It’s easy to think securing your website is a low priority because it has nothing worth hacking. Even if that’s true and it probably isn’t, consider a few things. For one, you have a website because you want people to find you online, right? And two, a hacker could be using your domain for any number of reasons, from rerouting spam messages to serving up illegal files. If you’re wondering what you can do to make sure that your business doesn’t become a target for hackers, here are some tips to secure your website.
Securing your website means everything stays updated
With WordPress, to name one platform, updates constantly come out for the plugins and widgets that comprise your site. This isn’t just because developers are adding new features. It’s important to realize the vast majority are patching some sort of security vulnerability that has become common knowledge.
If you’re running a site on your own server, patching goes double for the OS and other systems that you depend upon. Many developers use tools to track their software dependencies because it’s easy to miss a patch on something you’re not paying attention to, but actually depend on quite a lot. Using industry resources or tools to notify when new security vulnerabilities are announced is a good way to make sure stay in the loop, even if you only update the website once a month.
Get strict about access
Even if you don’t use the information, you need to spend time looking at who has user access to your site and what the login information looks like. Depending on how you’re securing your website, there might be some default usernames and passwords you need to change. Hackers often use bots to automatically crawl the web trying the most commonly used username and password combinations.
If you have a business network, make sure users aren’t inadvertently propping open the door for an attacker with weak logins or other poor security practices. Change passwords regularly, and never write them down. Set logins to expire after a reasonable amount of time, and make sure to regularly audit who has credentials, especially when people are transitioning in and out of your organization.
Beware of information leakage
A great thing about the web is that you can peek at the source code for anything that you’re looking at. If you like something you come across, it’s usually a pretty simple task to use your browser’s developer tools to find out how it was implemented, or what plugin they’re using to make it work that way, and then steal it for your own site.
You need to be careful about what’s publicly available. It’s common for developers to insert comments to help them understand how different parts of their code work when they come back to it later or make it easier for another programmer to do the same.
When you publish new code, make sure that you take time to double check that any compromising comments are removed from the public version. It’s a step in securing your website that can often get overlooked.
Adopting a security mindset
Attacks on websites are as diverse as the web itself, so it’s hard to cover every risk you might face in one article.
Most vulnerabilities exist because you don’t know about them, whether that’s a new update for a plugin or old login credentials lying dormant on your network. You might not be a security expert but taking responsibility and doing what you can will make you more resilient and contribute to securing your website over the long haul.