What Is Website Security, And How Should We Provide It?

 

Today, millions of users around the world use the Internet. The diverse uses of this global network, from membership in a social network to large banking websites, require a level of security for cyberspace protection. Hackers attack many websites due to low security. These attacks usually cause irreparable damages and sometimes impose many costs on website administrators.

Intrusions into websites generally happen due to server security problems or the weakness of the site’s content management system. By finding these security problems and penetrating the website, hackers make various changes to the content and system of the site. Therefore, website security is one of the most important things in the world of technology.

If you plan to increase the security of your site, you need to pay attention to important points in the field of site security. We suggest you stay with us until the end of this article.

What is website security?

Site security is defined as a set of measures that maximize site security and minimize the possibility of intrusion. Note that the website’s security depends on other things, which play a significant role in ensuring the website’s security.

Server security, network security, internet security, operating system security, software security, and many others play a key role in providing a site’s security infrastructure.

The importance of website security

The website’s security is extremely important, and it can be said that the most influential factor in a website’s stability and authority is the security issue. Unfortunately, by examining the status of normal and even large and sensitive websites, we conclude that many site managers and officials give little importance to site security.

The fact that the site is not hacked does not guarantee that the website is safe, which means that there may be no attempt to hack and infiltrate a website with security weaknesses, and if it is done, the website in question will be vulnerable.

The importance of site security becomes apparent when the website is under attack, which is likely to have two results. If the security of the site is provided correctly, the attack will be unsuccessful, and the site will not be damaged, but if the security measures are not observed and provided, the vulnerability of the site will be very high, and there is a possibility of hacking the site and infiltrating it.

 

It is also worth noting that even with the implementation and coverage of security issues, any site is susceptible to attacks and vulnerability caused by attacks at any time and in any situation. The type, number, and methods of hacking and penetration are vast, and countering them requires severe and permanent measures.

In addition to covering and fixing security issues, the issue of care and handling is also essential in security.

What is the benefit of a secure website?

Complete security of a website protects it from the following threats:

Malware: This word is a combination of “Malicious Software”. Malware can take many forms and will be hard to detect. In 2017, widespread attacks, including “decryption,” affected the National Health Service (NHS) official website. Another form of such malware can remain undetected on a website for a long time, steal visitors’ information, or even infiltrate their devices through malware.

DDoS attacks: DDoS attacks seem complicated, but the general idea is simple. By sending requests and excessive traffic to a website, people take it out of the reach of the main users. Sometimes these vandals ask for money from the website owner to remove this traffic and make the desired website available again.

Vandalism: If a hacker can gain access to your website, they will be able to make changes to it. Sometimes these changes are in the form of injecting malware into the website, which can be displayed as a message. Sometimes making these destructive changes disrupts the performance of the desired website.

Sudden data loss: Sometimes, even your website may not be exposed to malicious activities and malware but still face damages. Like cyber-attacks, a sudden loss of site information can disrupt its performance. So the high security of a website can prevent any of these possibilities and risks from occurring.

What are the consequences of cyber-attacks on a website?

Financial Damage: If your website is your source of income and is taken over by hackers, you lose money until it is freed and up and running again. In addition, in the worst case, you may also face the loss of your data.

Data loss: An attack to hack a website has the power to eradicate the target website. So, if you have a personal blog, you will lose some precious memories, and if you have a business website, you will not be able to have an online presence until you rebuild your website.

Data theft: If your website is vulnerable to malware, hackers may steal customer information, including passwords or even payment information entered or stored on your site during online shopping.

Sometimes hackers put phishing pages on our website that look legitimate but are created to steal information. You may even be sent phishing emails designed to steal sensitive business information or install malware on the target website.

Redirects and malicious links: Hackers can redirect visitors from their intended site to a website with malicious content, increasing the likelihood of being hacked.

Also, hackers can add links from a website to your site to increase its ranking in search engines, even though these links may point to malicious and untrustworthy websites.

Adding to the search engine blacklist: Google’s goal is to provide security for its users, so it blacklists unsafe websites.

This means that if your website is attacked and hacked, it will be removed from the browser’s search results and will no longer be available to users because as soon as they search for your website name, they will encounter an error as it is insecure.

Why should we secure our website?

If the things we have discussed together so far are not convincing reasons to secure your website, read the other important points that we will discuss below.

1. A cyber-attack will damage your authority. During the research conducted by the accounting and tax Service Company, 58% of customers and 86% of production managers refuse to buy and cooperate with companies that have experienced a cyber-attack.
2. By causing any problems, you will be charged a lot of money. Small businesses that a cyber-attack has hit have to spend a lot of money to remove the footprint of the malicious activity on their website. In addition, after the attack is over and the website has recovered, you have to lower the selling price of our products or services to regain your lost credibility. You also have to pay the experts to solve the problem.
3. Cyber-attacks are hard to detect. You might think to yourself that if your website is the target of a hacker attack, then you will look to solve the problem and solve it with the necessary investigations, but the reality is that some cyber-attacks are hard to detect, and you cannot fix them easily.

How to Improve Your Websites Security

You must consider several things to ensure the website’s security; Website design, server security, network security, internet security, operating system security, software security, and many more.

These play a crucial role in providing the website’s security infrastructure. In the following, we will explain the methods of securing the website.

Hosting the website on a secure host

The website’s security depends on several factors, and the host’s security is one of them. The existence of a secure platform on which the website is hosted is of particular importance. The use of security systems, including antivirus, antispam, hardware and software firewalls, etc., plays an essential role in dealing with attacks. Therefore, it is better to get website hosting from reliable sources.

Using secure internet

Internet connection between the site and users for login, registration, etc., should be as safe, secure, and limited as possible. Using the public internet, which is not controlled and restricted, can be very dangerous. Of course, you should pay attention. Even if you use personal internet, appropriate security measures should be taken to provide safe internet.

Using valid operating systems and software

The operating system and the main software play a significant role in ensuring the website’s security. Keep in mind that in non-original sources and versions, changes have been made in parts of the software with the intention of destruction, misuse, destruction, etc. So try to always use reliable operating systems and software. In addition to increasing the site’s security, you have also respected the manufacturer’s rights and used original products.

Using robust, up-to-date, and valid security measures

Using software and security measures, such as a powerful and original antivirus and firewall, is one of the basic points of maintaining website security. By defining and checking the performance of firewalls and antivirus, which will follow, we realize that neglecting these things will undoubtedly cause many security problems.

A firewall is a piece of software or hardware that allows or denies traffic passing through a system or network (according to its rules). This system protects your network or personal computer from intruders, unauthorized access, malicious traffic, hacker attacks, etc. Antivirus software is also designed and created to prevent, detect, and remove malicious codes and computer viruses.

Get the CMS, template, and plugins from the authentic source

Suppose the site’s content management system, template, and plugins are provided from non-original and fake sources. In that case, the structure of the files can be easily changed, and it is possible to combine them with malware, spammers, etc.

Therefore, as mentioned earlier, any file obtained from non-original sources can contain malware. Observing this issue can prevent problems and threats to the site’s security.

Using a secure password 

A good, strong, and verifiable password must have more than 8 characters, a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters so that names and phone numbers are not used wherever possible. After creating a secure password, the next thing is to store and take care of it. Systems like Bit Locker and similar can take care of our information. The password should also be changed regularly (e.g., every month) to protect against brute-force attacks.

Determine the appropriate access permission

Access level is very important, especially for files containing key information. For example, for database information, permission access should be defined so that only the web server and the owner of the file can read the data inside the config file, and other than that, it cannot be accessed in any way. For other files and directories, a reasonable and standard access level should be set, and avoid giving high-level access.

Protect website from spammers

Spammer robots perform spam attacks by searching sites and finding their weak points. Suppose the site’s security and protection principles are not done correctly. In that case, the site’s hosting company may object to you by disrupting the server. You will also receive abuses (hacker abuse and information theft) from many sources. Of course, with a simple action and using the CAPTCHA protection system, you can prevent the security problems of spammers.

Set restrictions on access

By applying access restrictions, the security of the site is significantly improved. For example, you can prevent other people from viewing a specific path or file by defining IP. In this way, the server is told to display the forbidden or access denied message if the user’s IP is different from the defined values.

Update security software

The website manager should always follow and monitor the latest news and events directly related to the site’s security.

When a security bug (error and software defect) is found, any company must immediately provide a security patch (solution and security corrections) to fix the problem. Here, vigilance and immediate notification of the problem and quick fix of the bug prevent security risks on the website.

Using SSL protocol

The SSL security certificate encrypts the input and output information with a complex algorithm. It prevents them from being eavesdropped on or stolen. Therefore, there is no problem if the user or the site administrator uses an insecure internet.

In this situation, even if hackers gain access to website information, they will encounter encrypted data that cannot be used in any way. Therefore, one of the best solutions to maintain the security of users’ and administrators’ information is to set up and use this certificate on the website.

Conclusion

As stated, a website can only be trusted and continue operating when secured. Today, many websites are attacked by hackers due to low security. Hacking and attacking the website changes its face and causes irreparable damage. Maintaining the site’s security also depends on many factors to minimize the possibility of intrusion into the website.

This article covers the concept of site security, the importance of protecting it, and the types of site security. I hope this article was useful for you.