Weak cybersecurity measures are to blame for the majority of hacking and cyber threats. When reading about the hacking issues you will be surprised to learn how common data leaks have been increasing recently.
Knowing what is running on your website is the first step in enhancing your website safety. But before jumping into checking the website for vulnerabilities, we should define a website security audit.
Website Security Audit
A website security audit examines the website and server for current or possible vulnerabilities that perpetrators might take advantage of. Website security audits aim to search for flaws in your website’s design early on and fix them before hackers with destructive intentions note.
It includes everything from the website’s core functionality to plugins, themes, server settings, SSL connections, and configurations. The next move is to administer vulnerability scanning, also known as pentests, after all, weaknesses and gaps have been found.
In this scenario, cybersecurity teams perform simulated hacking attempts against the website, imitating real attacks. Then, risks associated with the vulnerabilities discovered in the first phase are calculated. Improving your web design in terms of security measures is only possible after detecting security risks.
Hackers will actively threaten the website’s protection with their tricks, according to industry professionals. Regular system auditing is critical. Following simple procedures and leaving the rest to chance is not the solution.
Administrators must be on their toes at all times and do a thorough screening and checking to ensure there is little to no room for abuse.
Security measures must be implemented to prevent hacks and account takeovers. Solutions like CIAM (Customer Identity and Access Management) are useful for customer-facing applications where there is a risk of account takeover, but the exact security issues your site faces will depend on many things, including its size and the applications you run.
Steps to Perform Security Audit
To do the audit you can whether use online auditing tools. There are several free and paid security scanning tools and resources available online.
Also, the agency that you are usually outsourcing your web development projects to may provide security audit services. If so, you can ask for their consultancy and auditing services.
Website security audits can be performed in four steps. So, let’s take a closer look at the measures and resources available to you to keep your website safe from cyberattacks.
Step 1: Finding The Vulnerabilities
The tool you chose will go into all facets of your website’s security in this first step. It can scan the servers, themes, plugins, folders, archives, web server, and other areas for bugs, malware, viruses, and insufficient protection measures, among other things.
Here are some of the tools used for this step of website security audit:
- Sucuri Site check
This tool scans your website codes for any malicious codes, malware, or viruses. It also performs component checks. e.g. it checks for any vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and CMS on your website.
- Qualys SSL Server Test
This platform will undoubtedly assist you in ensuring that the website adheres to industry-standard correspondence protocols and encryption.
- Intruder
Intruder prioritizes problems based on the threat they pose. It means you can fix the more serious flaws first and then move on to the less severe issues.
Step 2: Update Your Scripts and Applications
Ensure that all of the scripts and programs, such as WordPress and plugins, are recent and up-to-date. Read “How to protect your WordPress website” for more information on WordPress-specific hardening.
Set aside time to upgrade as soon as you get a notification that updates are available. Hackers look for out-of-date systems to exploit bugs that are fixed in the most recent update.
Step 3: Strengthen Your Passwords
Even though it seems to be an obvious measure, solid passwords can protect your website security to a high extent. All of your accounts, including your own, other users’ accounts, the hosting dashboard, and FTP access, must be secure.
Forget the pet and partner names, and please don’t use the term “password”. The more complicated your password, the better. To come up with some strong passwords, use a password generation program.
Step 4: Put An Ongoing Solution In Place
Hackers don’t take a day off, nor do malware and viruses. Your website can be attacked by hackers right after you finished checking it with security tools. That’s why you need to have an ongoing process in your website’s security audit to ensure maximum protection. A good idea is to get help from 10 top web design companies to make sure about the security of your app.
There are services such as Godaddy that you can outsource your website security for a day to day monitoring by their experts. This way you can focus on your business and feel relaxed that your website security audit is in safe hands.
Whatever you choose, make sure it works with your routine and keeps your site secure. If you can back up your data daily, that’s fantastic. If not, you may want to consider using an automated service. In any case, the company’s image and clients are on the line without a good website security audit procedure!
Author Bio:
Ayla Anderson is an avid reader and an enthusiastic blogger who writes articles on home improvement, business, Family and beauty. She is also an MBA student who spends much of her time giving advice to newly small businesses on how to grow their businesses. You can follow me on Twitter.