9 Ways To Secure Your Website in 2023

How to Secure a Website in 2021

2018 has just arrived. Do you ever think about how things have changed in the cyber world? I often think about it. You need to be informed about all the news and updates that are available if you want to stay away from cyber threats. The best cybersecurity tips will help you to keep yourself and your sensitive data safe. Let's start!

Yes, this must be in your mind every moment you think about internet security tips. Keeping your software up to date will decrease the chances of damage. The server and the operating system can be running on the website on some potentially damaging page. It may be a forum, for example. If there is any hole in the software, hackers can easily break into your system if you don't keep it up to date.

Cross-site scripting (XSS)

If you want to secure your website, you need to know more about XSS. It attacks the injected malicious JavaScript that may be on your pages. It steals the information then and sends it to the attacker. The best security tips from hackers would be to always focus on your user-generated content. Make sure that you always use those functions that explicitly make the changes if such attacks appear.

SQL injection

Secure your browser by knowing the enemy. This kind of attack is the one which uses a web form field that is coming from URL parameter. Through such action, it gains the access with a purpose to manipulate all your databases. How to prevent it? The best would be to use the parameterized queries.

Messages (error ones)

When talking about messages, they mostly happen through the emails in the category of spam. Also, the first thing you need to know about those error messages is that they are often phishing. Besides that, you need to be well aware how much information are you relieving through messages. Never relieve some sensitive information, like passwords, PINs, card numbers, etc.

Form validation or server-side validation

When thinking about validation, you need to be sure that you are both validating your server side and your browser. When it comes to a browser, it can easily catch some of the simple failures (for example, mandatory fields which stay empty or in a situation where you enter the text into some 'only numbers field'). Of course, such protection can be bypassed, but that is when you need more serious validation-server validation. 

Related Page: Cyber Security Threats And Prevention Methods

Passwords:

When it comes to passwords, I think that all people who talk about the web security tips know that passwords should be strong. But, how many people even know what a strong password is? A strong password needs to have numbers and letters; it would be the best that they are combined in between. The next thing I would recommend to you is to make some of the characters big and some small. Insert some symbols for even better protection. And the most important tip of all is to change your password in every three months (approximately) and never to use the same password for different accounts.

File uploads:

Rarely someone thinks about this fact, but it is essential for you to remember it. Do you allow some users to upload the files to your website? Have you known that it can be a huge website security risk? If you want to stay on the right track and to follow the best cyber security tips that will make you sure that you are safe, then you need to stop the users from uploading those files. Be ready to execute them before the danger arrives. What is the danger here is that if you allow someone to upload some suspicious files, you don't know anything about the file extension, right? An image that doesn't look anyhow suspicious can be fake. But, what if you have already received such file? The best option would be to rename it to be sure about its extension. You can also change the file's permission. But, it would be the best to be aware and to follow the internet security tips.

HTTPS:

Everyone knows about HTTPS. But, how much do you know about it exactly? We all know that it is a protocol that has a purpose of providing the security through the whole internet. What HTTPS does is that it guarantees to all the users that they are talking to some server they wanted. Do you have some things that you want to keep private and secure? Then, without any doubt, you need to use only the HTTPS while delivering those sensitive files, data, or anything you need. What if you are already using it everywhere? Then the best would be to take a step further and to check out HSTS. It is also known under a name Strict Transport Security. With HSTS, you will calmly disallow all the potentially insecure HTTPS. 

Checkout Cyber Security Interview Questions

Security Tools for the Website

If you think that you have done everything to keep yourself protected, you cannot miss the best website security tools. You can test your website's security with pen testing. You don't need to spend much money on the best website security tools because nowadays, there are so many of them which come free. We would highly recommend you to take a look at some of the tools below:

Netspeaker - is great when it comes to fighting SQL injections and XSS;

SecurityHeader.io - quickly reports if an HTTPS is potentially dangerous; 

OpenVAS - is the tool that is adored by most users. It is the best open source scanner that exists nowadays.

Xenotix XSS Exploit Framework - is a tool coming from OWASP. OWASP doesn't make a mistake, so you can definitely rely on this tool when it comes to the selection of the huge number of XSS attacks. Xenotix XSS Exploit Framework will make you sure that your Firefox, Chrome, or IE are not in danger, or if they are in danger, it will help you to solve the problem.