Notebook SecurityWhat measures have you taken to protect your website from hackers? Unfortunately, far too many webmasters overlook the importance of cybersecurity, assuming it only happens to bid businesses and brands. In reality, though, it’s often the smaller websites that are targeted the most. The good news is that you don’t have to be a cybersecurity expert to protect your website from hackers.

Update Your CMS and Add-Ons

Whether you use WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or any other content management system (CMS), you must keep it updated to the latest version to deter cyber attacks. Outdated versions often contain vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit to gain entry to your website’s files and/or database. To prevent this from occurring, you should get into the habit of updating your CMS and any add-on software you have as soon as a new version becomes available. WordPress introduced background updates last year, but it only affects core files. The bottom line is that even with background updates, you must still manually update your CMS and any add-ons you have.

Use a Strong Password

Your first line of defense against hackers is a strong password. Sure, it’s probably easier to remember a generic password like “myspace123,” but this also makes your site more susceptible to attacks. When choosing a password for your CMS, Control Panel, web hosting billing account, or any login related to your website, it’s recommended that you use a combination of upper-case letters, lower-case letters, non-sequential numbers and special characters.

Switch To SFTP

File transfer protocol (FTP) programs are used to upload and download files from web servers. The program, however, is that most webmasters use the traditional “FTP” connection, which exposes their usernames and passwords to the Internet. If a hacker is snooping your packets, he or she could potentially access your username/password the next time you use an FTP program. Rather than using an FTP connection, use SFTP (secure file transfer protocol) instead. Most of the major FTP programs, including CuteFTP and FileZilla, support SFTP. And as its name suggests, SFTP is a safer and more secure method of connection.

Web Host

A quality web hosting service isn’t something that you should try to cut corners and save money on. Even if you save a couple bucks initially, it may end up costing you more in the long run due to the increased risk of cyber attacks. Reliable hosts, on the other hand, will implement measures to create a secure environment, protecting your website and its digital assets.