7 Steps you can take today to make your website more secure

1. Use Strong Passwords

It’s important that you use strong passwords for your website. Hackers have a variety of tools for cracking passwords. In order to protect against these attacks, you and your team should have a password policy for your organization. Each team member should use a strong, individual password when accessing and updating your website. What is a strong password? A strong password will generally include both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Longer passwords also tend to be more secure.

Remembering complex passwords can be challenging. There are several secure password management services available which can help you keep track of your passwords while maintaining security. Consider using a password manager to generate, store, and secure your passwords.

2. Keep software up-to-date

Make sure you keep all platforms, scripts, and plugins you’ve installed on your website up-to-date. Outdated software security flaws are consistently targeted by hackers. If you aren’t keeping your software and programs updated, your website could be vulnerable to these attacks. Platforms, software and plugins are continuously updated to patch security holes and these patches are released as updates. Make sure installing these updates are part of your regular website maintenance in order to maintain your sites’ security.

3. Backup your website

You should back up your site regularly and maintain back up website files. If your site is compromised or data is lost you can restore from your backup files. There are automated plugins and extensions that can automatically back up your site, or you can manually create backups depending on your needs.

4. Secure your URL

Adding HTTPS protocol and installing an SSL Certificate will help protect information shared on your site. In addition to protecting customer information, an SSL Certificate will help you avoid Google’s unsafe website warning which can negatively affect your SEO.

When browsing the internet, you may have noticed a lock icon next to the url of a lot of websites. That lock shows up when sites are using HTTPS protocol and helps reassure visitors that the site they’re visiting is secure and trustworthy. Sites the don’t use HTTPS protocol have a “Not Secure” icon that appears next to the url.

An SSL certificate is an extra layer of security for your site, and may be required depending on the information you are gathering on your website. An SSL certificate is required for websites where users are submitting sensitive information like credit card numbers. While it may not be required for your site, adding an SSL certificate is a great way to increase the security of your website with an added layer of encryption.

5. Use a secure host

Using a secure hosting company can help make your site more secure. A secure host will offer security measures like a firewall, SSL certificates, remote backup and network monitoring. The hosting company’s security practices will help protect your site against cyber-attacks, so selecting a secure host is a good investment in the security of your site.

6. Scan your website for vulnerabilities

Running a security scan on your site for malware and security vulnerabilities is vital to maintaining a secure website. A website security audit can check your site for errors, malware, blacklists, and other security vulnerabilities. If any issues are identified, make sure you are proactive about updates and fixes to stay ahead of any potential cyber-attacks.