Website security should be a top priority for all enterprises, especially those that handle large amounts of data and sensitive information. A cyberattack or data breach could spell disaster for your business, so it’s essential that you understand how to secure a website.
Fortunately, the task is more manageable than you might expect. By implementing a few effective strategies, you can protect your enterprise and customers against most cyber threats.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the risks of having an unsecured website. Then we’ll guide you through 27 ways to boost your site’s security.
What are the risks associated with an unsecure website?
No website is immune to security attacks and their repercussions. But enterprise sites are at particular risk, and the consequences can be dire. Here are some of the common threats you could face from cyberattacks:
1. Data and privacy leakage
An unsecure website jeopardizes sensitive information about your employees and clients. This may include personal details, financial records, login credentials, and other confidential data.
For instance, an SQL injection attack could give a malicious user unauthorized access to your website. If this happens, the attacker can steal whatever data they like and use it for malicious purposes, like blackmail or identity theft.
Data and privacy leakages can also lead to a loss of revenue and trust. You can mitigate these risks by implementing strict security practices like requiring a strong, secure password from all users.
2. Malware contamination
If it’s not secure, your enterprise website could also be susceptible to malware contamination. Cybercriminals often exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software, like plugins, themes, or WordPress core, to inject malware into websites.
Malware contamination can affect your entire network, including your employees’ devices. Depending on the nature and severity of the malware, it can cost a lot of money to eliminate it and replace the affected software.
3. Loss of reputation and trust
Security breaches can have a severe, negative impact on your brand’s reputation. If your clients’ accounts or personal data are compromised, they may lose trust in you and turn to your competitors instead.
This can also lead to poor reviews and a social media backlash. If the word spreads, you may find it more difficult to attract new customers and grow your business.
4. Business disruption and financial consequences
Two of the most common online threats are denial of service (DoS) (conducted by a single system) and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks (conducted through several coordinated systems). These are when attackers simulate high levels of traffic to overwhelm a website. As a result, the website becomes inaccessible to customers.
If your website suffers one of these attacks, it might take a while before it’s up and running again. This is likely to disrupt your business, resulting in significant financial consequences.
But there are numerous other threats that could result in your site going completely offline. For example, a social engineering attack allowed perpetrators access to systems that eventually led to ransom demands and a weeks-long outage of dozens of critical customer-facing sites for behemoth MGM.
5. Regulatory non‑compliance
If you fail to secure your enterprise website, you may find yourself in non-compliance with key regulations. This can expose your organization to legal consequences and financial penalties.
Many countries and regions have specific data protection regulations, like GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA, which require businesses to implement stringent security measures to protect user data.
Not abiding by these regulations can lead to investigations and fines.
6. Theft and exploitation of intellectual property
A website with poor security practices is a target for theft of intellectual property (IP). Hackers can exploit its vulnerabilities to gain access to proprietary information, trade secrets, or copyrighted content.
Brute force attacks and cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks are common examples of this type of threat. Malicious actors can try thousands of login credentials to break into your network and steal your content.
The repercussions extend beyond immediate financial losses. It can also damage your company’s competitiveness and stunt its long‑term growth.
7. Legal repercussions
Finally, leaving your site unsecure can land you in legal hot water, particularly if customers or shareholders are impacted by a security breach.
The affected parties may file lawsuits for negligence and failure to protect their sensitive data. Plus, your organization could be subjected to public scrutiny.
As mentioned earlier, local authorities may impose fines for non-compliance with data protection laws. Hefty fines and court fees can put your business in the red.
Basic steps to secure your website
The ever‑growing, seemingly unwavering threat of cyber crime can be exhausting to combat day and night. Thankfully, there are plenty of steps you can take to protect your company’s assets and prevent the majority of attacks.
The rest of this article will explore the most effective measures you can take to protect your organization. To start, here are some basic techniques that are vital for any kind of online business.
1. Choose a reliable hosting provider
Your hosting provider plays a key role in your website’s security. If its servers are weak or unsecure, that can leave your website open to attack, even if you have your own security measures in place.
Ideally, you’ll want to choose a hosting plan that’s built for large businesses. For example, WordPress VIP is an enterprise‑tailored hosting service that offers a comprehensive security solution.
It uses edge protection, robust access controls, continuous security monitoring, and other powerful features to help keep your site safe. It’s also designed to keep all WordPress code secure and up‑to‑date.
2. Use HTTPS by installing an SSL certificate
A secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate ensures that any data exchanged between your server and a visitor’s browser is encrypted. This makes it difficult for malicious actors to intercept the connection and steal sensitive information.
When you use an SSL certificate, your website is served over HTTPS, which is the secure version of the HTTP protocol. While SSL certificates are available for free, your enterprise may require a more advanced solution.
A premium SSL certificate will offer extended validation and additional layers of security. This is especially important if you handle sensitive transactions (like payments) through your website.
3. Keep website and server software up‑to‑date
Another simple step to protect your website is keeping it up to date. This involves updating the core software of your content management system (like WordPress) as well as any third-party tools that you use on your site.
Reliable developers will release regular updates to patch vulnerabilities. If your website is running on outdated software, it gives attackers the chance to exploit these vulnerabilities and access your database.
The WPScan plugin provides enterprise organizations with a complete picture of known vulnerabilities in the software they use on their WordPress site. Non‑enterprise customers can access similar protections with the Jetpack Protect plugin.
If your site is powered by WordPress, you should be able to enable auto updates for plugins in the dashboard.
You can make sure auto updates are implemented for WordPress itself, and check your theme to see if it offers that option. Additionally, if your website is hosted on a managed plan, your web server may carry out updates as soon as they become available.
4. Review and secure third‑party integrations
Your ecommerce site is likely integrated with several third‑party services, like marketing software and payment gateways. While these tools are probably secure, they can develop issues at any time. Plus, they might unexpectedly stop receiving updates from developers.
Therefore, you’ll want to perform regular audits of the third‑party tools that are active on your site. This may involve checking the last time they were updated and reading the latest reviews from other users.
You’ll also want to be diligent when installing new software on your site. If a tool hasn’t been updated in the last six months, it may contain vulnerabilities that will put your business at risk.
Moreover, it’s important to secure existing tools by making sure that only authorized employees can access them. An inexperienced user could accidentally configure a setting that opens your site up to attack.
5. Regularly back up your data
No security technique (or combination) is 100% effective. For that reason, performing regular backups is crucial.
This will make it easy to recover your website in the case of a security breach. Plus, you won’t need to worry about losing critical information if your content is infected with malware.
Ideally, you’ll want to implement an automated backup solution. Otherwise, you might be unable to maintain a consistent backup schedule.
If you’re on a managed hosting plan, your host may offer daily backups. But host-provided backups might not be enough if your server suffers an attack or malfunction. You also need copies stored in external locations to be confident that you can recover at a moment’s notice.
Therefore, it’s best to consider using a dedicated backup plugin like Jetpack VaultPress Backup. This solution stores copies of your website on separate servers for added security.
Additionally, it backs up your site in real time. Every time you make a change on your website, the plugin will save it to its secure servers. That makes it easy to recover your site quickly in the event of a security breach.
6. Implement a strong password policy
Weak passwords are one of the main ways that sites are hacked. Ideally, a password should contain at least eight characters and feature a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
Some content management systems like WordPress make it easier for users to create strong passwords.
But merely suggesting the use of a strong password may not be enough. Plus, people often use the same password for multiple accounts. This is very risky, since if one account gets compromised, hackers can use the same login credentials to get into your website.
If you’re serious about locking down your site, you’ll need to implement a strict password policy. For instance, employees should change their passwords every few months and use different login credentials for all work accounts. You can enforce strong passwords for both users and visitors by installing a plugin like Password Policy Manager.
7. Enable multifactor authentication (MFA)
If you deal with secure sites for activities like banking or healthcare in your personal life, you’re likely already familiar with multifactor authentication (MFA) or two‑factor authentication (2FA). Once a user enters login credentials, they receive a code on their phone or via email, which is used to verify their identity.
This extra layer of verification significantly hampers the ability for hackers to gain access to your website, even if they’re in possession of valid login credentials. For added security, you’ll want to enable this feature across all user accounts.
If you’re using Jetpack on your site, you can enable secure authentication in just a few steps.
With this tool, you can have users log in with their WordPress.com account, and also require them to enable two‑factor authentication.
8. Limit user access through roles and responsibilities
The more people who have access to your site’s back end, the more chances there are for accidents and errors. Someone might accidentally delete a tool or change a critical setting that makes your site unsecure.
An easy way to prevent this is to limit user access to certain parts of your site. If you’re using WordPress, this is quite straightforward. The platform enables you to assign different roles to individual users.
Each role determines the things they can do on the website.
The administrator is the only user role with full access to the site. By limiting roles to the minimum permissions needed to complete a person’s job, you can reduce the possibility of unauthorized changes to your content.
9. Delete inactive or unnecessary accounts
Along with controlling user access, it’s also important to delete any inactive accounts on your website. For instance, if an employee has left the company, their account might still be present but not maintained. This means their login credentials haven’t been updated in a long time, which could put your website at risk.
At least once a year, you’ll want to review all user accounts on your website and remove any that belonged to former employees or contractors. While you’re at it, it’s also a good idea to review and remove any unnecessary or duplicate accounts.
10. Use secure file transfer methods
Secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) is an encrypted way to connect directly with your site and access its files. It employs secure shell protocol (SSH) to provide a safe connection for file transfers between your local device and your website’s server.
This encryption helps to protect your data from unauthorized access. Additionally, it makes it difficult for hackers to intercept the transfer. So it’s best to use SFTP whenever working directly with your site’s files. FileZilla is one of the most popular SFTP clients, and is available for free.
11. Secure file permissions on your server
File permissions enable you to restrict access to sensitive files and directories. By setting the appropriate permissions, you can ensure that only authorized users can modify critical files.
If you’re using WordPress, you have access to a structured file system with specific permissions. These permissions are represented by a three-figure number, with each representing one of, in order: Owner, Group, or Public.
Each digit corresponds to the permissions of the file for the respective user, with values ranging from 0 to 7. These permissions are Read, Write, and Execute.
Here are the recommended file permissions for WordPress:
- Directories: 755, which gives the owner full control while other users can only read and execute
- Files: 644, which grants the owner read and write access while others have only read access
- wp‑config.php: 600, to ensure that only the owner can read and modify this important configuration file
You can access your site’s file permissions by launching the File Manager in your hosting account. Alternatively, you can use an SFTP client like FileZilla. Simply right‑click on the file or folder and choose the File Permissions option.
12. Use a DNSSEC protocol
The domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC) is a protocol that’s designed to improve the security and integrity of the domain name system (DNS).
The DNS is responsible for translating domain names (like WordPress.com) into IP addresses (like “12.3456.78”), directing visitors to the site’s server. DNSSEC addresses vulnerabilities in the DNS infrastructure, by adding an extra layer of authentication through cryptographic signatures.
This protocol helps ensure that users are connecting to the legitimate server, reducing the risk of man‑in‑the‑middle attacks. This is particularly crucial for ecommerce websites that handle sensitive information.
Many domain registrars offer DNSSEC as a standard feature. But it’s a good idea to check your domain account to confirm whether this is the case for your site.
13. Use a CDN with DDoS protection
A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of servers distributed across various locations. When a visitor tries to access your website, the content is delivered from the server that’s physically closest to them. This helps reduce latency and results in faster response times.
As mentioned earlier, DDoS attacks aim to overwhelm a website by flooding it with traffic. Generated from a botnet, this traffic can lead to server overloads, causing the website to become slow or entirely unavailable.
By opting for a CDN with DDoS protection, you can help prevent any disruption to your ecommerce operations.
Advanced steps to lock down your website
Now that the basics have been covered, it’s time to move on to some more advanced solutions. A number of these steps are complex or technical, so you may want your web developer or a security professional to handle them for you. Other tasks can be implemented using automated tools.
14. Regularly perform vulnerability scans
As discussed earlier, plugin and other vulnerabilities can put your website at risk. If you’re using software from multiple vendors or developers, it might be difficult to keep up with the latest security issues on your own.
This is where a tool like WPScan is helpful. The WPScan CLI Scanner will automatically analyze your site for vulnerabilities that an outside hacker may be able to see and exploit.
The WPScan plugin, available only for enterprises, searches your website software (like plugins) for vulnerabilities, and immediately notifies you if it finds any. It can do this with incredible accuracy because it uses the largest database of known WordPress vulnerabilities, which is continuously updated by security professionals.
Implementing the use of WPScan should be one of the first steps you take when fulfilling a more advanced security plan. Companies like Sony and Mercedes-Benz Group work with WPScan because they’ll settle for nothing but the best. Talk to someone at WPScan to improve your WordPress security today.
15. Use a web application firewall (WAF)
A web application firewall (WAF) is a security tool that monitors traffic to your website and blocks any malicious requests. It uses a set of predefined rules to filter that traffic and grant access to legitimate visitors.
This means that a firewall can prevent most types of cyberattacks, including SQL injections and brute force attempts. Depending on the tool you use, you’ll even get detailed logs and reports, including information on blocked requests and potential threats.
For instance, Jetpack Security is a comprehensive plugin with features designed to protect your site against several types of threats.
It includes a website firewall with real‑time traffic monitoring. Moreover, the Jetpack team continually updates the firewall’s rules to protect you against the most recent threats on the web.
16. Implement a content security policy (CSP)
A content security policy (CSP) is a security standard that helps protect web applications against various types of code injection attacks, including cross-site scripting (XSS). XSS occurs when attackers inject damaging scripts into your site’s pages to steal information from users.
A CSP works by defining and enforcing a set of rules that dictate which sources of content (like scripts, stylesheets, and images) are considered legitimate. By restricting the origins of executable scripts, you can mitigate the risk of unauthorized code execution.
This is a particularly advanced task, so it’s best to entrust it to a security professional or a developer with CSP expertise.
17. Enable security headers
Security headers like X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, and X-XSS-Protection add another layer of defense against various cyber threats.
For instance, X-Content-Type-Options prevents browsers from interpreting files as a different MIME type, reducing the risk of MIME-sniffing vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, X-Frame-Options mitigates clickjacking attacks by restricting how web pages can be embedded into iframes.
Clickjacking is when attackers trick users into clicking on malicious links. For instance, a visitor might think they’re clicking on the “get a quote” button on your site, when they’re actually performing an action that gives hackers access to their device.
When configured properly, these headers can boost your site’s security, as well as protect your customers and clients from hacking attempts. This is another security task that’s best left to professionals.
18. Use parameterized queries
Parameterized queries can help prevent SQL injection attacks. An SQL injection occurs when an attacker manipulates input fields on your site (like the fields in a contact form) to inject malicious code into your database.
By applying parameters to queries, you can ensure that any user input is treated as data, not as executable code. This will help prevent unauthorized access to your database, as well as protect against data manipulation and theft.
19. Implement rate limiting
Rate limiting is when you restrict the number of requests a user can make from the same IP address, within a specified timeframe. It’s designed to prevent brute‑force and DDoS attacks.
As you might recall, malicious actors can try to break a website by sending large volumes of traffic to its pages. Meanwhile, hackers can gain access to a site by making thousands of login attempts with different credentials.
Therefore, rate limiting can help you control traffic flow and requests from the same source. This way, cyber criminals are unable to overwhelm the website or hack into it.
20. Harden your server
Your server stores all of your site’s content, including files, user information, and third-party software. If something happens to it, you risk losing everything on your website. Even if you have a recent backup on hand, fixing a compromised server can be costly.
Here are a few things you can do to harden your server:
- Disable unnecessary services. Every program stored on the server represents a potential vulnerability. Disabling services that are not essential for the server’s functionality helps eliminate unnecessary risks.
- Remove default accounts. Attackers often target default accounts, as they tend to have common usernames and passwords (like “admin” and “pass1”). Removing default accounts, especially those with administrative privileges, can reduce the risk of unauthorized access.
- Update security settings. It’s also important to regularly review and update your server’s security settings. This includes configuring firewalls, access controls, and encryption protocols.
If some of your employees have access to the server, you’ll want to enforce strong authentication mechanisms, like multifactor authentication (covered earlier). This will make it almost impossible for hackers to log in to your site’s back end.
21. Protect your database
Your WordPress database can store confidential information, including user details like passwords and credit card numbers. This makes it a popular target for hackers and data thieves.
You can secure the database by limiting its access with strong passwords. You’ll also want to implement input validation to prevent SQL injection attacks.
Another way to protect your database is to keep it updated. This means carrying out necessary maintenance and updates to address vulnerabilities and other security issues.
22. Implement network segmentation
Network segmentation involves dividing a network into smaller, isolated segments. This enables you to contain and limit the potential impact of security incidents.
For instance, if there’s a security breach in one part of the network, it won’t affect the rest of the infrastructure. The incident is isolated and can be easily controlled.
This system also prevents attackers from accessing sensitive content once they breach the perimeter. You might have a network segment for the accounts department (which contains financial records), another for human resources, and so on. If a hacker breaks into one network, like your sales department, they should be unable to access sensitive data in your accounts department.
23. Log and monitor website activity
Tracking user activity is an important part of maintaining a secure website. It enables you to monitor suspicious activities on your site, like unauthorized changes to pages and files.
An activity log will show you what changes were made, by whom, and when. If a security breach happened at a particular time, you’ll be able to use the activity log to see what and who might have caused it.
Jetpack offers an activity log as part of its security solution. This log shows a full list of management events that have occurred on your site, which include:
- Published or updated posts and pages
- Theme and plugin installations, updates, and removals
- Modifications to site settings and options
- Login attempts by registered users
- Comment submissions
It’s a good idea to use this tool along with your host log (if available). Some hosting providers provide a log of changes made to your site’s files and database.
24. Implement file integrity monitoring
File integrity monitoring (FIM) is the process of checking and validating files and system configurations. When you implement an FIM solution, administrators are alerted to unauthorized changes, additions, or deletions of website files.
For instance, a malicious user may try to make changes to your wp‑config.php file, which stores information about the database (like its name, username, and password).
As you might recall, only users with specific permissions and roles can make certain changes to a website. Therefore, this measure enables your enterprise to detect and respond to potential security breaches in your site’s critical files.
25. Protect your email accounts from phishing
You might already be familiar with phishing attacks. If you have a personal email account, you’ve probably received emails from users trying to trick you into disclosing sensitive information, like banking details.
Your employees will likely receive similar emails in their accounts. Some might smell a phishing attack from miles away, but others may easily fall for such scams.
Therefore, you might want to implement security measures like email filtering and multifactor authentication to protect your email accounts from phishing. It can also be worthwhile to educate your employees on recognizing and avoiding phishing attempts.
26. Conduct regular security audits
Most of the security measures in this guide aren’t one‑time tasks. You’ll need to continuously check your website for potential issues, and make sure that any measures you’ve implemented in the past are still effective.
Of course, conducting a security audit can be time-consuming, but you can use a website security audit checklist to streamline the process. Depending on the size of your organization and your website, you’ll want to carry out a full audit at least twice a year.
It’s also essential to report all of your findings, including shortcomings from users and employees. This information will help you identify ways to improve your security and better educate your staff.
27. Train your team on security best practices
You might have the strongest security practices in place, but the slightest negligence could put your enterprise at risk. Plus, not every employee will know how many cyber threats are out there.
Therefore, one of the most important steps for securing your website is to train your staff. This doesn’t mean just emailing security instructions or pinning them to a board. It should involve live sessions on how to keep the website and your entire network safe.
This way, you can ensure that everyone in the company is aware of the risks and the necessary precautions. You might also keep a record of attendance at these training sessions, and brief any new employees on your security measures.
Frequently asked questions
Do you still have some questions about how to build a secure site? If so, here are a few common questions and answers about this topic.
What are the most common website security threats I should be aware of?
Unfortunately, there are many security threats on the web, and hackers are always discovering new ways to break into websites. The good news is that most cyberattacks can be prevented if you know what they are and how they work.
Some of the most common threats include:
- DDoS attacks. This is when attackers overwhelm a website with large volumes of fake traffic. As a result, the site might be unable to handle the demand, resulting in downtime. To prevent this, you’ll want to choose a CDN with DDoS protection.
- Brute force attacks. Some hackers use a tool that automatically generates thousands upon thousands of username and password combinations, until they finally find the right credentials and can log into the website’s back end. The best way to prevent brute force attacks is to implement two-factor authentication on your website.
- SQL injection attacks. Hackers might insert malicious SQL code to steal sensitive information from your database. Typically, they exploit security vulnerabilities in plugins and other software to gain access to your site’s server. So keeping all of your tools up to date (along with using a firewall) can help to prevent these attacks.
Most security threats stem from outdated or poorly maintained software. Therefore, updating your website’s tools and removing any that no longer receive updates could stop hackers from finding and exploiting vulnerabilities on your site.
What are the benefits of an automated vulnerability scanner?
Many plugins will contain security vulnerabilities at some point in their development. In some cases, these issues are immediately identified by developers, and a security update is released.
But sometimes, hackers can spot a plugin’s vulnerabilities before anyone else. This enables them to exploit those weaknesses and gain access to any website that uses that particular plugin.
The more plugins you have on your website, the greater the risk will be. You’ll need to keep up with the latest plugin updates and monitor them for any potential issues.
An automated vulnerability scanner can make things a lot easier for you. This tool will automatically scan your plugins and themes for security issues.
This way, no vulnerability on your site will go unnoticed. Depending on the scanner you use, you might get detailed reports on the type of vulnerability found and how it can be fixed.
What is WPScan, and who can benefit from its vulnerability database?
WPScan is a powerful vulnerability scanner for WordPress websites. It manages the largest database of known WordPress vulnerabilities and regularly receives updates from security experts and developers.
This security solution is ideal for enterprises that use various software on their websites. Besides automated vulnerability scanning, WPScan provides instant email alerts, risk scores, and detailed reports on any issues encountered on your site.
Non-enterprise website owners can get similar protections appropriate for them using Jetpack Protect and the paid Jetpack Scan upgrade. This also comes with a Jetpack Security plan.
WPScan: Vulnerability scanning for enterprise WordPress sites
As this guide has shown, plugin vulnerabilities are often the way criminals can carry out cyberattacks. They leave your site open to several security threats, including data theft, which can have severe consequences on your revenue and reputation.
A vulnerability scanner like WPScan can help put your mind at rest. This tool scans your website for any plugin and theme vulnerabilities and aids penetration testing by revealing what weaknesses an outside hacker may be able to see. It also sends you instant notifications so you can remedy any problems before it’s too late.
Are you ready to boost security on your enterprise site? Contact WPScan right away.
WPScan 