The modern world of business is marked by an insurgence in the use of online platforms such as social media sites and websites. Use of the internet in business is increased because the internet has done a tremendous job in connecting the world. With the internet, the whole world is just a click away.
On using the internet as a useful tool, every individual on this planet is just a click away. It would be best if you had the proper promotion and target the right audience to get yourself noticed in this humongous, global crowd.
Websites are an essential aspect of the internet. You refer to a website for all of your needs. However, these websites can also be a source of menace. Since the internet has effectively joined so many people together, it also has a considerable amount of information. Some of this information is also very trivial and crucial such as details of bank accounts, transaction details, important passwords, and so on. Such kind of more information in the wrong hands is a very threatening situation.
There are lot hackers present over the internet who has a knack for such information. Security is a matter of concern over the internet. With more stringent security measures, even the hackers get more creative and find a new loophole leading to even more stringent standards. This is an endless cycle.
Malware is also a kind of attack over the internet. These are certain kinds of programs that are designed with the intent of infecting your site and disturbing its proper functioning. In the case that your site gets infected, Google may even blacklist your site as over ten thousand websites are blacklisted each day.
Thus it is very crucial to protect your site against a malware attack. Here are specific tips and tricks, certain safety measures, which will be useful in helping you to protect your site.
Methods of Protecting a Website from Malware
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Upgraded Hosting Plans
When you are thinking of saving money and looking for cost-effective solutions, you should keep in mind that you cannot compromise with the hosting plan. When you compromise with your hosting plan, you can easily save some money in a short time, but that may come at the cost of the security of your website.
The risk of an attack is the highest on shared servers and not so much in the case of a Managed VPS or Linux dedicated server. Interestingly, a shared server is the most inexpensive while a dedicated server is the most expensive of the lot. The increased cost of the servers also enhances the security options by a considerable margin.
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Frequent Scans
From a young age, we have heard that “prevention is better than cure”! with your system, this is very true. The very first step that will help you prevent malware attacks is if you keep looking for such attacks. Regular scanning of your website is a must if you are hoping to win this fight against malware programs.
When you are regularly scanning, you keep a tab on all the functioning of your system. Using the most upgraded version of antivirus also helps a lot as it can contain malware to your order in case of an attack preventing any harm to your website.
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Regular Backups
When your site is attacked by malware, you have to take it down and restart with it. When you take regular backups of all the data and information available on your site, you do not lose much data when you bring down the site. You can also start your website once again in no time with the backed up data.
Just be sure to save this data offsite, elsewhere, somewhere that you can easily access from time to time when the need be. You need not worry about attacks if you keep your data backed up.
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Secure Passwords
A secure password goes a long way in protecting your information and securing it in a full-proof method. An adequate mix of alphabets (capital and small), numbers, and signs will give you the most robust passwords. You can even strengthen your password by going for 2 factor or multi-factor authentication where a second set pf code needs to be typed in to access your sites. A secure password will keep all the hackers away because it is complicated to crack through one.
This is very important for email passwords. There are a couple of email security best practices that you may consider:
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Strong password
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Watching out for “Phishing emails”
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Changing your passwords often
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Be careful with devices you use
And that’s not just important for your site. If you don’t keep your visitor’s and customer’s data safe, fraudsters could use them to commit crimes in their name. By choosing strong passwords, not sharing or reusing them, and enabling multi-factor authentication where you can, you protect your servers from hackers, and prevent identity theft.
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Regular Updates
Software applications are regularly upgraded to keep it up to the mark. With each upgrade, previous security loopholes are patched up, and your software is given a stringer base. Thus when you are using the most up to date versions of the software, you are technically using the most secure version of the software. This brings down the chances of different kinds of cyber-attacks by a vast margin.
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Firewall
A web application firewall is much like a physical wall that stands tall and robust against attacks from intruders. Some hosting plans come with such a firewall application, and it is indeed wise to go for such an option.
A firewall program is very efficient in serving as an extra layer of protection to keep away various forms of cyber-attacks. When you have a good firewall protecting your website, you can be sure that such programs as a spam-bot or even a hacker cannot go past. With the firewall intact, any suspicious activity is not allowed to pass through to your site.
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SSL & HTTPS
Encryption is a method wherein your data is converted seemingly into gibberish and thus forms a great way of protecting it. Going for https ensures that all the information passed between the site and the browsers remain encrypted.
This puts pressure on the hackers as it becomes challenging for them to process the information. Installing an SSL certificate leads to the activation of https. Taking this simple step prevents malware from attacking your site.