14. Strong Security Safeguards
With 81% of small businesses reporting to have suffered a cybersecurity breach in 2024 according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, website security is something you should be taking very seriously. Not only does your business have an obligation to keep viewers safe, but data breaches can also compromise sensitive company data, and damage a brand’s reputation as a result.
As a bare minimum, we recommend using an SSL certificate from a valid Certificate Authority (CA) to keep your site secure. This helps to encrypt site data and keep information private. To play things safe, using anti-malware software is also a good idea if your hosting company doesn’t already provide malware and virus scanning services as part of their basic package.
Having a strong password, and changing it often, is another tried-and-tested way to protect your website. We recommend creating a secure code with a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols, that bears no relation to your personal information. Using a password manager can be a huge asset during this stage, as it’ll prevent you from having to commit the codes to memory.
Leveling up your access control is another way to protect the backend of your website. This can be done in a variety of ways, including implementing two-factor authentication, removing unnecessary user permissions, and limiting administrative access to your website. For extra guidance on how to keep your company’s data on lockdown, check out some useful data hygiene tips.
