In just the past few months the news has been filled with some of the largest security hacks in history. Among the top include Target, eBay, Home Depot and most recently the world’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase. With these megahacks occurring on a more regular basis, it’s no surprise that people are nervous about what information may be stolen from them, both online and off. All of which means websites have to be even more diligent in their security if they want to keep their visitors, aka customers, coming.
You may be concerned though that if these large businesses flush with cash, couldn’t protect themselves, how can you do it? Don’t worry, it’s actually very possible to protect your website without spending a fortune – here are 3 of the best ways:
1. Get a Real-Time Cloud Server
A website that gets hacked and has servers that fail is a surefire way to scare off customers. What can a new entrepreneur do though to protect themselves if larger companies can’t even do it? Thanks to so many technological advances, like real-time cloud servers, it’s completely possible for someone of nearly any budget to keep their site healthy and up at all times, even in the event of a hack, or a simple web server failure. Even big businesses are making this change over.
Tip: When looking for which service to choose for your real-time servers, make sure that they offer load balancing, which simply means that it will be able to balance the load of your website’s traffic by distributing it across multiple servers. This means that anytime that the service is interrupted on one server, it can quickly be re-routed to another eliminating outages and downtime.
2. Who You Partner With is Important
Just as important to keeping your website secure and healthy is making sure that anyone you partner with also has their act together. This doesn’t cost you anything because all you need to do is make sure your partners are doing what they’re supposed to be doing. By ensuring that any third party providers, including call centers, payment processors and website hosts, are all utilizing the latest security practices you will ensure your business is also safe.
Tip: To find out if anyone you partner with is secure, check their website for certifications or ask them to show it to you if they are not showing it. What should you ask for or look for? One thing to look for is if the provider has HTTPS encryption, something that even the smallest of websites and service providers are now implementing thanks to a little extra encouragement by Google. If you’re in the e-commerce world and using a provider to process your payments, make sure that they are compliant with the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS).
3. Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication isn’t just for consumers; it’s also a good idea for you as a business when accessing your website. If you think your password is something no one would ever guess, think again. Cyber attackers are quite good at finding out what your admin passwords may be either by simply guessing at it, or by using malware to capture it. Even if you are not storing customer information on your website, hackers can damage it in other ways; such as using it to distribute malware and get the site blacklisted by Google and other search engines.
Tip: Two-factor authentication is a budget friendly way to add security because it’s often included with many website platforms, or easily added through a free or very inexpensive plugin. There are also free or inexpensive apps that can be used to generate a code via text that will only last a few minutes so that it can’t be stolen later from your phone.
Summing it All Up:
By using a real-time cloud based server that can protect your website from attacks, making sure that anyone you partner with is using all the best and latest security protocols, and by using two-factor authentication for yourself and any employees, you will protect your website, and ultimately your business, from losing money. Although these are just 3 ways to secure your website with a new startup budget, they will definitely make you and your visitors feel more secure.