A story in the press about a website or personal data being hacked is now a daily occurrence – even the US Presidential election was riddled with hacking allegations, so this is a quick guide on how you can take some basic steps to protect your website.
Strong passwords
Make sure you use a strong password, it is amazing how many people still use passwords like ‘12345’ and ‘password’, use something like lastpass.com/password-generator to generate a strong password. You can also use this site to store your passwords so you can access them anywhere.
Keep your system up-to-date
In regards to something like WordPress, it is imperative that you keep it and all the plugins installed up-to-date. Login regularly and check that everything is up-to-date, as if not you may be leaving your website open to an attack.
Security Plugins
For WordPress, we recommend wordfence.com who offer both a free and premium version. The free version is excellent and will offer your website additional security.
Server Filewalls
Have your server company set a filewall up so only users from specific IP’s can access your website’s files (i.e. FTP).
HTTPS
Everyone should be using HTTPS now, apparently Google are favouring HTTPS sites over standard HTTP sites, and having the padlock symbol next to your web address also gives users confidence in your brand.
Advice
If you need any advice about website security or would like to discuss anything within this article, drop us an email on [email protected] or call 0161 398 0303.
