How To Keep Your Data Private?

The dramatic rise in cybersecurity threats and attacks emphasizes the importance of protecting your website. Website security is significantly more important for websites that perform online business, like eCommerce sites.

Protecting your data and your client’s sensitive information requires securing your website. Fast forward, preventive security measures can save time and money while maintaining your brand’s reputation.

Here are the nine best ways to protect the data on your website.

#1: Add An SSL Certificate

Secure Sockets Layer is a protocol that establishes an encrypted connection between your web server and a browser. This ensures that any information shared between a user and your website is secure.

You absolutely must have an SSL certificate for your website if you run an online store. Your customers’ personal payment information will be safeguarded with the help of the SSL certificate.

Fortunately, installing SSL on your website doesn’t require any technical expertise.

#2: Optimize Cloud Security Architecture

Utilizing the cloud is crucial for modern businesses because it enables you to scale up and grow much more quickly by moving infrastructure there. Optimizing security architecture allows your company to keep improving its efficiency without endangering its data or applications.

The cloud provider and the user are responsible for the cloud security architecture. You can understand your responsibilities for enforcing security measures by reviewing the service level agreement provided by your provider.

#3: Automated Data Backup

No matter how many precautions you take to reduce the dangers of a data breach, it is still possible that it will occur. The best course of action is to regularly back up your data in case the worst happens.

You won’t lose anything if a hacker erases it or uses ransomware to keep it hostage if you have all of your website’s data backed up. Data backups that are done manually require time and are prone to human error since you can forget. If you invest in automatic backups, you won’t have to worry about it because you’ll always be protected.

#4: Apply A Strong Password Policy

Hackers frequently use complex software that uses brute force to crack passwords. Passwords should be complex and contain capital, lowercase, digits, and special characters to prevent brute-force attacks. 

Your passwords need to have at least ten characters. This password policy needs to be followed by everyone throughout your company.

#5: WHOIS Privacy Protection

When you purchase a domain name for your website, it is necessary to register your basic contact information, like name, phone number, email address, and mailing address. Consequently, anyone who knows your domain name can obtain your contact information because the database is public and accessible. Domain privacy protection conceals this information from the public WHOIS database.

Here are the reasons why you need domain privacy protection.

• It safeguards contact details from hackers and competitors.
• It hides your phone number from the contact details, preventing spam calls and scammers.
• It prevents domain theft from hackers.
• It utilizes and frequently changes a dummy email, thus hiding your original one.
• It doesn’t enable registration with fake personal information, which protects you from unexpected disputes.

To find out who is hosting any website and every single piece of information about them, go to the hosting checker on HostAdvice. There, you can also learn more about WHOIS protection. 

#6: Use Web Forms Wisely

If your website contains any fillable web forms, be careful to impose rigorous limitations on the information that visitors may submit. SQL injection attacks are becoming widespread as more hackers utilize web forms to enter code, giving them access to your data.

Many companies save all their customer information in a web database, which puts that information in danger if a hacker gains access. By using parameterized queries, you can set precise parameters that hackers can’t mess with.

#7: Employ A Secure Host

Your website’s security greatly depends on the web hosting business you select. Ensure the host you select is informed about dangers and is committed to protecting your website. 

Your data should be backed up by your host to a distant server and should be simple to restore in the event that your website is compromised. Pick a host that provides constant technical support when requested.

#8: Update Your CMS

No matter which CMS you choose to host your website with, you must constantly update it. You may create a website with a CMS with many plugins and extensions for your business. Due to the vulnerability of certain extensions and plugins, there is an increased risk associated with that.

The coding of many extensions is easily accessible since they are open-source programs. Because of that, hackers can use those weaknesses to access your entire site.

Update your CMS and any installed apps, extensions, and plugins for the best defense against these types of attacks. If you postpone even one day to update them, you risk being the target of a cyberattack.

#9: Avoid Website Uploads

You run the danger of a cybercriminal submitting a malicious file every time you allow an upload through your website. They might upload a file that is so large that it crashes your website, or the file itself might be infected with malware.

The hacker only needs you to click the file upload button to have access to your website. If it is possible, don’t allow any uploads on your website.

Conclusion

You can’t simply set up a website and forget about it. Security maintenance is still important even if building websites is now easier than ever. 

You need to be proactive at all times when it comes to safeguarding the data of your business and customers. The information users provide on your site, whether personal information or online payments, must be in the correct hands.