One might think that his website can never be hacked, but the harsh reality is that any website can be hacked and the entire data can be misused. And, nothing can be more terrifying for a website owner to see his website being completely wiped by a wicked hacker. A data breach or website hacking has always been in the news, irrespective of the business type – small, medium, or large. And a question might come to your mind – why would somebody hack your website, especially of small businesses? Unfortunately, hacking is not just for the big companies — small businesses are too facing an unprecedented threat of website hacks and data breaches. It takes a lot to build a website, hence it’s very important to take the time and an extra effort to protect it with the following basic hacker protection tips. But before we dig into that, let us first know about some of the common breaches done by hackers –
- Weak and Stolen Credentials.
- Back Doors and Application Vulnerabilities.
- Malware.
- Social Engineering.
- Insider Threats.
- Physical Attacks.
- Improper Configuration.
- User Error.
Tips on Safeguarding your Website from Hackers
1. Keep System Upto Date
To ensure your website is safe and secure, you not only need to keep all your plugins, libraries, extensions, etc. up to date but also need to make sure that the server is regularly updated too. Compromising on this one can turn out to be way too risky than you think. When the server is not safe or protected from outside threats, hackers find it way easier to get into your system. Hence, ensure your servers are tough enough to not become a victim of wicked hackers.
2. Protect Against XSS Attacks
XSS which is otherwise known as Cross-Site Scripting is a type of web security vulnerability usually found in web applications, allowing hackers to jeopardize users’ interaction with a website application. One of the best ways to secure your website from XSS attacks is “Content Security Policy” (CSP), which reduces the chances of any XSS vulnerabilities that might occur. There are three main types of XSS attacks. These are:
Reflected XSS: in which the malicious script comes directly from the current HTTP request.
Stored XSS: in which the malicious script comes directly from the website’s database.
DOM-based XSS: in which the vulnerability exists in client-side code instead of server-side code.
3. Beware Of Error Messages
One might not think that a hacker can hack a website or steal important data through error messages. But surprisingly, error messages are yet another thing through which you can allow hackers to enter your system. Therefore, to keep the security of your website intact as well as to ensure no outsider, not even your users leak important information present on your server, give out only minimal errors to your users. Provide your users only the needful information and keep the detailed errors in your server logs.
Validate On The Both Sides
Another tip that a website owner can benefit from while keeping his website safe is validation done on both – the browser and server-side. The reason is, the browser can find out simple failures like empty fields that are compulsory to be filled by a user and when the text is being entered into a numbers field only. Hence, ensure to validate carefully as failure to do so could lead to malicious code being inserted into your database which can end up resulting in the hacking of your website.
4. Check Your Passwords
Last but not least, keeping complex or out-of-the-box passwords is what everybody is aware of to secure not only their website but any profile they own on the internet. However, it’s not necessary that if you have kept a complex password, your website cannot reach out to the hands of a hacker. A survey showed that about 100 passwords are hacked every second, which makes billions of passwords stolen every day. Hence, as a website owner, you should not only keep your passwords strong but should also ask your users to keep a tough password while signing up on your website.
Conclusion
In a world where everything is turning digital, cyber threats are becoming more and more common. Making it a common thing doesn’t mean you can sit back and chill. You need to safeguard your website as a watchman does to a building and the people inside it. Keeping the aforementioned tips in mind will surely help you to secure your website from outside threats. However, if you are planning to take it to professionals, then 42Works is the place where you can find the right expert to help you with the same. Let us know what you are looking for, and we will be beyond pleased to assist you.
