Web Security Measures to Use When Your Website is Constantly Under Fire

In the amount of time it took to write this blog, there were 472 attempts to breach our website’s security and steal valuable information. Lucky for us, we’ve got our site on lockdown. We have state-of-the-art website hosting and security that keeps our site safe. With SSLs, updates, spam filtering, backups, and other web security measures, we keep our and our clients’ site safe from bad apples. We believe in the importance of having top-notch web security and doing everything possible to increase your site’s security.

SSLs are Important for Website Security

SSL stands for secure sockets layer. It is the standard security technology used for encrypting the link between a web server and a web browser. SSL ensures that all data passed between the web server and browser remains private. Without SSL, highly sensitive information such as passwords, credit card numbers, and personal information could be accessed by a hacker.

If you’re operating an e-commerce website and collecting financial information from your customers, you need your site encrypted with SSL. Some browsers alert web users with a pop-up warning when they use websites that aren’t encrypted with SSL. The message usually says that the connection might not be secure, and asks if the web user would like to accept the risk and proceed.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 69 percent of online adults report that they have chosen not to open an online account because they were worried about how the site in question would handle their personal information. People run scared from a website if they aren’t certain their data is being transferred securely. Having an unencrypted e-commerce website will scare away many customers who don’t want to risk compromising their financial and personal information.

At Catapult, we install an SSL encryption on all websites for users’ protection. We want to keep your business and your customers safe from the dangers of having private information stolen. That’s why all Catapult-created sites are fully-encrypted and equipped with other effective security features, so your customers don’t have to think twice about clicking the “Buy It Now” button.

Updates Keep Your Website Secure

Most updates patch up a hole in a site’s security. Updates are vital to your web security because frequently updating your system and software can prevent bots and hackers from learning your system and how to compromise it. Bots and hackers are continually trying to break through into your website and gain valuable information.

Older versions of software have more holes for a bot to slip through. Updates patch the holes in earlier versions and provide better performance on your site overall.

At Catapult, we keep systems up to date for the best protection possible, so our customers can be confident in their website’s performance and security.

Restricted Access

Restricted access is a feature that allows you to display information to select people. Restricting access could mean that some information on the site is only accessible to you. Or it could mean that some information is only accessible to you and your employees. It may even mean that certain information is only accessible to customers or people in a certain geographic location.

Any site where you have to log in with a username and password, enter your age, or give an email address to get through is a site with restricted access. Restricted access gives you an awesome security feature: it prevents unwanted entities from entering your site or gaining access to information they don’t need.

This feature allows you to reveal different information to different groups of people that you need to communicate with. It also allows you to collect useful contact information, such as email addresses or phone numbers, before allowing people into your site.

Spam Filtering

Spam is not just an annoying series of unwanted emails; it is a serious threat to your site’s security and function. Malicious bots can fill out forms on your website thousands of times within a matter of minutes. This action crashes your site, causing you to lose business and access to your information. After your website is repaired, you will have a ridiculous amount of paperwork to sift through in an attempt to separate the spam from the forms filled out by actual customers.

We protect the sites we develop from spam by setting traps for the spambots to fall into. For example, our web developers might create a box to tick off on a webpage that only a bot would see. Any bot that clicks through the site will click on that box, and then get kicked to the curb. Spam filtering is necessary to keep your website up and running smoothly as well as keep your forms clear of useless junk.

Backups

We know it takes serious time and effort to create a website with striking visuals and flawless functionality. But we also know that all of that hard work can be wiped away in seconds without proper security. Sites can get deleted accidentally or by someone else with administrative access with malicious intent. You could wind up losing weeks, months, or years of work.

Backups ensure that if your site goes down, all is not lost. We save a backup of your website so that if something does happen, we can restore it with no problem.

Protect Your Business with Top-Notch Website Security

If you’re in need of a team of tech wizards to optimize your site and increase its security, call Catapult Creative Media today. The security features listed above are just some of the measures we employ to protect sites. We have the skills and experience necessary to create awesome websites with excellent security features that will help your business thrive.

Jessica Smith is a Writing Intern at Catapult Creative Media. She is a senior at LSU concentrating in Political Communication. She has also studied at universities in New Zealand and Indonesia. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys listening to live music and exploring the great outdoors.