A website is a critical part of your business. It tells potential customers about yourself and your services. In some cases, it allows them to purchase what you sell. This is why over 70% of small businesses have a website.
You might be in the process of creating one or updating an existing location. Thus, you're transferring your company's data to the platform. At any point in this process, the information is accessible to cybercriminals. Therefore, precautions are needed to secure it. Here are a few ways to protect your company data when creating a website.
You don't want to choose a web platform simply due to its low price or the extras it provides. These are just surface elements. Instead, you need to select the home for your website based on deeper questions. The questions you should be asking are related to the security of the platform, the storage ability of the hosting service, and the structure and ease of use of the building software.
For instance, find out if they offer secure file transfer protocols (SFTP). Ask or read up on their past security breaches and what they did to minimize future attacks. Learn about their backup services or lack thereof. Together, this data determines your next course of action.
Logically, you want to build something on-site. After all, you have the needed tools provided by the web design platform, or so you think. There's a good chance you're missing the security protocols to safely move your data. Moving company data from one location to another can be a dangerous process and there is a risk of losing data or having your information breached before it can be secured.
The risk is minimized by an IT services organization. Companies across the country, like Cortavo, have subject matter experts that understand digital security and how to incorporate it in a website build. Not only is the procedure done safely but speed isn't compromised as the data is transferred, ensuring your company and consumer data is fully protected and secured on your new site.
Outdated software has been the culprit of previous security hacks. Though users like how a certain version of an application operates, protection must always outweigh convenience. Particularly when the information is part of a website.
In other words, the software needs to be updated. Not only within the website platform but also on the server where it resides. Furthermore, security tools like firewalls require updated firmware and software to close potential holes and minimize attacks. When signing up for this protection software, you can set notifications to let you know when to update your services. It’s important to make sure your protection software is always up to date for the best protection.
This is a significant problem. Hackers commonly use passwords to gain access to networks. Traditional usernames and passwords are insecure and no match for today's sophisticated hackers. The easiest way to prevent this is to use a robust authentication method. You can start this by asking your employees to make 8 to 12 characters strong passwords that include symbols, numbers, and upper and lowercase letters.
Personal details such as dates or names should not be used in passwords, and you should make sure that your employees change passwords regularly. Don't refrain from training your employees. Furthermore, it would help if you had specific policies that outline how passwords should be protected from everyone, including colleagues.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the digital equivalent of an address. It's considered a street name while the URL is the actual number or location. Within the internet, HTTP offers a certain level of security.
On the other hand, HTTPS doubles this protection. It minimizes the risk of interceptions or interruptions as you transit to your website destination. As a result, cybercriminals have less of a chance to hijack the transmission. While most sites have HTTPS as the default, ensure this is the case for your URL.
No matter how stringent they are, passwords are easy fodder for cyber extortionists. If they haven't developed a tool to break into an account they're bound to create one soon enough. However, there's a way to padlock your password to reduce the potential of a hack. This is multi-factor authentication (MFA).
This process adds a second layer of verification to your login. Once you add a password you receive an approval code. This tends to be in the form of a random set of numbers texted to your mobile device. The reason MFA is so secure is cybercriminals have a difficult time grabbing the quickly changing code. Even if they take physical possession of the device it's tough for them to access your account.
When you provide your entire staff with administrative access to your website it opens up huge security issues. Though none of them have malicious intent, something they work on inside the platform opens potential gaps. These allow hackers to take control of your site for their own means.
Prevent this with segregation of duties. In other words, administrative access should only be given to those who require it. Even then, MFA and activity recording should be enabled to track potential issues. Make sure the employees who have administrative access are properly and fully trained on how to use the site and keep it secured. Consider a third-party password protection service plugin to keep your team’s login information secure.
Network security is a small but essential part of your business. By following the steps mentioned above, you can mount your defense against breaches. In the end, don't delay implementing the above suggestions to protect your company data when creating a website. The quicker you put them in place the fewer opportunities cybercriminals have to break in. In turn, your customers and employees will feel safe their information is protected.
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