Business data is continuously on the rise and the amount of data that is generated every day has been following an incremental slope. This increased rise in data flow has provided a fair amount of cyber attacks and cyber threats to increase. This threat has time and again forced the business organizations to place strong cybersecurity policies as well as implement strict Internet security practices. Deployment of cybersecurity policies and Internet security practices shields businesses with any unforeseen threat that might just occur.
Consequences of an Unsecured Website
Any secured website using encryption techniques for encrypting the sensitive data with the help of encryption keys. This helps the sites to attain higher security levels and can’t be easily intercepted by any unauthorized user. The websites might even suffer from negative
If the business website is not secure, then it may result in loss of trust amongst the end-customers as they will not be visiting these websites. They often develop this fear that the unsecured website might fall into the hands and get exploited by hackers.
A hacked website creates a denting image on the hosted server, leading to complete closure of the site. The brand and image of the business get tarnished and the key customers start to play safe from these websites, resulting in enormous losses to the companies.
So, to have trust and more positive associations with their customers, the businesses must secure their websites at the earliest.
Best Practices for Website Security
Websites are the most crucial component of any business as they depict the digital identity of these businesses. So, it is becoming critically important for small businesses to secure their websites at any cost.
The following are the best practices that small businesses must follow to safeguard their website:
- Every business needs to deploy the basic security principles and policies for their employees. They should also implement the correct Internet usage guidelines that give complete detail of the penalties to be paid in case the employees don’t adhere to the company’s security policies. Also, the companies should train their employees regarding the rules and regulations that describe how crucial data has to be handled along with the protection of customer information and other necessary data of the company.
- The machines and systems in the organization must be ‘clean,’ i.e., they should have the latest security software, web browser and operating system installed. The latest version of all these helps in forming the best defense mechanism against the top malware and threats. Small businesses can define their antivirus software to carry out a scan after every update. They should also install software updates once they’re ready and available. Protecting the company data needs to be the top priority for every business.
- Besides having clean systems, businesses must also use a vulnerability scanner. A vulnerability scanner helps in determining the shortcomings of the website. It also identifies the loopholes or entry points from which a hacker might penetrate the site and steal away crucial data. Besides this, a vulnerability scanner also gives a complete analysis of how the weaknesses of the website can be remediated. Businesses must ensure that their websites are scanned regularly so that their websites are safeguarded against the new and upcoming vulnerabilities.
- In the web security domain, it is generally considered a good practice to keep the admin pages away from the public sphere. Admin pages can act as potential entry points for the hackers to infiltrate into the network of small businesses. This is a security measure that businesses need to take seriously and remove their top sensitive admin pages away from most visited pages such as Google. Also, for business admins, it is not a difficult process, considering there are not many links are directly referring to the site page. All the business admins need to do is just add a Disallow command in the robots.txt file document.
- The small businesses need to compulsorily ensure that their operating systems have a firewall installed and remains enabled at all times. The businesses also need to ensure that the employees who’re working away from the office networks on remote locations also have firewalls set up on their personal systems. Having a firewall installed on these systems helps in avoiding any unwanted leakage of crucial data on any foreign network.
- Today, the rate at which mobile devices are growing is very high, and this has led to creating crucial security and management challenges when it comes to storing and keeping vital information. Thus, it is important for businesses that their employees compulsorily enable passwords for protecting their devices, encrypt their critical data, and have installed security-related applications. All of these preventive measures help in preventing cyber criminals from stealing any information out of the mobile devices when connected to a public network. Also, there must be proper reporting procedures to be followed in case of device theft or loss. The businesses must also deploy security measures for protecting user’s personal information from any kind of unusual and malicious activity.
- Due to the rapid growth of mobile devices, business networks are facing issues to overcome the various risks. Also, the increased use of IoT has connected several devices, out of which some lack proper in-built security mechanisms. This increased number of devices has exposed more number of endpoints that can be easily exploited by hackers and cybercriminals. Thus, it has become necessary for businesses to restrict unmanaged mobile devices and also define clear network protocols for managed devices.
- Small businesses must perform back up of their data on all their systems regularly. With regular backups, the critical business data can be retrieved easily in case of any disaster events. Businesses need to understand that their backups must be present at off-site locations and protected from all kinds of failures. Besides backing up, small businesses must also replicate their data on other systems. Replicating data also helps in fetching data on the go in any unforeseen events.
Concluding Notes
Small business website security is not only about following a particular fixed set of steps. Best security practices are always evolving as the threats to website security are constantly on the rise.
business security – DepositPhotos
