Web Hosting Security Checklist 2023 | How to Secure Website?

Contributors October 29th 2021

Websites have become an essential factor in every business. In our haste to establish a digital media presence for our business, we often neglect to check our website’s safety.

In this modern-day, when data breach rates are increasing exponentially, the need for website security has never been more important. With the help of this blog, you can configure which server provides the Best Web Hosting Services in terms of security.

We have compiled a checklist for you to ensure that your website hosting site provides you security before you go live. Read this guide through to find whether your website is secure, if not, how to make it safe.

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8 Steps To Make Sure That Your Website Is Secure in  2023

1. Avoid DDoS Assaults

Distributed Denial of Services (DDoS) attack is when a website is overwhelmed with fake traffic. Because of fake traffic, the website cannot respond appropriately to real traffic. DDoS is achieved by consistently sending incoming messages or fake packets or requests from multiple devices. These devices are from different locations, thus making it hard to be blocked.

The solution? Proxy servers.

Proxy servers help your website create a new access point and cater to incoming traffic. Today, the most popular are ISP Proxies. This proxy is a combination of data center and residential proxies, offering the best of both worlds.

ISP proxies are hosted on data centers and provide IP addresses from legitimate Internet Service Providers. It can help overcome DDoS attacks by increasing bandwidth to handle traffic spikes. ISP proxies can set up different servers with your website as the common access point. Then the traffic that reaches your website is distributed among these servers to minimize the load. So, the web hosting service that offers ISP proxies is highly recommended.

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2. Protection Against Brute Force Attacks

Brute Force Attack is a hacking method in which the hacker uses a trial and error method to crack your password. Hackers use computers and software to try different combinations to find the real one. Despite brute force attacks being an old method, hackers still use them and are efficient.

Your website hosting company should have safety guidelines to prevent brute force attacks. Apart from that, you have to take some precautions on your side for an added layer of protection. Some safeguards include changing passwords regularly and using complex ones every time. 2FA and firewalls provide you with an added layer of protection.

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3. Shield Against XSS Cross-Site Scripting

XSS cross-site scripting is when a hacker attaches a piece of malicious code into an unsuspecting website. When users access that website, their browsers run the code when the website loads. When this code is activated, the hacker can then access the victim’s information exchanged in this session. These types of attacks exploit different vulnerabilities in a website. Therefore, it is hard to protect websites from these attacks.

Make sure that all Types of Web Hosting providers include countermeasures to protect you from these attacks. If your provider provides Amazon Web Services (AWS) for web hosting, this can safeguard you.

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4. Prevent SQL Injections

SQL injections are another form of hacking that can affect your database. 

SQL codes are injected into your database through inputs, and these codes can edit and delete your website. Authentic and malicious queries cannot be differentiated in most cases, thus posing a severe threat.

Web hosting on AWS can help prevent SQL attacks. Understanding if your web hosting provider has countermeasures in place can help minimize your troubles.

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5. Backup Your Data

Data is a crucial requirement when running a business. Data loss can have devastating effects that we would not wish on our worst enemy. Having backup data can save you from a system failure or a malware attack where you lose your data. 

Web hosting hubs should provide cloud storage to upload your data. Reliable cloud storage can keep your data protected and facilitate access from anywhere. In addition, you can have a copy of your database on your home computer to ensure you have additional replicas.

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6. Prevent Spam

Website crawlers crawl through your comment section and consider it as one of the ranking parameters.  Wonder what will happen when your website is flooded with spam comments? The website crawlers deem your website unworthy and lower your rank.

You can avoid this by getting a host that offers spam detection. Recognizing and removing spam content in the beginning stages can help you retain your rank and credibility.

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7. Secure an SSL Certificate

We all have noticed the lock symbol or the HTTPS at the start of a URL link. In layman’s terms, it is a sign that the website is secure. SSL certificate allows the website to move from HTTP to HTTPS for security purposes. Change your website performance with HTTP vs HTTPS.

Now this one targets the end-users. Your visitors are more likely to be confident in browsing through your site if they see this symbol. This means that the information they share with the website is encrypted and has lower chances of being intercepted. 

Visitors that come to our site check that whether the website is secure or not before sharing their sensitive information. And if your website does not have this lock symbol, they will most likely exit the page and never return.

Especially if your website is an eCommerce Store, then you should invest in good security. An SSL certification can indicate that a website is secure. Your web host provider should be able to provide SSL certification for your website.

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8. ISO 27018 Compliance

ISO 27018 is a set of rules and regulations framed to protect consumer data from prying eyes. According to these regulations, customers explicitly know where their data is stored at any given point in time. These customer data are disclosed only under legally binding requests for disclosure.

In addition, these data are not used by companies for targeted advertisements without explicit consent.

Your web hosting provider needs to comply with ISO 27018 to provide the best protection to your data. Under AWS, compliance with these protocols is available as well.

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Conclusion for Web Hosting Security Checklist

Keeping your website safe from hackers or other malicious attacks is a continuous process that can be often exhausting. But incorporating measures such as getting a web hosting provider that ensures your security can make things easier.

How to Choose a Web Host? It might be a complicated process, so the list above can help you decide which one to go with.

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Author Bio

Daniel Martin

Daniel Martin loves building winning content teams. Over the past few years, he has built high-performance teams that have produced engaging content enjoyed by millions of users. After working in the Aviation industry for 9 years, today Dani applies his international team-building experience in LinkDoctor to assist in solving his client’s challenges. Dani also enjoys photography and playing the carrom board.

 

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