What Is Website Security?
Website security is the systemic practice of protecting customer-facing websites, apps, and online platforms against cyber attacks. These attacks may involve a variety of hacking attempts, phishing schemes, malware installations, and other dirty tricks. See the final section of this post to learn more about the many different cyber attacks you may be vulnerable to without a comprehensive plan for site protection.
How to secure the Website?
The approach to website security depends on how organizations adopted security, and other factors like their network type, and software, but the core strategy is somewhat similar.
these are the basic requirements for end-to-end website security.
Web Application Firewalls (WAF)
Web application firewalls (WAF) are an essential security control used by the security team to protect Web applications and sites against various attacks, and known vulnerabilities. Customize it, after customizing WAF is also able to prevent SQL injection attacks, XSS attacks, buffer overflows, and session hijacking. All these features may not be available or performed on traditional network firewall systems. It’s categorized as Network-based, Host-based, and Cloud-hosted WAFs.Deployed in front of web applications, it analyzes bi-directional web-based (HTTP) traffic – detecting and blocking anything malicious.
SSL Certificate
Whenever a browser or server attempts to connect to a website secured with SSL. The browser/server requests for identification. Then a copy of the SSL certificate is sent by the webserver to the browser/server. The browser/server checks to see whether it should trust the SSL certificate or not. And according to it sends messages to the webserver. If the certificate looks good, the web server sends back a digitally signed acknowledgment for starting an SSL encrypted session. Now the exchange of data proceeds in the encrypted ways between the browser/server and the webserver.
A Website Scanner
A cyber attack costs more the longer it takes to be found, so time becomes an essential factor in safeguarding the website. A website scanner looks for malware, vulnerabilities, and other security issues so that organizations can moderate them appropriately.
Benefits of the Secure Websites
- It always keeps your website operable
Malware and DDoS attacks can significantly impact the speed of your website. They can even take down your website resulting in a loss in sales and customers.
However, if you keep your website security up to date, no hacker can compromise your website and take it down.
Moreover, a non-functioning website is like a dead website. Only a few minutes of downtime can result in the loss of customers who have been connected with you for a long time. Therefore, customers refrain from trusting such websites.
- It keeps customer data protected
Website security can never get complete without mentioning the SSL certificate. So, how does SSL protect customer data?
An SSL or Secure Socket Layer certificate is a security technology that encrypts the data transfer between the web server and the browser. It creates a secure tunnel for communication so that no third party can interfere in the ongoing data sharing.
During the communication, customers may share details like a bank account, credit/debit card, username, password, etc. If hackers intercept them, they can inflict damage by using them on the customer’s behalf or selling it on the dark web. SSL helps prevent that and protects customer data.
SSL comes in two types: a single-domain SSL and a multi-domain SSL. A single domain SSL can protect a single primary domain but no subdomain, whereas multi-domain multiple numbers of primary domains up to 250 without added subdomain protection.
Domain validated certificate is optimum for blog owners, organizational validation is suitable for businesses who want to build their online presence, and extended validation is optimum for websites that accept customer payments online.
Therefore, SSL helps protect customer information.
- Boost SEO rankings
Every business wants to portray itself in a good light on Google, but to do that, it must adhere to Google’s security standards.
Google keeps a close watch on all unprotected or non-SSL websites. It does not give them the liberty to reach the top of SERP. Instead, it penalizes them by dropping their rankings and advising users not to visit them by showing “Not Secure” signs.
Therefore, to boost your search rankings on Google, one needs to have optimum security. Protocols like PCI/DSS guidelines, DV SSL or domain validated SSL, and users’ overall page experience matters the most to Google.
- It helps seal the deal.
Every business expands itself at some point. But nobody wants to be a part of your expansion strategy if you have lousy website security.
Top businesses collaborate with responsive websites that understand the importance of security. The reason being the reputation of a top brand gets hampered if they choose to collaborate with a partner that gets penalized by Google for mismanagement of website security. Therefore, to crack mega deals and keep growing, you need to maintain a good reputation in the market.
- It helps enhance your sales.
Customers do not want to buy from a website where they do not feel safe. Given that Google plays a massive role in signaling people not to buy from an unsecured website, potential customers would refrain and look for better website options elsewhere.
But if your website has a secure, gray-colored padlock that contains all the information about your business, then your chances of getting regular customers are high.
The gray padlock and https:// encryption have credibility in the market. Customers do not think twice before buying from an SSL-secured website because they believe in the security protocol.
- Avoid the possibility of future cyberattacks.
Though the future is uncertain, you can rely on your security protocols to protect you from cyberattacks.
Here are some things you must remember to improve your security policy.
- Always use strong passwords. Use methods like 2-factor authentication that can disallow any hacker to creep through.
- Limit login attempts to three. Anybody who enters wrong passwords three times consecutively, their IP address should be barred from trying for the fourth time until they re-verify themselves.
- Always keep your software up to date with the latest updates. Developers employ much time researching, figuring out the bugs, and fixing them. The least you can do is keep the website in a safe state through upgradation.
- Train your employees about the latest cybersecurity trends. Cybercriminals keep on inventing unique ways to compromise the current system. Trained staff would be in a better state to tackle issues like DDoS attacks, Phishing attacks, MITM attacks, XSS, etc.