3 Easy Ways to Make Your Website Secure in 2022

Everyone understands and actually wants websites to be safe and protected. Nonetheless, most people aren't gurus in the various methods for accomplishing proper website security despite its significance.

Suppose you own a small business or a nonprofit organization. In that case, you may have built your own website and assumed that the hosting service or content management system you're using would automatically secure it. While this is true, it is still your responsibility to double-check and ensure that your business has the maximum security required for optimal operations.

This post will mainly discuss the top things that every business should do to ensure the security of their website. So, let's get started; the three most important steps to keep a website secure in 2022 are listed below.

1. TRANSFER FROM HTTP TO HTTPS

Web browsers began flagging websites that lacked SSL certificates as insecure in 2018. The S indicates that a website has an SSL certificate, which stands for "secure socket layer."

SSL refers to the process of encrypting data transmitted between computers and servers. Before 2018, SSL certifications were primarily used by websites that handled credit card information. However, after 2018, browsers began warning users if a website did not have this certificate and confirmed this by including a padlock icon to the left of the domain name in the URL bar.

Maybe you've experienced this yourself. You click on a URL you believe is safe, only to be redirected to a page that says "website not secure." What exactly does this mean?

You can be confident that this does not imply that the website is secretly stealing all of your personal information. However, this warning often appears because the website owner you're attempting to access has not switched from HTTP to HTTPS.

Many hosting companies and content management systems (CMS) include SSL in their services, but it's still a good idea to double-check to ensure that your website has this certificate. Customers will lose trust in your website and, as a result, in your business if you don't have it.

2. INSTALL NECESSARY SECURITY PLUG-INS

Most website CMS products enable access to third-party applications, such as security plug-ins. It's no big secret that we love WordPress, and WordPress users have access to several high-quality website security plug-ins.

Security applications, also known as "plug-ins," make it easier to protect your website from hackers and bots that try to breach your backend. Security plug-ins enable you to set a unique URL for logging into your website's backend, limit the number of failed log-in attempts, and implement other safeguards to prevent bad actors from accessing your content.

Besides that, security plug-ins implement site hardening measures and continuously run website security scans looking for any indication of malicious activity and working to stop it if detected. Because this requires a certain level of technical expertise, it is highly beneficial to rely on a responsible third party to handle it on your behalf.

And, like always, be sure to keep your CMS and plug-ins up to date. Implementing updates to your backend ensures maximum website security by removing software vulnerabilities. Simply neglecting such updates uncovers your website to data hacks and other breaches, which can have severe consequences for your website and your business.

3. USE SECURE PASSWORDS  AT ALL TIMES

When the time comes to update your website's content, you and anyone else you grant access to will need to log into the "back end" of your website. Therefore, it is critical to limit the number of people who have access to your website, but when you do, ensure that your employees use strong passwords.

People use the same password for everything, which is one of the reasons passwords are so easily compromised. While we know how hard it is to remember passwords, it exposes your company and customer information to unnecessary risk.

Using a service like LastPass or 1Password is a quick and easy way to fix this. Also, consider requiring anyone with a user account to access your website to have a unique password updated annually as a best practice.

Please avoid using passwords that contain common keywords such as names, towns, birthdays, etc. Do not, under any circumstances, use the word "password" as your password!

Wrapping Up

Using a service like LastPass or 1Password is a quick and easy way to fix this. Also, consider requiring anyone with a user account to access your website to have a unique password updated annually as a best practice.

Please try to avoid using passwords that contain common keywords such as names, towns, birthdays, etc. Under any circumstances, do not use the word "password" as your password!

A well-protected and well-maintained website will provide a safe environment for your potential customers and increase the likelihood of more conversions. Not to mention that it will increase the trustworthiness of your company and improve customer retention.

Don't wait for a fraudster to notify you of the significance of website security. Prevention is always better than cure. Your best bet is to take cybersecurity seriously and begin implementing all of the best practices discussed above as soon as possible.