Eight Tips to Protect Your Website from Hackers

Many companies have concerns about protecting their website from hackers. They may ask themselves, “how can I protect my website from hackers,” or ask their IT staff how to protect their website from hackers and viruses. Ultimately, the process of keeping your website safe will never be complete. This is particularly true for eCommerce sites, or other sites that handle consumer financial information. Hackers are constantly trying to innovate and find new ways to attack your site, which means that you must constantly innovate right along with them. Fortunately, there are some simple steps that every company should take to keep their website safe. Some of these steps do not even require much technical knowledge. That said, companies are always advised to have knowledgeable IT staff on hand to protect the website from hackers or other threats.

Read on for Eight Steps to Protect Your Website From Hackers

1. Update Your Site – The most important tip is to keep your website updated. Don’t delay installing updates or security patches. Sometimes companies delay updating their software because of cost concerns, but not updating can be far more costly. Not just in terms of financial liability, but in terms of the loss of customer trust. Consumers are more security-conscious than ever and may not return to a retailer who has been careless with their data. In addition, hackers network like crazy with one another, so once a security vulnerability is known, the odds are high that the knowledge will spread.

2. Up-to-Date Knowledge – Retailers should also keep their technical knowledge up-to-date so that they remain aware of threats. Basic knowledge of the types of threats that your webstore may face will help your business protect itself against them. Following tech sites like The Hacker News can help your business remain alert so that they can put new precautions in place when necessary.

3. Restrict Admin Access – Setting strict user roles and permission levels is one of the best ways you can protect your website. If only one or two out of fifty users have admin access, that’s forty-nine or forty-eight fewer chances hackers have to take over your site.

4. Tighten Password and Login Requirements – Companies should enforce strict password requirements, including requiring a minimum number of characters and the use of numbers or special characters. Users should be required to change their passwords periodically and after prolonged periods of inactivity.

5. Use Encryption – One of the best ways companies can protect their customers’ data is by using an encrypted SSL protocol when transferring users’ person information between your website and database. That way, even if hackers do breach your website, any data they steal will be useless to them without the encryption key.

6. Hide Admin Pages – Companies should prevent their admin pages from being indexed by search engines by using the robots_txt file. Using this file will discourage search engines from listing them, which makes it harder for hackers to find them. Click here to learn how to add a robots_txt file to your website.

7. Install Security Applications and a Web Application Firewall – Install a web application firewall (WAF) that will monitor all the data passing between your data connection and the website server. As an added bonus, in addition to blocking hacking attempts, the firewall also filters out other types of unwanted traffic, like bots and spammers. There are also some other security applications you can install on your website to make life more difficult for hackers. One example would be a tool that hides your website’s Content Management System (CMS).

8. Limit File Uploads – No matter how many security checks your system runs, file uploads still pose a risk. Hackers can use them to upload malicious code and gain access to your website’s data. Companies should store any uploaded files outside of the root directory and use a script to access them as needed.

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CertiPro is a business technology partner. We help companies set up and modify their Magento eCommerce stores. We also offer a Sage Magento integration that links companies’ Sage ERP and Magento site to improve data accuracy and provide a better customer experience. Contact us today to learn how CertiPro could help your business keep their Magento webstore secure.