission Ports

The last piece of advice that we have for you is to take a much closer look at the email transmission ports that your site has active. Many ways that your website will be attacked shall include its email, and this can be quite dangerous. Given the amount of often private info sent though the website email, this could leave hackers in charge of all of your private data, your mailing lists, and even your marketing as a whole. Naturally, that is not a solution that will help to keep your website safe for usage!

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With that in mind, we recommend that you check these ports as much as you can. They can be easily adjusted to make sure that you are sending email through safe and secured means. If you are using any of the following ports – IMAP Port 143, POP3 Port 110, or SMTP Port 25 – then you need to make a change. Now.

Instead, make the change to IMAP Port 993, POP3 Port 995, and/or SMTP Port 465. If you do that, then you will know that you are sending all of your mail through safe and fully encrypted email sources.

These little tips will all go some way to making sure you have built a website that is robust, modern, and secure.