Gone are the days when you could leave your front door unlocked without fear. Today you need a big padlock, plenty of “Do Not Enter” tape and a chair against the door handle. But real-life crime isn't the only thing threatening our belongings. With 30,000 websites hacked each day and $456.8 million extorted from victims in 2022, cyber crime is ramping up.
In other words, you can’t leave your website out for the world to see without tight firewalls, SSL certificates and malware protection. Once a cyber criminal has hold of your website they pose a significant threat.
Luckily, we know a thing or two about keeping your website safe.
1. Web application firewalls
Like a shield – or an extra tough safety blanket – between a web server and incoming web traffic, web application firewalls (WAF) are a crucial layer of security. They monitor and filter the data packets exchanged between your website and visitors. Most importantly, they can identify and block malicious traffic and web-based attacks – like cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injections and cross-site request forgery (CSRF).
2. SSL certification
You know the padlock that sits next to a site’s URL? That’s a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. It means the whole website is encrypted, making sure the website communicates securely with visitors and protects sensitive data from unauthorised access. It also prevents hackers from intercepting and tampering with information.
And it can do more for you than keep your website under lock and key. An SSL certificate can improve SEO as search engines rank secure websites higher.
3. Antivirus and malware protection
Keep cunning cyber criminals at bay with antivirus and malware protection to shield your digital domain from malicious attacks. Like dutiful bouncers, they scan every inch of emails, files and downloads for threats using real-time monitoring, detection, removal and quarantine and regular updates.
Antivirus and malware protection is particularly important if you have a shared hosting plan – all it takes is one corrupt file and every website could be affected.
4. Site data backups and updates
If a hacker is successful, they might delete, compromise or even deface your website. There’s no denying that this is stressful. But it’ll be even more painful if you haven’t backed up your website’s data.
Regular updates are crucial too. We don’t mean staying up to date with the latest news and celebrity gossip. We mean your website’s software. Some website builders automatically update everything for you, but others – like WordPress – need you to enable updates.
5. Secure file transfer protocol
Transferring or uploading files to your website poses a risk. It exposes vulnerabilities and weak spots for cyber criminals to take advantage of. The solution? Secure file transfer protocols. Using encryption and scrambling it into an unreadable format, these protocols protect transferring files from prying eyes. Once at its destination, they decrypt and restore the files to their original state.
Ready to secure your site?
Cyber criminals are constantly evolving their tactics to infiltrate and exploit websites and data. But with security measures to minimise risk, you can rest easy.
We offers Cyber Protect, an all-in-one security package to better look after your data – with ransomware protection, encryption, and enhanced disaster recovery. Forget manual backups and complex security. We’ll do it all for you without fuss. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a message.
