When you are designing a website, there are plenty of different angles you need to consider to get it just right. You want it to look a certain way, in all probability. You also want to be certain that it is going to work well as a navigable, functioning website. But perhaps the most important consideration of all is ensuring that it is as secure as possible at all times. Website security is important for a number of reasons. It’s not just the site itself that you need to worry about. If there is a serious breach, then you might even find that your own systems are affected. Whether that is in a business premises, or your own home, it’s not something that you want to happen in an ideal world. So let’s take a look at some of the things you should take care of if you want your website to remain as secure as possible.
Software
Whatever software you might use that has anything to do with your website, you will want to keep a close eye on it. It might be that you have some software specifically designed for your forum, for example. If you are not careful, this could easily be used against you by hackers to undermine the security of your website more generally. The most vital thing here is to ensure that you always keep all software updated as soon as possible. This is especially important when patches are brought out for old problems which have been spotted, but you should do it all the time regardless.
Hosting
Although it’s not something you often think about when you are trying to keep your site secure, your hosting service is actually pretty important. If you want to make sure that you are hosting your website in the safest way possible, then you need to look into what your various options are. Often, it is considerably safer to use shared hosting, so that might be worth trying if you are particularly concerned for your website’s safety and security. Alternatively, you might want to host it yourself, as long as you have the resources. But bear in mind that you will then need to make sure you are protecting your own system as well as possible.
Error Messages
A useful thing to remember is that your website’s error messages can give a surprising amount away. There are always going to be occasions when displaying error messages is necessary. But that doesn’t mean that you need to give up your information in the process. Often, exactly that happens without anyone being aware - except the hacker watching. Only provide the minimal information needed by your users, so as to avoid giving away any important information such as API keys or database passwords. This can help complex attacks like SQL, so be sure not to make this basic but common error.
As long as you pay attention to the preceding three things, you should find that your website remains relatively safe. After that, it is just a matter of keeping a close eye on your site whenever possible.
