How Do You Make a Site Secure?

A website without security is like a house without locks; if you don’t have it, you can’t really be too shocked when it gets broken into. Just like this real-life example, there can be serious implications for a website failing on the security front. For one, it could affect your results on Google, even getting you possibly blacklisted by the search engine. All things considered, website security is well worth the effort. So how do you make a website secure? Here are some tips and tricks to make sure your website is a fortress, so you can focus on boosting the quality of what’s on it.

Limit Access

Too many site owners don’t limit the number of people who can access and modify the site. With just a few updated settings, you can plug a major flaw in your website’s security.

Take advantage of user permission settings in a content management system (CMS) like WordPress to provide as-needed access to your site.

By providing everyone with the ability to do everything from posting content to modifying navigation menus, you’re also potentially worsening your site’s security as you can’t account for everyone following other items on this website security checklist, such as updating passwords regularly.

Enforce a Strong Password Policy

Not only is it important to update passwords regularly; you need to use strong, complex passwords. If you’re wondering how to create a secure login for your website, passwords should contain:

• Uppercase letters
• Lowercase letters
• Numbers
• Special characters
• At least 10 characters

This makes it much harder for hackers to break in using “brute force” techniques.

How to Add SSL to Your Website

Make sure your site is set up with an SSL certificate, and that it’s running over HTTPS. An SSL certificate makes data transfers secure, adding another line of protection to your site. Managed WordPress hosting providers like WP Engine and Siteground include automated SSL certificate installation and renewal, with all of their hosting plans.

Update Your CMS Regularly

Updates often contain important security features and close any loopholes in the CMS, so it is crucial to keep all platforms or scripts you’ve installed up-to-date. Hackers are always searching for ways to take advantage of a vulnerable site, so make sure you’re always running the latest version, or work with a web developer to take care of this for you.

Trim the Fate

By this, we mean to remove unnecessary plugins. The more plugins you have on your website, the more pieces of software there are for hackers to choose from to exploit. This rings particularly true if the plugins are expired or aren’t widely used. You should delete any files, databases or applications from your website that are no longer in use.

Invest in Secure Hosting

Choosing a secure and reputable web hosting company is key in building your website’s security. Make sure that the hosting provider you choose is:

• Aware of threats and devoted to keeping your site secure
• Doing backups of your data to a remote server, which makes it easy to restore if your site is hacked
• Offering 24/7 technical support for whenever you need it

Use Tools to Monitor Your Security

You can’t manually prevent attacks on your website – that’s just not possible. However, tools like Sucuri will monitor your site’s security for you in real time. Not only does the scanner automatically check your website to ensure it’s clean of all malware, it also checks for any link injections or suspicious redirects.

Review Your Website Regularly

You won’t necessarily stop website attacks by browsing your pages and checking your web analytics, but you can minimise the damage. Look through your website at least once a week, and work with a creative team to keep an eye on your website activity as well.

If you’d like to rest assured that your website is not only safe from hackers but thriving, contact the team at Vine Digital. Not only do we have years of experience establishing the baseline of safety and security on the web; we’ve taken our clients above and beyond their competitors, securing real returns on investment. Give us a call to find out more today.