Keeping a website secure can be difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. Attacks can come from multiple different directions, and you must always be on your toes and keep educating yourself. If you don’t feel confident enough in this field, you should hire an expert to handle your security for you. But it’s always good to understand what they are doing, and why they are performing certain actions. Even simple things like knowing the fastest VPN providers on the market can be useful.
The key to understanding that is to have a good overview of the most common threats that you’re going to face. Even though security is a vast field, the list of basic problems is not infinite and is not difficult to learn.
Network Attacks
How secure is your network? It’s not a very easy question to answer, even for experienced specialists. As mentioned above, the more applications you have running, the more potential security holes you have to deal with. There are some key points you can cover to ensure that you are protected on at least some basic level though.
Use a VPN for any external connections to company resources. This will prevent attackers from snooping on your traffic and capturing any unencrypted data. You would need a VPN that’s fast and have the best security features available. Don’t reuse passwords between different components of your network. You should have a set of computer-generated passwords for each service and account, and lock them with a separate key. Look into a password manager if you want to make this process easier.
Last but not least, you should always strive to stay informed. The world of cybersecurity evolves on a steady basis, and it can be easy to fall behind the current trends. Make it a habit of reading up on recent developments. Try to build a network of acquaintances who share similar interests so you can exchange knowledge.
Security Exploits
A website is a collection of different applications running together and communicating. Each of those applications could be a potential security hole for your setup. This doesn’t only concern the ones that are exposed to the internet, either. A common technique used by attackers is to gain entry through a legitimate access point. From there, they can look for opportunities to exploit internal services.
SQL injections are a typical example of a security exploit. It’s dependent on poor application configuration and code written without care. Some exploits don’t even require any programming errors on your part. They are triggered by connecting to a faulty service, and in some cases, you might not even know that anyone is attacking you until it’s too late. You should always ensure that all your applications and services are up to date and configured correctly. If you’re writing any custom code, get it reviewed by a specialist if possible. Don’t publish anything if you are not sure of its impact on your overall site.
Social Engineering
Phishing attacks and other types of social engineering are becoming more and more common these days. You can have the best security setup in the world in technical terms, but it won’t matter if your employees are the weak link. The same applies to your customers. Teach everyone not to give any details away. Even more so, the critical ones like login credentials and personal information. Run regular training sessions for your employees.
It’s not a bad idea to run some occasional tests as well. There are companies that specialize in these services. They can give your employees a good run to see how well they respond to social engineering threats. Try not to punish those who fail though. Instead, attempt to educate them better, and provide incentives for those who perform well and spot the tests.
Data Destruction/Theft
Backing up your data is a must if it’s important for your business. If you’re careful about your security, you should keep at least two separate copies of those backups. In the best-case scenario, those won’t even be in the same physical location. The point is to make sure that you can still get back up on your feet as fast as possible, even if the worst happens – like a fire. Having your offices burglarized can also ruin your business if you don’t have any offsite backups.
Data could also be stolen remotely. This is a separate area of problems that you’ll have to deal with (more on it below). A backup can still give you some extra peace of mind when dealing with such issues.
