Is Your Website Secure? A Quick Guide for Complete Website Security Check

Security matters a lot on a website. Your website can attract various viruses and malware and there is also a possibility of your website getting hacked if there is not proper and efficient security in the website. A thorough security check can reveal vulnerabilities in your codes and help your website from being exploited by hackers.

Here is a step by step guide for website security which shows you how to test your site’s security.

Here is a step by step guide for website security which shows you how to test your site’s 

security.

1. Update your website regularly

Any website or eCommerce store or application needs updates! Your website is an application needs to be updated regularly to stay secured against threats. When website security holes are found in software, hackers are quick to attempt to abuse them.

The following elements should always be kept up-to-date:

• The OS must be kept updated from time to time.
• The CMS on which your website has been designed must be kept up-to-date.
• Any third party associated with your website.

Thus, updating the site is very important as it restricts any viruses to enter the software and keeps the hackers away. Keep updating your website from time to time and keep it up-to-date to maintain its security.

2. Keep a strong password

Whenever you download a new application, while signing up it asks you to create a strong password which contains alphabets, numbers as well as special characters. They ask for a strong password so that your account doesn't fall into wrong hands who may misuse your account for wrong practices. Passwords are the security of any website/application/store etc and it has to be strong enough so that it doesn't become accessible to anyone else other than you.

Users might not like it or feel its irritating but enforcing password such as a minimum of eight characters, including an uppercase letter, number and characters will protect their information of your website for the long run. So spare some time, think of a strong password and protect your website.

3. SQL injection

The next factor that should be checked is SQL injection. SQL injection attacks are very crucial as an attacker can get various personal information from the server database. To check SQL injection entry points into your web application, find out the code from your codebase where direct MySQL queries are executed on the database by accepting other inputs.

If an attacker is successful to hack the application from the SQL query error shown on the browser, he can get access to your information they are looking for. Thus, SQL injection is very important to maintain the security of your website.

4. Protection against XSS attacks

Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks inject dangerous and malicious javascript into your website which runs in the browsers. It can even change the content of your page and steal information to send it to the attacker. If you show comments on your page without any validation, there is a possibility that an attacker or hacker may submit comments with JavaScript which could run in every other user’s browsers and steal their login cookie. You need to ensure that users cannot inject active JavaScript content into your pages.

CSP is a powerful toolbox of XSS. CSP is a tool which tells the browser to limit how and what Javascript is executed in the page and also disallow running of any scripts not hosted on your domain. CSP makes it harder for an attacker’s script to work, even if they can get them into your page.

5. Website security tools

The most effective way of securing your website is by installing some security tools in your software. There are many tools that can be installed. Some free tools that are worth looking at are-

• Netsparker- This tool is good for testing SQL injections and XSS
• OpenVAS- This is one of the most advanced open source security scanner. It is good for testing vulnerabilities.
• Securityheaders.io- This tool is used to report which security header has enabled and correctly configured.

Hence, these are some of the website security tools that need to be installed to protect your website from hackers and attackers and various kind of viruses which may steal information from your website and affect the working of your website.

6. Use HTTPS

HTTP is a protocol used for providing security over the internet. HTTP ensures that users are talking to the server they expect and nobody else can change the content of their website. If there is anything that a user wants private, we advise you to use the only HTTP. An attacker stealing the information of your website would be able to get access to your login details. To stop this kind of attacks, you must always use HTTP for your entire site. Using HTTP will also take your website higher in Google search engines so it is also beneficial for SEO. So it's advisable to use HTTP for your entire site as it has not just one benefit, but many.

7. NO file uploads

Allowing users to upload files on your website contains website security risks. The risk is that any file uploaded can contain a script that can affect your website’s working and steal the information. If you have a file upload from the user then you have to treat all the files carefully. If you allow users to upload images, you need to verify because the image file can easily be faked.

So how can you prevent this? You need to stop and restrict users from posting or uploading files on your website. Even if you are allowing files to be uploaded from the internet only use secure transport methods to your servers such as SFTP or SSH.

Conclusion

The points mentioned in the blog are the step to step guide for website security. Go through the points, implement them and secure your website from all the threats, hackers and viruses. Keeping your website secured is very important as a website has a lot of information which can be stolen if someone gets access of your login details, they can even use your website or account for wrong purposes. Implement these points and be carefree with a secured website.

Do you know of any other security tool apart from those mentioned above? Feel free to comment it below, we would love to hear from you as well. .