Website insecurity is on the rise. According to Juniper's research, in the year 2020, the average cost of a data breach is going to exceed $150 million and exceed $5 Trillion by 2024. As a business owner, you need to put in place stringent measures to curb any cyber-crime fatalities that are likely to hit your website in 2020. Hackers can take advantage of the recent trends to break into your website and cause harm to your business’ well-being.

Hackers usually plan to breach your computer and website normal functioning. They aim at injecting viruses and malware into your system before gaining access to your website to make a harvest. You, therefore, need to remain vigilant and be on the lookout for loopholes that may create a leakage, thereby allowing hackers to break into your website. There are a number of safety practices that if you adopted for your business website, all vulnerabilities that might exist to give hackers access will be a thing of the past.

These measures should not be tiring. You should rather embrace them and practice them wholly. This article outlines nine of the most essential tips you should put in place to protect your business website from hackers in 2020. 

Choose trusted web hosting.

When searching for website hosting, do not go for features and price. Do not choose a web host whose price you think is favorable or has the best outlook complexion. Your website is your main source of income for your online business. Therefore while choosing the right web host, you need to be vigilant.

Many security aspects are usually out of your control and usually depend upon your web hosting provider and data center. It’s safe and comfortable leaving that in the hands of the right web hosting service provider. Before trusting a web host, consider if there’s Software security, SSL availability, backup and restore, and uptime.

Keep Software up to date

It is easy to skip software updates since they seem to waste most of your time, and they do not seem to be imperative to you. But you are wrong. Failing to update software as they pop is a big mistake that leaves a passage for hackers to access your private credentials thus putting you at greater risk for theft, loss of finances, and many more. Most updates usually aim to fix the loopholes and bugs that existed in the previous versions.

Therefore do not procrastinate about software updates, it’s one of the most vital steps to take against hackers and is of great essence in protecting your information. Apart from security enhancement, software updates come with improved and modified features and better compatibility, extra speed, and fixed for any bug. Knowing that software updates are critical and installing them when they pop up will protect you from threats. However, before downloading any software, read its reviews first to make sure it’s safe to be installed.

Watch out for SQL injection

SQL injections constituted 51% of cyber attacks during the second quarter of 2017. This is according to Akamai Report. This stat shows how prevalent SQL injections are. SQL injections are performed by sending harmful SQL commands to database servers through web requests. Hackers use SQL injections to form a URL parameter to gain access to your data to manipulate and misuse it. It is easy to unrecognizably insert codes into your query that could be used to gain access and even delete your vital data. You can protect your business website against SQL injections by always using parameterized queries.

Use SSL Encryption

SSL certification does more than only securing your data. SSL ensures your business website competes favourably with others and ranks higher within online search engines. Whenever your customers are visiting your website, they usually are exchanging data with you. They believe that you’re legitimate and their data is way ahead safe in your hands. SSL certificate thus adds an extra layer of security through data encryption.

SSL protocols, therefore, encrypt the data before its transmitted, making it useless to anyone trying to intercept it. Acquiring and installing an SSL certificate will drive your online business to greater heights; you won’t be worried about data breaches. For example, GoDaddy Wildcard SSL Certificate is used to secure unlimited sub-domains of the main domain and it assures both you and your web visitors that all the information that is exchanged on your website is safe and sound, free from the reach of cybercriminals.

Protect against XSS attack

You need to be always on the watch out to protect your business website against Cross-site scripting attacks. XSS manipulates your website if it’s vulnerable to attacks. It aims at sending harmful JavaScript to your web visitors. As soon as the malicious code is sent to the victim’s browser, hackers come in to totally compromise their interaction with the application.

Hackers who exploit XSS vulnerability are able to; impersonate or masquerade as the victim user, perform any function you’re able to perform, capture your login credentials and even inject Trojan horse and other malware into your website. It is essential to protect your website from this vulnerability. To do this, you should always ensure that the data that you are rendering to your user is safe. You should always validate and sanitize all user inputs.

Change passwords periodically

Good password practices are vital to protecting your website against hackers in 2020. You do not want to suffer any losses or security breaches. You should use complex passwords for your server and website administrative platform. You should also advise your users and customers to embrace the best security and password practices so as to protect their accounts.

Changing your passwords periodically is an expert option for safeguarding your website against breaches. However you should change your passwords over a specified period for example monthly or annually. Use different passwords for every online account. Desist from using your names or those of people you close relationship with. Use syllables and acronyms, a blend of uppercase and lowercase letters, and other special characters. Changing passwords periodically limit breaches to multiples of your data accounts, prevent constant access, and prevent the use of saved passwords.

Install Security plugins

Installing security plugins is one of the most impressive tactics to protect your business’s website. Security plugins prevent things such as hacks and unwanted intrusion. Security plugins ensure that there is a 24-hour security drill. They also help in file scanning, hardening of website security, prevention of brute force attack, and notification upon security breach detection.

Security plugins deeply focus on pointing out plug-in vulnerabilities, obsolete software, and weaker passwords. Installing Security plugins will, therefore, help a long way in protecting your business website this year.

Take Regular Backup

Backups are copies of a file or record, stored separately from the original. They can be used to recover the original if it is destroyed, or lost. When choosing a good backup option, you should desist from a web server in Zip files. This is because hackers can delete the zip files if they gain access to the environment. You might however be so busy to a point you could forget to undertake regular backup or postpone it.

Find an automated backup solution since they are guaranteed. This way you will not run the risk of losing out any of your important website data. A backup for your business Website means that you can have a similar copy of your information and data with you. Whatever may happen to your website, the data shall always be available to you and you could use it later on.

Real-time tracking

Real-time tracking helps you monitor all the activities that are performed on your website. You can also track your employees remotely and undetected. You won’t have to spend any time watching over your employees, instead, you will get notified whenever an employee violates laid down policies.

Conclusion

Be in control of your website security. The solutions explained above are able to protect you against malicious attacks and suspicious activities on your website. When threats pop up, having the security tips above with you will help you safeguard your business in 2020. Be your website security superhero. Be in charge.