The hosting industry is under constant attack. Hackers are using every tool at their disposal, including DDoS attacks, botnets, and malware. When you create a web page, you should know that over the course of your site’s lifespan, one of these threats is likely going to appear.
Enforce Password Complexity
A brute force attack is one of the most common and one of the simplest tools that hackers can use to cause damage to your website or to your hosting account. This is why we recommend that you have automatic account lockouts. You should strictly enforce password complexity. And you should strictly implement some type of request throttling.
Brute force attacks work because people have passwords that can be easily broken. You should create a secure password. To do this, employ some of the following practices:
- Avoid common words or phrases. For example: doglover, bossman, or password
- Do not use personal details about yourself that people can easily guess, such as your birthday, your anniversary, or the name of your favorite pet
- Your password should be longer than six characters and should have a mixture of uppercase, lowercase, and special symbols or numbers
- Don’t create predictable passwords. A strong password is something that only you should be able to decipher
As a site manager, web user, or developer, you should rotate through a series of strong passwords.
Use a Secure Web Hosting Provider
Regardless of how popular your site becomes and regardless of your site’s content, you should know that people are going to try to attack it. As a website owner, you need to take security precautions. However, the hosting provider should also take security seriously.
Most WordPress hosts will offer a managed security solution that monitors your site. They should have system administrators who are working around the clock to safeguard the infrastructure and perform regular audits while at the same time applying security patches to the server. The more security measures your web hosting provider has in place, the better experience you will have.
Regular Server Backup
Backups are an important way to protect yourself if you mess up while you’re editing your WordPress site or if you’re making other changes. Backups are not designed as a preventative technique. However, if the worst-case scenario does happen and your site is compromised, a clean backup of your full website will allow you to restore all of its content. It could allow you to get your site up and running in a matter of a few minutes with little to no interruption.
A quality host should have your back by daily backing up your server. If you have your own backup solution in place, then you are protected two times in the event of an attack or an error.
Keep Your Server and Software Optimized and Up-To-Date
Your hosting company should give you what you need to keep your website secure. It’s your job to use their tools in an optimal way. That being said, your hosting provider has the responsibility to ensure that your server is secure and safe.
There are a number of tools and a number of forms of software that they will use to accomplish this goal. Their job is to give you the maximum uptime possible and prevent unwanted intrusion.
As an example, WordPress hosting has state-of-the-art security provisions. These include sophisticated monitoring and customizable access. They also provide a number of firewalls to prevent attacks before they reach a critical state.
It is important for you to scan your website for vulnerabilities regularly. These include website vulnerabilities as well as server vulnerabilities. It is recommended that you perform a security scan when you have added something to your website or have changed components on your server.
There are a number of free tools online that allow you to measure the security of your site. These free tools will give you a cursory overview of your website and security. Most of these free tools are not designed to do a deep dive security review. For that, you may wish to purchase a professional scanning software or use the services of a professional to review and explain the vulnerabilities of your site.
As you can see, many of the recommendations we have offered are relatively simple and only require a little bit of effort but produce noticeable results. You know that you need to keep your hosting safe from cybercriminals. However, once you start doing a little bit of investigation on the topic, things can easily and quickly become overwhelming. This does not mean that you should drop your hands and give up. There are a number of basic best practices that you can follow to improve your hosting security.
We hope that you have enjoyed our brief guide. As always, we love to hear from our readers. What do you feel is the biggest security threat facing hosting services today? What steps do you take to keep your website and your hosting safe? Let us know in the comments section below. Thank you for reading.
Published on May 6, 2019 under cyber security. Modified on September 13, 2019.
