5 Ways to Keep your Website Secure
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Strong Passwords: It all starts with the very basics.
Don’t be so easy or laid back in creating a password because that is
only going to make it that much more convenient for your account to be
hacked. Remember the hacker isn’t going to be a complete novice and
chances are that whoever is attempting to break in to your system will
rely on ‘brute force hacking’ in which millions of character
combinations are made to decipher the password. It also helps to
regularly change your password, on a monthly basis for example. Every
inch of effort on your part counts!
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Firewall Protection: Undoubtedly, utilizing firewalls
is a crucial step in ensuring website security. To prevent unauthorized
entries on to your server, a firewall is necessary to ensure bad
information is blocked from infiltrating the system. A lot of companies
hire specialists to set up string firewalls. In addition, it helps to
keep the companies’ Web servers separate from the rest of the network to
steer clear of break-ins.
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Malware Alert: You may have heard of this terminology
before and if you have then you should know very well that if it
manages to get on to your website, you’re in for trouble. Malware can
get on to your server through a myriad of ways ranging from poor choice
of passwords to unprotected permissions settings and using software that
involves third party add-ons that only make it easier for sensitive
information to be interpreted and misused. To avoid this, make sure you
run spyware removal programs on a regular basis.
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Data Backup: The fact is that no matter what
precautions you take, risk always exists. In order to deal with this, it
only makes sense to back up all your data beforehand! Make sure you
know exactly what to back up. All information that is required to get
the website running to as it was initially is what is needed. Also, it
should be noted that the backup should be kept off the site or on a
different server. Website backup services can be offered by your hosting
services or you can use third party plugins for Joomla, WordPress or
other CMS powered websites. Here are some popular backup plugins for
Joomla, WordPress and regular websites:
Edited By:
Engr. Mahamud Hasan Sajib , IICT, BUET
10 Security Awareness Tips in Computer and Internet Use
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Use of Password: Password of Computer and Internet is
like Lock & Key of your house. It is a major defense for computer
and internet security. Good password practice will help in keeping
personal & your organizational information more secure.
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Use of Strong Password-
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Use a strong password to protect your data: use at least eight
characters; combine letters (capital and lowercase), numbers and
symbols. The greater variety of characters that you have in your
password, the harder it is to guess. Don’t use personal information —
name, child’s name, birthdates, etc. — that someone might already know
or easily obtain and try to avoid common words: some hackers use
programs that try every word in the dictionary.
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Disable Auto complete/Password storage in-browser.
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Change your Password at Some Regular Intervals-
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Changing your password at some reasonable interval will enhance the security of your password.
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Keep your Password Secret-
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Your password should not be shared with anybody. Try to keep your
passwords to memory with a strategy to memorize them. If you write
password anywhere, be careful as to where you are storing it. Such
recording should be secret and secured so that only you can access to
it.
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Use Different Passwords-
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As per as possible, use different passwords for each online
account you access (or at least a variety of passwords). If you use the
same passwords on multiple accounts, an attacker who gains the access to
one account will be able to access all of your accounts.
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Secure your Computer: Lock your computer when you
leave your desk for a meeting, a break or any other purpose. Utmost care
and observation should be kept when you at all allow other people to
plug their USB drive into your computer.
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Don't install or use illegal and/or unauthorized software: Installing and using unauthorized software means compromising your data security and increase security vulnerabilities.
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Use e-mail and Internet with Care:
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Don’t open unknown e-mails and attachments.
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Don’t click on any hyperlinks contained in a suspicious email.
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Share documents in PDF format to ensure that the files cannot easily be changed.
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Do not share information about your organization and duties on social networking sites.
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Don’t download documents and material from untrusted parties.
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Do not access, download, store or send any illegal or offensive material.
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Use of Portable Devices:
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Laptops-
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Use legal and authorized software.
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Switch off wireless connection when not required.
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Back up the information stored in your laptop.
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Lock your laptop when you leave your desk to go for a meeting, a break and/or lunch.
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Don’t leave your laptop unattended.
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Don’t leave your laptop on view in the car.
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USB Drives-
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Use an encrypted USB drive.
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Scan USB flash drive after copying files from to avoid virus transmission.
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Mobile phones and Black Berrys-
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Switch off wireless connections (i.e. Bluetooth and WLAN) when not in use.
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Don’t leave your mobile and Black Berrys unattended.
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Handle Information with Care:
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Protect sensitive content with a password to help prevent someone from changing or deleting it.
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Don’t leave sensitive information in shared conference facilities or meeting room.
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Remember to collect all the printed documents from the printers' output-tray.
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Visitors:
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Take utmost pre-caution so that sensitive information from your
table or computer are not disclosed to the inside or outside visitors.
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Use Personal Firewall Softwares: Any program on your
computer that tries to access the Internet will be stopped by the
firewall until you either approve it or disapprove it. Most programs
today will at one time or another access the Web to look for updates for
itself. After a bit of time, these interruptions do not occur nearly as
often. As a tip, if you are warned that a program is trying to access
the Web and you are not sure what the program is, you can Google the
name of the file that is in question. Chances are very good that there
is a website out there that will tell you what it is and if it can be
considered safe.
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Follow your Corporate Policies and Legal Requirements:
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Follow your corporate / office policies relating to computer and internet use.
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Comply with legal requirements related to copyright restrictions, intellectual property, privacy and software licenses.
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Others:
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Install authentic and updated antivirus application.
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Remember that antivirus definition files are kept up to date.
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Regular scans are being run on your system.
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Backup your important data and files regularly.
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Do not allow unknown individuals or third parties to access your computer at any time.
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Don't send personal or financial information over unsecure websites.
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When using a public computer, remember to log out your internet sessions and close the browser and clear your browser cache.
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Increase caution when using social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter etc.
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Do not click on links or open email attachments from unknown sources.
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Don't install programs coming from unknown sources.
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Do not visit sites which you don't know or which have a bad reputation.
