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Website Security For Small Business

SecurityForEveryone

Security for Everyone

22/Aug/22

Today, the first point where businesses interact with their customers or other parties is mostly websites. Security is essential for end users on websites where the company is promoted and products are sold online. Therefore, having a secure website not only builds trust but also gives customers a feeling of safe browsing. But an unsafe website is a threat to our operations.

Small businesses are just as at risk from cybersecurity threats as large businesses. A common misconception for small businesses is the idea of security through obscurity, where your business is too small to be a target, but unfortunately, that's not the case. As attackers increasingly automate attacks, it's easy for them to target thousands of small businesses at once. Small businesses often have less stringent technological defenses, less awareness of threats, and less time and resources for cybersecurity. This makes them an easier target for hackers than larger organizations.

At the same time, they are no less lucrative targets. Even the smallest businesses can deal with large amounts of money or have access to large amounts of customer data that they must protect under regulations such as GDPR. Small businesses also often work with larger companies, so they can be used by hackers as a way to target these companies.

While small businesses have limited online resources, it has become easier to develop websites in the last decade thanks to platforms such as WordPress and Laravel. This has led hackers to leverage template-based and custom websites to steal data from business owners who are unaware of the security measures necessary to protect their online presence. The bitter truth is that small businesses are becoming one of the more attractive targets for enterprising cyber thieves today and you should know how to protect your Small Business in 2022.

Information from the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) shows that small businesses are the target of 71 percent of security breaches, and almost 50 percent of small businesses are victims of cyberattacks. In addition, according to Verizon's report, small businesses account for 43 percent of data breach victims.

Small businesses need to take website security seriously, as data breaches can have serious and long-lasting consequences. Malicious attacks can cause your website to be temporarily or permanently disabled, cost your business hundreds of thousands of dollars, and undermine customers' trust if their personal information is disclosed through your site. In addition, this situation can cause businesses to suffer losses in many ways, such as loss of reputation and economic damage.

Cybersecurity Threats for Small Business Websites

  • Phishing Attacks

Hackers often use spam or fake emails claiming to come from legitimate businesses to get private information from small businesses. Small businesses are highly susceptible to phishing attacks. Phishing attacks occur when an attacker pretends to be a trusted person and convinces the user to click on a malicious link, download a malicious file, or grant access to sensitive information, account details, or credentials.

  • Malware Attacks

Malware is another big threat facing small businesses. It covers various cyber threats such as Trojans and viruses. Malware is a miscellaneous term for malicious code created by hackers to access networks, steal data, or destroy data on computers. Malware usually comes from malicious website downloads, spam, or connecting to other infected machines or devices.

These attacks are particularly harmful to small businesses because they can damage devices that require expensive repairs or replacements that need to be repaired. They can also give attackers a backdoor to access data that could put customers and employees at risk. Small businesses are more likely to employ people who use their own devices for work as it helps save time and costs. However, this increases their chances of being attacked by malware, as personal devices are much more likely to be at risk from malicious downloads.

  • Ransomware

Ransomware is one of the most common cyber attacks, hitting thousands of businesses each year. These attacks have only become more common as they are one of the most lucrative forms of attack. Ransomware involves encrypting company data so that it cannot be used or accessed, and then forcing the company to pay a ransom to unlock the data. This leaves businesses with a tough choice – paying the ransom and potentially losing large sums of money or crippling their services with data loss. Small businesses are particularly at risk from such attacks. Reports show that ransomware attacks target small businesses. Attackers know that small businesses are much more likely to pay a ransom, as their data is often not backed up and they need to be up and running as soon as possible.

  • Employees and Human Error

Another threat faced by small businesses is the insider threat. An insider threat is a risk to an organization that results from the actions of employees, former employees, contractors, or partners. These actors can access critical data about your company and cause harmful effects through greed or malice, or simply through ignorance and carelessness. Verizon has found that 25% of data breaches are caused by insider threats.

This growing problem could put employees and customers at risk or cause financial damage to the company. In small businesses, insider threats are growing as more employees access multiple accounts holding more data. Studies have found that 62% of employees report having access to accounts they probably don't need.

Best Practices for Small Business Website Security

  • SSL Certificate

Secure Sockets Layer certificates (SSL) are small data files that create an encrypted, secure connection between a website host and a person's browser. SSL protects information from hackers by ensuring that all data shared between two parties is secure and private. Websites that use the SSL protocol have a domain name that starts with https:// (instead of http://). Having this certificate on your website is essential, especially if users are exchanging sensitive information with you, such as credit card numbers or secure file downloads. SSL shows visitors that you are taking steps to protect their information.

  • Use CAPTCHA and spam filter plug-ins

If your website is built on an open-source platform, you've probably received weird spam and comments from weird sources that have nothing to do with your website. To mitigate this, enable CAPTCHA on forms to make sure people fill in the required information. Also, most open source content management systems have plugins that can filter out spam from your forms. This won't eliminate 100% of spam, but it's a step in the right direction.

  • Backup your data

Losing your data, or worse, losing your customer's data can cost you significant time and money. Although your web hosting service should back up its servers, you should back up your files regularly. Essentially, a backup is a copy of your website's data, including files, content, media, and databases. Saving an up-to-date version of your site ensures that the site is restarted in the event of a disaster. Be sure to back up important information and not throw it away. Every database, application, and plugin on your website represents an additional access point for hackers. Files, databases, and programs that are no longer used on your website should be removed from the server where they are located. Also, you don't want to use up storage space with a bunch of old files.

There are two types of backups that web hosts must provide. First, there should be a physical backup on a server in another location in case one server location is compromised. You also want a digital backup of your files so you can restore a previous version of your website if something goes wrong.

  • Audit and scan your website

Running a security audit on your business website regularly is an effective way to detect suspicious activities, behaviors, and red flags. A security audit helps you identify potential security threats and determine steps to take to enhance your safety features. Common factors to keep an eye on include changes in page loading times, additions of internal and external links, unauthorized user creation, installation of new plugins or extensions, uploading of suspicious files to your web host, the success of backups, incorrect file permission settings and any unexplained increase or decrease in traffic.

A vulnerability scanner will show you where your site is vulnerable, where hackers are looking for holes, and (if good) how to fix those vulnerabilities. They're important because they think like the bad guys - probing a network, looking for open ports, and finding vulnerabilities to exploit. You can benefit from our free scanning tools.

  • Web Penetration Testing

Regular online security scans are required to identify and fix website and server vulnerabilities. Security scans for your website should be done routinely and after any changes or additions to your website's components are made. There are various tools available on the internet for determining how secure your website is. These tools can be helpful for a quick check, but they won't catch all your site's security issues.

If you want to go further and have an even more secure web page, you can perform a web application penetration test. The web application penetration testing service is completed by white-hat cybersecurity experts who pretend to be hackers to find and fix vulnerabilities in the application without causing any damage. Also if you need a Web Application Penetration Testing Service you can apply to us.

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