Are These Weaknesses In Your Website Leaving Consumers At Risk?
As a business owner, you’ve probably put a lot of work into your website. This is the online face of your business, after all. If it isn’t looking its best, then how could you possibly begin securing reliable custom?
Unfortunately, website appearances aren’t the only things you need to worry about, nor are they always what they’re cracked up to be. In fact, even the best-looking website could actually be about to pose some pretty serious security problems for you and your customers.
That’s because, if you’ve focused on style over security, there could be some gaping website weaknesses lurking in the background. This could result in brand-crippling data breaches and serious customer-facing crimes that lead to either one-time losses or even longer-lasting problems like identity theft.
And, trust us when we say that you’ll struggle to win those consumers back around if they’ve had to contact consumer protection lawyers who help identity theft victims because of something you failed to do!
It’s a situation you’ll want to avoid at all costs, and we’re going to look at the website weaknesses you need to address in order to do that.
Table of Contents
# 1 - Unreliable Hosting
You can’t have a website without a website host that can actually get it online. Unfortunately, not all web hosts are created equal. In fact, bad website hosts are one of the most significant risks to website performance. Issues, including more frequent downtime, a lack of firewall, and generally inadequate security, also mean that bad hosts can pose a wide range of security problems. This is true both because of an increased risk of hacking, and also because that host could leave customer data right there for the picking.
In a way, choosing a bad host is a bit like falling at the first web security hurdle. Unfortunately, perks including affordable pricing can make these hosts look like tempting options. But there are ways to see through those promises. Rather than considering ultimately unimportant markers like pricing, always choose web hosts based on verifiable benefits like reputation, reliability, and also the inclusion of a web application firewall (WAF) and denial of service (DDoS) protection. These are all clear signs that a host is worth trusting your website with, but you should always avoid hosts that lack these credentials.
# 2 - Pilling on the Plugins
Plugins are an undeniably valuable way to extend website functionality without spending hours of business time on the task. Without a sniff of code in sight, these add-ons (which are sort of like apps for your website), enable you to add brand new features, improve functionality, and generally get your website in order. Unfortunately, plugins are also one of the most common in-points for hackers.
This is true for various reasons. For one thing, many plugins contain outdated or obsolete security measures that leave your website wide open. Websites with too many plugins can also lead to slow website performance that poses yet another security risk.
This isn’t to say that plugins aren’t still vital and useful web tools, but you do need to be wary when using them. It’s especially important to regularly evaluate and refresh your plugin infrastructure to ensure that you weed out any potential security risks long before they become a problem.
# 3 - Poor Account Management
For practical reasons, it makes sense to leave web access wide open for every member of your team. All the better for ensuring that each team member can handle and fix your website as required. But did you know that this kind of poor internal account management can also be a problem?
As well as ensuring that only approved eyes see sensitive website data, limiting website account access has some very practical purposes. After all, the more people who have access to website controls and processes from their devices, the more in-points you’re creating for hackers. This is a problem considering that device-specific issues like rubbish passwords cause roughly 81% of company data breaches.
Limiting web access to privileged users, or those who actually need it, ensures that dodgy passwords don’t get in your website’s way. You should also manage these accounts regularly to ensure that you know who has access to your website at any given time, and what protections they have on the devices they use.
# 4 - Inadequate Logging
Sometimes, cybercrime isn’t as noticeable as a full data breach. In actual fact, when cybercriminals gain access to a website, they’ll typically stay behind the scenes, skimming data over a period of time. This is petrifying, but it does mean that there are often clear signs of suspicious activity. The only problem is that not many website owners actually monitor the logs that could reveal these warning signs.
This means that criminals can do a lot more damage to a lot more customers, and it’s something you can overcome by simply implementing adequate logging and monitoring systems. Cloud-based logging systems are now widely available and provide real-time monitoring and updates on website behavior that ensures immediate red flags if anything strange starts to happen!
# 5 - Skimping on Cybersecurity
Sometimes, website weaknesses simply arise if you skimp on internal cybersecurity, or stick with a security subscription that you haven’t updated in years. This is an especially worrying problem because it entirely falls on you, and it’s also probably the easiest thing on this list to fix.
In particular, you should regularly update your security systems, especially those that relate to your web applications and other online elements. You should also be sure to track renewals to ensure seamless coverage, as even a day or two unprotected could prove fatal!
Conclusion
Website weaknesses are a significant problem, and they could be hiding in plain sight across even the best business website that you’ve taken ample time over. Your business and your customers will soon pay for this mistake, unless you take these vital steps to bridge those gaps and get website security under control once again!
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