Tips For Keeping Your Website Safe From Hackers
Keeping your website safe from hackers is one of the most important tasks that a website administrator can perform. This guide will go over some best practices you can implement on your site to protect it from attackers and avoid losing sensitive information.
To keep your website secure, you need to be performing the following steps as a bare minimum:
1. Keep Your CMS And Plugins Up To Date
CMS and plugin updates play a key role in the security of your website.
When new exploits are discovered in popular CMSs or plugins, hackers will use known exploits to access sites running those plugins/CMS.
Hackers know that many website administrators do not update their software as soon as possible because it means downtime for their site visitors. A hacked site can cause a significant loss to the reputation of your company.
Updating your plugins and CMS is extremely important.
2. Remove Unused/Outdated Plugins (This Includes Deactivated Ones)
Removing outdated plugins reduces the risk of your website being hacked.
Plugins are responsible for various features on your site, but they are also one of the most significant vulnerabilities for your site. If you use an outdated plugin with known security issues or are vulnerable to exploits, it will leave your website open to attack.
3. Password-Protect All Admin Access Points
Passwords are one of the fundamental concepts in security.
It would be best to password-protect all areas where you log in to control your site's backend (admin area). This includes directories, files, admin interfaces, and any other vulnerable interface to direct access by an attacker.
Some best practices include using strong passwords with upper/lower case characters, numbers, and symbols and using different passwords for different websites.
4. Implement 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) Wherever Possible
2-Factor Authentication (also known as “multi-factor authentication”) is a relatively new security feature that adds an extra layer of protection against hackers.
It works by requiring you to have two forms of identification before being able to log in. This means that if somebody tries to log in using your username and password, they will need a second element — which could be a text to your mobile phone, a passcode from an authenticator app, or something else.
5. Scan Your Site Regularly With A Security Plugin Or Online Service
Regularly scanning your website for vulnerabilities can help you find weak spots in your system.
There are free security plugins available that allow you to scan your site and identify any vulnerabilities with a couple of clicks. These scans may take some time, but they will give you a complete analysis of the security of your site and highlight all possible issues.
6. Monitor Your Website Traffic To Look For Signs Of Attacks
Doing this can help you identify potential hacking attempts.
You should see whether somebody is trying to access your site using login credentials that they are not authorized to use. If somebody tries to log in with credentials that they are not authorized to have — or if somebody tries these multiple times in a short space of time–it could indicate that you are being targeted.
Conclusion
Using these strategies will help you protect your site from being hacked. However, even if you implement all of these techniques, it does not mean that your website will be immune to hacking attempts or security breaches.
As hackers continually develop new tactics for finding vulnerabilities in websites, the best thing to do is keep up to date with the latest security techniques and implement them. By keeping up to date with the latest security measures, you can protect yourself against most hacker attacks.
