Whether you are a developer, webmaster, or content up-loader, site security is a team effort. Beyond technical know-how, everyone must be familiar with a range of best practices, including those related to security.
Protecting websites from potential threats and ensuring the safety of user data is of paramount importance. In this article, we will explore essential security-related best practices that everyone operating your website should know.
These ideas may not be the first thing on your mind when you think of site security. They involve little to no coding, and you can start right away. Security-related best practices are essential for safeguarding your website and protecting it from potential threats.
What We'll Cover
Strong Credentials
You may have a strong password, but how strong is your username? Brute force attacks, where passwords are ‘guessed’ by trial and error by malicious actors, can apply to usernames as well. If you are using a default username, consider changing it. Having a unique username, and a long password, multiply the level of account security on your site.
Admin Management
Still have an account active on your website for a contractor you haven’t talked to in years? Remove it! Get rid of accounts that have not been (or shouldn’t be) active. The most obvious reason is whether you left off with them on good terms – you don’t want an angry ex-employee having access to your site. Additionally, even if your relationship was amicable, their emails or devices could become compromised, and their login data may be seized and used.
Another best practice is to have a unique account for each person using your site. Do not share accounts. This can help control for administrative access and log of work done, but also protects your own account in the event of a breach.
Tend to the Plugins you use
Plugins are useful tools that help you manage the complexity of your website. Unfortunately, they do not age gracefully. If you are using a plugin that was last updated years ago, or has been de-listed to security concerns, it’s time to remove it and use something else.
For regularly updated plugins, make sure you have updated their installation on your site. Plugins and themes may have updates and you receive an alert to implement the update. This is done in as little as a couple clicks and a short wait for the update to complete. However, be mindful that some new versions may not be tested with your theme or WordPress version, or may not cooperate with other plugins on your site. Be sure to verify an update hasn’t bricked your website afterwards.
If you are using the latest-greatest plugins on your site, also check that you actually use and need them. At best, they may be zapping your website of resources causing it to slow down. At worst, they are additional avenues a yet-unknown security flaw can bring trouble to your business.
Get an SSL / TLS Certificate
Most sites today have SSL certification, which you can tell by the URL beginning with https instead of http. SSL, short for “Secure Sockets Layer” is an internet protocol that encrypts communication between users and your site. This effectively bars malicious 3rd parties from intercepting the data, or attempting to impersonate a legitimate visitor. Recently, SSL has become TLS (Transport Layer Security), though colloquially most people still refer to it as SSL.
If you do not have this for your site, now’s the time to get one. If you’re not sure where to start, let us know and we can help you prepare your website and investigate hosting solutions that include SSL in the package.
Start today
There is no better time than now to start optimizing your site security. Understanding and implementing security best practices is vital for the protection of our websites and the safeguarding of user data. By prioritizing measures such as stronger, well-managed accounts and ensuring plugin integrity, we can significantly reduce the risk of security breaches and unauthorized access.
