10 External Website Security Best Practices

In today’s digital world, website security is more important than ever. With the rise of cyber attacks, it’s essential to take measures to protect your website from potential threats.

There are a number of things you can do to secure your website, but it’s important to focus on the most effective measures. In this article, we’ll share 10 of the best practices for external website security. By following these best practices, you can help keep your website safe from harm.

1. Make sure your website is secure

When a website is secure, it means that the connection between the user and the site is encrypted. This encryption makes it much harder for someone to intercept the data being transmitted and view it, as they would need the key to decrypt it.

A website that is not secure is much easier for someone to view the data being transmitted, as there is no encryption in place. This means that if someone were to intercept the data, they would be able to read it.

One of the best ways to ensure that your website is secure is to use HTTPS. HTTPS is a protocol that adds an extra layer of security on top of HTTP, and it is used by many websites that handle sensitive information.

If you’re not sure whether your website is using HTTPS, you can check by looking at the URL. If it starts with “https://”, then it is using HTTPS. If it just starts with “http://”, then it is not using HTTPS.

You should also make sure that your website is using a valid SSL certificate. An SSL certificate is what enables HTTPS on a website, and it is issued by a certificate authority.

If you’re not sure whether your website has a valid SSL certificate, you can check by looking for the padlock icon in the browser’s address bar. If you see this icon, it means that the website is using HTTPS and has a valid SSL certificate.

2. Use HTTPS and SSL certificates to encrypt data

When data is transmitted over the internet, it is done so in plain text. This means that anyone who intercepts the data can read it. This is a major security concern, especially for sensitive data such as credit card information or login credentials.

HTTPS and SSL certificates encrypt data so that even if it is intercepted, it cannot be read. This provides an extra layer of security for your website and your users’ data.

To set up HTTPS on your website, you will need to purchase an SSL certificate and install it on your web server. Once it is installed, you can then enable HTTPS by adding a few lines of code to your website.

If you are not sure how to do this, there are many guides and tutorials available online. Alternatively, you can hire a web developer to help you set up HTTPS on your website.

3. Keep all software up-to-date

Software vulnerabilities are often discovered and exploited soon after the software is released. So, if you’re running an older version of the software, chances are there are known vulnerabilities that haven’t been patched yet. By keeping your software up-to-date, you can ensure that all known vulnerabilities have been patched and your website is as secure as possible.

Additionally, new versions of software often include security enhancements that aren’t present in older versions. So, by staying up-to-date, you can take advantage of these new security features and further improve the security of your website.

4. Use strong passwords

A strong password is at least eight characters long and includes a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. It’s also important to avoid using easily guessed words like “password” or easily accessible personal information like your birthdate.

One way to create a strong password is to use a passphrase, which is a sentence or series of words that you can easily remember but would be difficult for someone else to guess. For example, you could use the phrase “I love my cat Fluffy” as your password. Just make sure to use a different passphrase for each account.

You should also change your passwords regularly, especially if you suspect that they may have been compromised. And never reuse the same password on multiple accounts.

5. Restrict access to sensitive areas of the site

By only allowing authorized personnel to access certain areas of the site, you can help prevent data breaches and other security threats.

There are a few different ways to restrict access to sensitive areas of your site. One way is to use a login system that requires a username and password. You can also use IP address filtering to only allow traffic from certain IP addresses. Finally, you can use a web application firewall (WAF) to block traffic from malicious IP addresses.

No matter which method you choose, make sure you keep your site’s security up-to-date. Regularly check for vulnerabilities and patch them as soon as possible. By taking these precautions, you can help keep your site safe from external threats.

6. Monitor for malicious activity

If you’re not monitoring for malicious activity, you won’t know if your website has been compromised until it’s too late. By then, the damage will have been done, and your reputation will be tarnished.

To avoid this, you need to set up a system that monitors your website for signs of malicious activity, such as:

-Changes in website content
-Unusual traffic patterns
-Suspicious user activity

If you notice any of these red flags, you can take action immediately to mitigate the damage and protect your website.

External website security is essential to protecting your online presence. By following these best practices, you can help ensure that your website is safe from harm.

7. Back up regularly

If your website is hacked, the first thing you’ll want to do is restore it from a backup. This will help you get your site up and running again quickly, without having to rebuild everything from scratch.

Backing up regularly also gives you a way to roll back to a previous version of your site if something goes wrong with an update or change. For example, if you make a change to your site that breaks something, you can simply restore the previous version from your backup.

There are a few different ways to back up your website. You can use a plugin like BackupBuddy, which makes it easy to create backups and restore them with just a few clicks. Or, you can use a service like VaultPress, which offers real-time backups and security scanning.

Whichever method you choose, make sure you test your backups regularly to ensure they’re working properly.

8. Educate employees about security risks

Your employees are the first line of defense against external threats, and if they don’t know how to identify risks, they could unintentionally expose your organization to attack.

Make sure your employees know what to look for when they’re browsing the web, and provide them with resources they can use to stay up-to-date on the latest security threats. You should also have a process in place for reporting suspicious activity, so you can investigate and take action quickly if an employee does encounter something dangerous.

9. Don’t store sensitive information on the server

If a hacker were to gain access to your server, they would then have access to all of the sensitive information that is stored there. This could include customer credit card information, social security numbers, and more.

Instead of storing this information on the server, you should store it in a secure database that is not accessible from the internet. This way, even if a hacker were to gain access to your server, they would not be able to access the sensitive information.

10. Implement a web application firewall (WAF)

A WAF is a security measure that sits between your website and visitors, inspecting all traffic for malicious activity. If it detects something suspicious, it can block the request from reaching your site.

There are two main benefits of using a WAF. Firstly, it can help to protect your website from common attacks, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). Secondly, it can give you visibility into the type of traffic that’s trying to access your site, which can be useful for identifying potential threats.

There are a few different ways to implement a WAF, but one of the simplest is to use a cloud-based service, such as Cloudflare or Incapsula. These services will manage the WAF for you, so you don’t need to worry about setting it up or maintaining it.