5 Tips to Shield Your Website from Hacking

Nisha Oommen | Updated 27 Aug 2021 | 2 min read

Thinking your site won’t be hacked or is not worth hacking, can cause you to not take that extra precaution needed. Hacking is usually for using the server to send spam emails or as a temporary web server to serve files of inappropriate even illegal content. Hackers search the internet with automated scripts to find possible security issues in software. Here are 5 ways to keep your site safe from hackers.

Ways to Protect Your Website from Hacking

Keep all your Software Updated

Keeping your software updated is vital to keeping your site secure. This includes updating the server operating system and any software that you have on your website. Applying security patches even for third party softwares are recommended. Security issues and patches are usually mailed by vendors or through RSS feeds. For sites with managed hosting, updates of the OS is handled by the hosting company.
Secure Data Transfer

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a secure data transfer protocol for securing information. An encryption layer of TLS (Transport Layer Security) or SSL( Secure Sockets Layer) added to your website, secures your data and your user’s data from hacking attempts. SiteLock provides daily monitoring which includes malware detection, active virus scanning and other possible site vulnerabilities.
Prevent SQL Injection and Cross Site Scripting Attacks

The two main attack techniques are SQL Injection and Cross Site Scripting attacks. SQL Injection refers to using web form fields or URL parameter to manipulate the database. Standard Transact-SQL is hacked to change tables and recover data. This can be prevented using parameter queries. Cross Site Scripting attacks is done by embedding script tags in URLs and getting unsuspecting users to click on them, thereby running malicious JavaScript on the victim’s machine. These attacks are targeted where there is no input/output validation on the server. Validation should be done both on the browser and the server side.
Strong Password and Generic Error Messages

Generic error messages should be used to communicate failure when attempting logins. Error messages can give away which field is entered wrong helping the hacker unwittingly. Use strong passwords to your server and website admin areas. Use one-way hashing algorithms like SHA. Passwords should be saved as encrypted values.
Database File Accessibility and Permissions

A website is basically a set of files and its folders stored on a web hosting account. The server file system contains the scripts and database that makes the website work. Assign a set of permissions that controls who can read, write and execute any given file or folder.

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