The ease of making websites has given rise to the digital industry. In this recent era, where fantastic CMS platforms like Magento, WordPress, Joomla, etc., are available, each business owner has become a webmaster.
They instantly create their dream website with the appropriate CMS tools, images, designs, and templates, but when it comes to securing the website, these web owners are ignorant, less willing, or tend to forget the same.
The majority of them are unaware of the risks of cyber-attacks and the cybersecurity measures that help them to ensure the data privacy of their business site.
About Cyber Security Threats:
Rapid digitalization has increased the landscape of cybersecurity which has become highly massive, complex, and exact. Data privacy of customers and websites has become pivotal in digital business due to the rise in cyber threats.
Shocking Cyber-Security Statistics:
- The covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in cybercrime by 300%.
- $6 trillion is likely to be invested globally in cybersecurity by 2021.
- 95% of cyber-security breaches are caused by human error.
- 43% of cyber-attacks are targeted at small businesses.
These statistics are enough to trigger a business owner’s mind to look out for cyber-security measures to protect their website data and other sensitive information.
Let’s have a look at some of the cyber-security measures to protect your digital empire.
Cybersecurity Measures to Protect Business Data:
Keep Software and Plugins Up-To-Date:
I have seen numerous websites that are victimized by cyber-attacks daily due to outdated systems and software. Keeping your systems, software, and plugins updated is the best precaution to keep hackers away from your site and reduce the impact of cyber-threat.
As new threats come to light, software developers and plugin developers start releasing updated versions of the above, carrying patches to fix the security lapses. These patches keep your site healthy and secure. Ensure that you are notified about updates and set the same to auto-update mode for regular updations.
Use a Secure Web Host:
Multiple web hosts are available in the market. All of them provide different services and securities. Since protection against cyber threats is always a priority, opt for a web host which provides ample security features.
Tips to Check before Choosing a Good Web Host:
- Reliability of the web host
- Speed and space provided
- Substantial Bandwidth
- Advanced technology and features
- Constant monitoring of suspicious activity
- Server Security
- SSL encryption security
- Secure location
- Security updates
- Backup Services
- The facility of Secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
All these features provide strong website security against cyber-attacks and DDoS attacks.
Focus on Security at Checkout:
Trust is a significant factor that plays a vital role in the checkout process. To attract network traffic for customers so that they save items in the shopping cart is quite simple, but to close a deal by attracting the customer to pay for the cart item asks for trust and security.
Research indicates that the online shopping cart abandonment rate ranges from 50% to 80%, of which 35% of the users abandon the site due to a lack of security and trust badges.
Ensure that your website uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption security to secure browser-server transactions.
Encryption transforms your data into a ciphertext (coded language), which reduces the risk of data theft or tampering.
Trust badges like HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) in the address bar and a padlock in the URL are visible when a site is secured with SSL certificate security.
SSL certificate is PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliant, and it assures visitors about the safety of their sensitive information.
Make Sure that Your Team is Trained Properly:
While focusing on external mistakes, many business owners forget to take a peep into internal mistakes. Internal mistakes or human errors (employees) are one of the weakest links in web security. Research indicates that 23% of breaches are caused by human error.
Untrained employees tend to delete data or share personal information accidentally. Some may fail to identify phishing emails or spot suspicious behavior, which may threaten your business.
Make your employees cyber-vigilant and train them regularly so that they can identify and curb cyber threats and keep your business safe.
Use Complex Passwords:
With multiple passwords required for each account, managing and recalling the same is a tough call for business owners, and they tend to make the mistake of keeping the same password for multiple accounts.
You can use a Password Vault which stores all your passwords in an encrypted format and a secured location. With a single primary password, you can gain access to multiple passwords stored in the vault for operating the password vault.
Ensure to use complex passwords, which are a combination of upper- and lower-case alphabets, numbers, symbols, special characters, etc. Change them frequently to prevent mishaps.
Regularly Monitor for Intrusion:
“Precaution is better than cure,” in the same way, constant monitoring of systems and networks for intrusions is better than surprise visits made by hackers.
There are multiple intrusion detection software and tools which monitor network traffic for detecting suspicious activities and alerting the concerned regarding the same. They also tend to block malicious traffic from entering the site.
Snort by Cisco Systems and Ossec (host-based intrusion detection system) is free to use, whereas Suricata, a network-based intrusion prevention system, is quite popular amongst digital businesses.
Backup Your Website:
A sudden system crash, or a surprise cyber-attack, always works in case of contingencies. A good backup plan always helps in recovering site data post-damage. Multiple backups are also recommended, which tend to be helpful in times of disaster.
In case you are stuck upon which type of backup should be taken, refer to the below image, which shows the multiple types of backups, time, and space.
Tips:
- Store your backup in a server that is different from your website server because when a website is attacked, the server on which it is installed becomes vulnerable.
- You can also store your website backup on a hard drive or a home computer.
- Cloud backup is also recommended because of its ease to use and quick access to information.
Schedule your website backups, automate them if you miss out on the same, and reserve them on an encrypted device rather than your device.
Tighten Network Security:
The secret to shielding cyber-attacks lies in tightening the loops of network security. Network security is an amalgamation of hardware, software, security policies, and security practices to secure a company’s network against unauthorized personnel.
It helps in preventing data loss, phishing attacks, spam, malware, and ransomware.
Apart from limiting access to employees, for preventing internal threats, you also need to tighten server security.
Tips for Server Security:
- Automatic expiry of logins in short spam in case of inactivity
- Password change notification to users
- Automatic scanning of each device plugged into the system for malware detection
Wrapping Up:
Companies, that don’t feel the need to secure their websites, or ignore cybersecurity practices, face disasters sooner or later. The damages are irreparable, and many businesses are shut down within six months.
Being a website owner, your task doesn’t end by just creating a website; its security is another invisible challenge that needs to be addressed for the sake of your business.
Invest in cyber-security, employee training, and SSL certificate security to maintain data privacy and keep your business secured from cyber threats.