How To Prevent Data Breach On Your Website

Do you know that data breaches cases are increasing day by day all around the world?

Even if you do not believe your website is worth breaking, you must not compromise it in any way.

Believe me the majority of website security breaches are attempts to utilize your server as an email relay for spam, which could get you in trouble sooner or later. 

if you are thinking that data breaching happens to the big brands only. Then, you are wrong. 

You’ll be shocked to learn that small businesses were victim for 43% of all data breaches.

And believe me, this number is growing day by day.

According to recent statistics, the number of data breaches in the United States has risen from 662 to over a thousand in recent years.

Yes, that’s true! 

I hope you now understand why it is so critical for you to safeguard your website against data breaches.720I hope you now understand why it is so critical for you to safeguard your website against data breaches.

And of course why not? You have worked so hard on your website,so it is quite important to protect it from hacking or data breaching. 

And trust me this is going to be A Data Breach Protection guide! 

The goal of this blog is to provide you some practical and applicable tips that you may apply right now to protect your website. 

So, put your reading glasses on and let’s get started with how to prevent data breach on your website.  

But before we jump into how to prevent data breach on your website, let’s first understand what data breaching is and why you should care about it.

What Is A Data Breach?

In simple words, we can consider data breaching as stealing of information or data from a website without the knowledge or permission of the owner. 

And this stolen data might have some sensitive information like, personal data and business secrets which could be a threat to your organizational security.

Hackers could steal any data like, passwords, identity information, banking details, or credit card information. 

Just imagine how damaging it is going tobe for you and your brand’s image if this happens to your website.

If you still don’t take my words seriously, consider this case study of Marriott, one of the well-known brands.

This case study will undoubtedly open your eyes and show you why it is so critical to secure your website.

Have you heard the news that Marriott was breached in 2014 and went unnoticed till 2018?

If not?

Let me share this story with you. 

It was the year of 2014 when a well-known hotel brand Marriott was breached and the surprising thing is that nobody came to know about this, not even The Marriott itself.

And do you know how many people this incident affected?

Around 500 million customers were affected by this incident.

And credentials like, names of the customers, Addresses, Phone numbers, Email addresses, Passport numbers, Date of birth, Genders and Encrypted payment details, all were leaked.

Despite the fact that 5.25 million unencrypted passport numbers were disclosed, this is still a major security breach.

Apart from this, Marriott has been chastised for its reaction to the hack, which has been blamed on a lack of communication as well as other security issues over its email domain.

One of The Marriott’s worst blunders was failing to inform its consumers and concealing the facts.

See.. this is what happens when your cyber system gets breached. This can create blunders you can never imagine. 

You should learn something from the mistake of The Marriott.

And believe me this is not only about the Marriott but there are other brands as well which suffered due to data breaching attacks. 

That’s why it is very important for you to know how to protect your website from hackers. 

How Do Data Breaches Happen?

I know you might be wondering now, “how do data breaches happen?”

For your kind information, there isn’t just one reason for it; there are dozens.

Don’t worry! I am not going to make you feel bored by explaining dozens of reasons behind this. 

But, I will explain some 1-2 common reasons behind this.

One of the most common causes of the data breaches is hacking.

Hackers usually try to crack down your cyber security system and steal the important data and credentials to sell it on the Dark Web so that they can earn the highest monetary benefits from there. 

Carding is a live example of how hackers steal your information and sell it on the dark web. 

If you are not familiar with carding, let me show you an image that will help you understand the concept more clearly!

Another cause could be, giving accidental access to outsiders. 

If any worker from your server room accidentally shares the credentials with others, it can easily cause data breaches.

Yes, that’s true! A small mistake from any of your workers can cause this much blunder. 

Now the question that might be buzzing into your mind is, “but, what techniques do these hackers use to breach our data?”

Well, I also have an answer for that.

They use techniques like, phishing, malware and brute force to crack down your cyber security system. 

In phishing, the hackers create a page that looks exactly like the original one. People who are in a hurry fill up their credentials and repent later.

The information is collected by the bogus page and shared with the hacker.

The hacker’s next objective is to get access to your account, which is rather simple.

In the image below, you can easily see how they create fake pages.

In the given image, can you differentiate which page is real and which is fake?

That’s how they try to fool us.

Once you fill up the details in the page, you will endup sharing your credentials’ with the hacker.

In the malware, the attacks take advantage of security holes in your device to get access to your system. Hackers insert viruses and spyware into your computer, allowing them to see, access, lock, or edit your files, resulting in a catastrophic data breach.

Then, in the brute force technique, the hackers try to guess the password of your account. This process is quite time consuming.

But nowadays some softwares makes it quite easy to guess the password and is used for hacking. 

Now you might be wondering, “but, how to prevent data breach on my website?”

Don’t worry! I also have an answer for that. 

So, now let’s understand how to prevent data breach on your website.

How To Prevent Data Breaches

Use HTTPS

Using HTTPS is the best way if you are wondering how to prevent data breach on your website?

HTTPS( hypertext transfer protocol secure) is a communication protocol that encrypts the information that travels in between a website and server.

Any attempt to access data while it is in transit will result in the data not being shown.

Basically, it guarantees that the user is communicating with the server they expect and nobody else can change the data that they are getting.

In some cases, users might want privacy, so it is highly advisable to use HTTPS for that.

That could mean for the credit card login pages. 

Let me explain this with the help of an example to show you how stealing of this data can cause the blunder or data breaching.

A login form frequently sets a cookie that is transmitted along with every other request to validate your users.  

Suppose, If this information was stolen, an attacker would be able to completely stimulate a user and take control of their login session. 

To protect your site from these kinds of assaults, you should always utilise HTTPS for the whole site.

Google has recently made an announcement that if you utilize HTTPS, you will be boosted in the search ranks, providing you an SEO benefit as well. 

Read also: Complete Google SEO Ranking Factors [Updated List]

Trust me, HTTP is becoming obsolete, and now is the time to upgrade and that’s how you can protect website from hackers.

Have Backup

This is also the better solution, if you are eager to know how to prevent data breach on your website.

Despite having tight cyber security, the chances of data breaching are always there and this can wipe out all the important information just in one second. 

While it’s possible that the data may not be retrieved, it’s always a good practice to back up any and all vital data.

You won’t be fully lost if your info is backed up. You still have a safety net in place. Depending on your company’s demands, you may either invest in a cloud backup system or hire a third-party service.

Or, you can install a good data backup plugin to cope with the situation that might occur in future.

Install Security Plugins 

If you used a content management system (CMS) to create your website, you may augment it with security plugins that actively block website hacking attempts. 

Security plugins are available for all of the major CMS platforms, and many of them are free.

Some security plugins that I would like to list down are:

Security plugins for WordPress:

iThemes Security 

Bulletproof Security 

Sucuri

Wordfence

Fail2Ban

Security options for Magento:

Amasty

Watchlog Pro

Security extensions for Joomla:

JHacker Watch

jomDefender

RSFirewall

Antivirus Website Protection

Trust me, these plugins would be able to assist you in more ways than you might imagine.

Moreover, any website whether CMS-manager or HTML pages, may benefit from SiteLock. 

SiteLock goes beyond merely plugging security gaps in websites by offering daily monitoring for malware detection, vulnerability identification, active virus scanning, and more. 

SiteLock is an investment worth considering if your business relies on its website.

You can use it now to protect your website from hackers and any other data breaching threat.

Use CSP(Content Security Policy)

Another prominent vulnerability that site owners must be aware of is cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. 

Hackers find a means to inject malicious JavaScript code into your sites, infecting the devices of any website users who come into contact with it.

The struggle to safeguard your site against XSS assaults is comparable to the fight against SQL injections using parameterized queries. 

Also, make sure any code you use on your website for functions or fields that take input is as plain as possible in terms of what’s allowed.

Content Security Policy is another effective method for combating XSS attacks (CSP). CSP allows you to specify which sites should be regarded as acceptable providers of executable scripts when a browser is on your website. 

The browser will then know not to pay attention to any potentially hazardous scripts or viruses that may infect a visitor’s PC.

Using CSP entails including a string of directives in your webpage’s HTTP header that tells the browser which domains are allowed and any exceptions to the rule.

This way CSP can easily protect your website from cross-site scripting attacks.

Limit Login Attempts 

One of the best ways to protect your website from brute force attack is to limit your login attempts.

Denying entrance to an IP address after three failed tries is a simple approach to pass through brute force bots and attackers. 

This function is built into the software known as MalCare firewall. Limiting login attempts is a simple and efficient technique to secure your website that has few drawbacks.

When installing WordPress, you may also utilise the ‘Limit Loginizer’ plugin. However, if you type your own password incorrectly three times, you’ll need to contact your web host to get your IP address unblocked, so you can try again.

That’s how you can easily protect your website from brute force attacks. 

Update Themes And Plugins 

It is one of the simplest but overlooked techniques, if you are searching for how to prevent data breach on your website.

However, if you want to be sure you’re secure, make sure you’re always using the most recent version of any plugin or security software.

The reason why I am saying so is because, Over 90% of attacks are the result of hackers discovering a vulnerability in a theme or plugin and exploiting it across several websites.

Both themes and plugins are computer programmes. They’re just like any other piece of code, and they’ll always contain problems. 

Some issues are minor and will only create a little blip during the upgrading process. Others may compromise the code’s security.

When vulnerabilities are discovered, they are communicated to the plugin developer for patching, which is normally done by security researchers. 

The relevant developers will release a fix, and users of the plugin will be notified that an updated version will be available soon.

The vulnerability is made public after the fix is published. It’s good if you update the websites with upgraded plugins or themes with the security patch. 

If you don’t, your site will be targeted by amateur hackers known as “script kiddies” who are eager to make fast cash.

As a result, it’s always good to maintain everything up to date, from WordPress to plugins. 

We know that upgrades sometimes break websites in unexpected ways but please keep everything up to date.

Install A Good Firewall

A Web Application Firewall, or WAF, is a simple yet effective way to protect your website. 

It protects your website from hackers and other undesirable traffic before it reaches your server and is available as both hardware appliances and cloud-based services.

The main reason why I am asking you to install a good firewall is because a smart hacker would construct a bot that detects vulnerable websites and automates the majority of the procedure. 

Bots are now programmed to do highly specific tasks.

This is exactly where a firewall would help you. 

A firewall is just programming that detects harmful requests. Every request for information to your website is routed through the firewall first. 

If the firewall detects that the request is malicious or originated from a known malicious IP address, the request is blocked rather than executed.

In fact, no firewall is completely unhackable. However, having a firewall that stops the majority of harmful software is preferable than having none at all.

That’s how you can easily protect website from hackers 

Read also: 16 Points New Website Launch Checklist (Never Miss a Step‎)

Get Domain Privacy 

You should get domain privacy if you are thinking how to prevent data breach on your website.

When you buy a domain name, whether directly or through your website server, your information is stored in an open, public database that anyone may access. 

Personal information such as your name, address, email, and phone number will be stored in the database. It gives everyone, including hackers, spammers, and identity thieves, access to your sensitive information.
Domain privacy is available from all domain registrars.

This service will cost a little price, but it comes with a number of benefits, making it excellent value for money. 

It will hide all of your personal information in order to make it public without changing the domain’s ownership.

Even after this much security, what if your website got leaked? What would you do in such a condition?

You will get to know the answer to such questions through the chart given below:

Bonus Tip

In the bonus tip, I would like to share about the security system that will help you monitor your security system. 

Just keep an eye on database activities. Database activities are observed, identified, and reported on by a Database Activity Monitor (DAM). 

These monitoring solutions employ real-time security technologies to keep track of every database activity. 

They can also identify unusual and illegal activities both internally and externally, as well as assess the efficiency of your current security policies.

Conclusion

So, in this blog we have discussed all the best ways to protect against data breach on your website. Trust me, the tips that I discussed are the most practical and applicable you would ever find on Google.

Learning all these hacks and securing your website against hackers is a big part of keeping your website healthy and safe in the long run.

So, don’t procrastinate and apply them right now. 

If you still have any doubt or query, you can comment down below in the comment section, I would reply for sure! 

For more marketing tips and services, you can schedule a free-of-cost 30-Minute Strategy session with our experts. In this call, our experts would  discuss your business and provide you with the free strategies that you can use to boost your sales and revenue. 

FAQs 

1. What are the three different kinds of data breaches?

Physical, electronic, and skimming data breaches are the three forms of data breaches. They all have the same level of risk and repercussions, but they are all executed differently.

2. What can I do if my data has been breached?

Whether you’ve been impacted by a data hack or not, freezing your credit is a good idea. You may do this by requesting a credit freeze from each of the three credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion).

3. How can I keep my personal information private?

A) Encrypt your information.

B) Make a copy of your data.

C) A possible backup solution is the cloud.

D) Anti-malware software is required.

E) Make the hard discs on your old PCs unreadable.

4. Can we sue over data breach?

A data breach lawsuit is subject to the same rules for filing a claim. That means data breach lawsuits are all but guaranteed to be tossed out of court unless there is actual harm from the breach at issue.

5. How do data breaches affect individuals?

By exposing sensitive information, data breaches harm both individuals and corporations. For the person who has had their data stolen, this might cause a lot of problems in future.