As technology changes, it becomes increasingly challenging for businesses of all types to keep their personal and customer’s information on the web secure.
Web security is important to keeping hackers and cyber-thieves from accessing sensitive information. Without a proactive security strategy, businesses risk the spread and escalation of malware, attacks on other websites, networks, and other IT infrastructures. If a hacker is successful, attacks can spread from computer to computer, making it difficult to find the origin.
How Do I Know if a Website Is Secure?
There are many ways to know if a website is secure, including implementing HTTPS on your website. In addition to HTTPS, you can tell if a website is trustworthy by asking yourself:
- Is the website an established authority institution?
- Does the site provide expert value?
- Does the website look spammy, broken?
- When I hover over the links does the link look spammy?
How Do I Make My Information on the Web More Secure?
The best line of defense on the web starts with user awareness. Avoid the risk of web security attacks and implement these 5 security tips:
1. Use Strong Passwords
It used to be that 3 or 4 character passwords would keep your information safe. However, as technology has advanced, so have the abilities and ways to crack passwords.
Now, your passwords need at least 8 characters with a mixture of lower case letters, capitals, numbers, and a special character like an exclamation mark is highly recommended.
Don’t make your password a familiar phrase. It might be easy for you to remember the phrase “I love my children” but a password cracking software will break that in no time. A great idea is to take the first letter of a phrase you will remember and use those, like this:
“I love my children, John, Mary, and Phil” would be “ILm3c-JM&P”.
Never use a password twice. If someone hacks into any of your accounts then could access your bank accounts, your online purchase accounts, and any other important information.
2. Two-Factor Authorization.
A two-factor authorization comes in handy when a website recognizes a different IP address is used to login to a website like your Google account. You are immediately sent a text message with a phone number you registered with to confirm if it is you. If you didn’t log in, you should immediately change the password to secure your account.
3. Always Use Secure Networks
When logging into financial and other crucial websites, look at the address bar before logging into your bank website and other sites on which you have personal information. If the address starts with HTTPS then you know it is secured (by the added “s”). If it doesn’t, then you either have the wrong login page or it is possibly a spoof (fake) website.
Never click on a link in an email that seems suspicious. Better yet, never click on a link that comes from any crucial website such as your bank. Simply go to the website link you trust and have saved in your bookmarks to login, or call them. They will understand your caution.
4. Use More Than One Email Address
The email you use for your personal banking might be more secure if you use a different email for things like Facebook, Twitter, and even EBay. If someone were to hack into one then they would not automatically have access to the others.
5. Be Cautious About Posting Your Email Address Online
This is simply an invitation for spam if nothing else, but it also opens up a message of “Hey, hack me. Here’s my email.” Avoid posting your email address on forums, review sites, and message boards where spammers can easily pick up your address.
Need Help With Your Web Security?
Web security is important to protect your online identity and personal information. If you’re concerned about your web security for your business, or other network issues, we can help. Contact us to learn more about our affordable tech solutions.
