2022 has arrived with many hopes. Modern-day ventures rely on data more than ever before.
Many companies are using BI or Business Intelligence techniques to enhance their business.
Not to forget that cybercrimes are proportionately rising as well.
According to a McAfee report, cybercrimes are costing $1 trillion every year to global companies.
That is why today’s businesses need a solid strategy to cover all the security bases.
Just in case you are wondering what those security bases are, let us talk about them in detail. Also read about best kinsta alternatives.
So, here you go:
- Upgrade yourself regularly
If you want to repel any cyberattack, you must know about it first.
That is why you must keep track of prevalent cyberattacks. Plenty of tech websites can help you gain information on potential cybersecurity threats.
Regular knowledge of cyberattacks will keep you in sync with hackers. You can quickly identify potential threats and act against them.
Upgradation is suitable for your website and your customers who trust you to keep their data safe.
You can also help your customers adopt new cybersecurity measures if you are educated.
- Install an SSL certificate
You have probably heard enough about the importance of an SSL certificate. Moving into 2022, an SSL or Secure Socket Layer technology will help keep your website safe.
An SSL cert encrypts a website’s connection and creates a secure network to pass data.
It does not allow hackers to see what data you transfer as everything passes in an encrypted form.
The work of SSL does not stop here. It also helps comply with Google’s and PCI/DSS guidelines.
Google has already stated that websites that do not have HTTPS (in other words, SSL encryption) won’t be allowed to rank on Google’s SERP.
Non-compliance with SSL can ruin your entire motive of reaching out to more customers.
The payment card industry identifies SSL as an integral factor in accepting payments online. Unfortunately, this means that no website will be allowed to collect payments through online mediums without SSL.
Before purchasing SSL, you must also know how many domains are you looking to protect. If you only want to protect a single domain, then a single-domain SSL is good enough but, if you want to protect many domains and subdomains, you should go for a multi-domain SSL cert.
However, if there are multiple first-level subdomains under the chosen primary domain to protect, you would need a Wildcard SSL certificate to help you stay secure. This will not only save costs but also eliminate certificate management worries. You can invest in a cost-effective Cheap SSL Certificate to afford premium security.
So, buy an SSL today from any reputed SSL certificate provider.
Implement a cookie banner
Getting consent is a necessity if your website has to be legally compliant with privacy laws like the GDPR. You should get your website visitor’s consent before setting cookies on their browser, especially if you use third-party cookies from plugins and analytic tools.You should implement a cookie banner on your site, auto-block third-party cookies and give users the choice to accept/decline cookies with clear ‘accept’ and ‘reject’ buttons. For proof of your compliance, you should keep a record of all user consent.Using a cookie consent solution, you can automate your cookie consent process and make compliance easier.
- Strengthen your passwords
Passwords are a crucial factor in a website’s protection. Without a hard-to-guess password, you cannot protect your website’s admin control.
A tough password consists of at least 12 characters, special symbols, and numbers.
Use upper- and lower-case letters to make it harder for a bot to guess it. Hackers use bots to initiate brute force attacks and break-in into the account.
So, tighten your password security this 2022.
- Maintain your access control security
Your admin panel is the powerhouse of your website. Unfortunately, if a hacker successfully breaches it, they can easily steal as much data as they like.
To tighten the admin panel, you must restrict users from accessing them at will. Every admin should only have limited login access, let’s say 3.
They should not be allowed to log in after that. Two-factor authentication is an acceptable way to exercise control over access.
If your login page is protected by 2-factor authentication, only registered users will be allowed to log in. This means that no hacker can compromise your website.
- Don’t take software updates lightly.
Though CMS platforms implement robust security systems in their databases, hackers keep finding new ways of breaching.
Updating software and making it safe takes extensive time and money that platforms pay from their pockets.
Nobody is naive enough to spend money to quarrel with you. They do it because software updates are essential to ensure that hackers do not get inside your website. You can also help your customers adopt new cybersecurity measures if you are educated.
So, this 2022, take some time to ensure that your CMS software is updated. If your platform permits, we recommend turning automatic updates on.
- Don’t let crawlers index your admin pages.
With other essential pages of your website, search engine crawlers tend to crawl your admin pages too.
You do not need to rank your admin pages, which can be potentially dangerous. If hackers get to them, they can apply brute force attacks to break your security system.
So, to stop search engines from accessing your powerhouse, you need to use a robot.txt file. It discourages search engines from indexing admin pages, and it will be much harder for hackers to reach unless you are using the same default URL with the same old “admin” as your username.
- Create backups and limit file uploads
We all know the importance of data backups these days. But, like software developers, we don’t seem to take it seriously.
Many businesses lose all their data during a breach and are left with nothing to function.
This 2022 pledge to yourself that you will back up every file in multiple locations. You can backup both on and off-site.
Moreover, do not let users upload files directly to the database. Hackers can use this medium to exploit your data.
Also, make sure that all your files are stored outside the root directory so that no bugs can reach your website’s core.
Final Thoughts
To protect your website in 2022, you need to cover all security bases. With Google emphasizing all things security, website owners also have to frame an effective security strategy.
SSL certificates, data backups, and timely updates are not new concepts; they have repeatedly maintained their place across years.
This also indicates that we are not learning from our mistakes. A sizable percentage of websites do not operate on HTTPS encryption, have weak passwords, and never update their software.
They might be getting away from hackers’ eyes until now, but this 2022, hacking attempts are getting lethal. To counter that, websites need to integrate these seven tips that we just talked about.
