Did you know 30 000 to 50 000 websites get hacked every day? This number is only soaring upward in recent years. Thus, the importance of website security is rapidly increasing. Being secure in today’s digitalized world is vital not only to protect the website, but the website it holds.
Potential hackers & bots are scanning thousands of websites to attack. Is your site well-equipped to combat them all?
Fortunately, there are a plethora of effective ways to strengthen your website's security.
Here Is A Handful of Proven Tips:
#1 Use HTTPS
HTTPS is a protocol that encrypts the data sent between your website and the visitor's browser. You must use HTTPS instead of HTTP because it provides additional security to your website. HTTPS will deter interceptions and interruptions while the content is in transit. Most browsers now support this standard, so you don't need to worry about compatibility issues.
However, adding HTTPS to a website is baffling and becomes even more difficult without proper technical knowledge. You'll have to redirect your site from the old HTTP URL to the HTTPS URL. If your website is not redirected, then the website will load without HTTPS security certification, which is amongst the most common technical website errors. Many other errors, such as 404 Errors, Poor Page Loading Speed, and 500 Internal Server Errors, will hamper your website's credibility amongst your visitors.
#2 Disable Cross-Site Scripting
Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks are used to steal data or alter content on a website without the victim's knowledge. They can be used to steal cookies, log keystrokes, and more.
To prevent this attack, you should always check all user input for XSS vulnerabilities using a tool like OWASP ZAP before allowing it into your application.
#3 Enable the HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) header
The HSTS header instructs browsers to only visit HTTPS pages from the domain. It will prevent man-in-the-middle attacks and ensure that your website is always secure.
To enable this header, you must set a value for its name in your server's configuration file, such as "max-age." This is how long browsers should remember the HSTS header to keep your site secure.
#4 Know Your Web Server Configuration Files
The configuration files that your web server uses to store web pages are not only important, but they are also the first line of defense against an attack. The more you know about these files, the better prepared you will be to defend against attacks on your site.
You should look at these files to see if they are configured correctly and if they have been changed recently. You can use a regular text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit to check for any changes that have been made.
If you find any changes that were not made by you or your team, you need to investigate whether those changes are malicious. It may be possible that someone has found a way around your security measures and is trying to compromise your site through this vulnerability.
Final Words
Ultimately, you should make it your goal to make your website as secure as possible. By following these few simple steps, you'll be well on your way to achieving that goal. And regardless of how secure a website may appear, it's always good practice to keep your browser, plugins and extensions updated. It can't hurt, right?
