Security concerns for websites: a business owner's checklist
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Many business owners fall in the trap of choosing cheap hosting only to spend a fortune fending off attacks -- attacks that often stem from the inadequate security of the hosting company they choose to use.
This is why, as an enterprise, you should not get swayed by cheap costs in selecting a hosting provider. Your focus should be on quality, especially in terms of security. You must dig deeper and ask the right questions or seek detailed information about your host's security policies prior to selecting. It's not enough to promise security. You need to understand the way security is implemented.
This guide is where it will help. This is a complete list of the most important questions to inquire from your host regarding security prior to making a final choice.
1. Data encryption
What to ask:
- Does the host provider provide SSL/TLS certificates, and are they a part of the hosting package?
- What is the level of encryption utilized for data that is in transit and at rest?
- How can the host guarantee the security of sensitive information (e.g., customer data and transactions in the financial sector)?
Why it matters:
The encryption process shouldn't just stop with data being transferred. It's also important to make sure that your data is encrypted at rest, meaning it's securely stored on a server that makes it unaccessible to anyone who isn't authorized regardless of whether they have access to the server or data centre.
If you are choosing a web hosting service, it's crucial to confirm that they offer SSL/TLS certificates as well as use encryption standards that are strong like 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), to safeguard your data during transport as well as at rest.
Check out the policy and procedure in encrypting sensitive information, and making sure your information is safe, even in the worst case scenarios. Knowing these measures for encryption gives you peace of mind, knowing your business and customer data are protected.
How handles data encryption
At , we safeguard your information with our rigorous encryption methods at rest and in transit. in rest.
In addition to securing data in transit, leverages Google Cloud Platform's (GCP) modern security features to safeguard your data while in the cloud. This means all data that is stored on Google's servers is encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption, which secures your data in the event that someone was to gain physical access to the disks in the data center. Keys to encryption are constantly rotated, and secured with further layers of encryption to provide further security.
But, it's crucial to note that while the disks have been encrypted, an attacker who gains access to your site through compromise of access credentials (like SSH access) or an issue with your website may be able to access unencrypted copies the files. It is therefore essential to implement strong security procedures at the site level for example, using secure passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and regularly upgrading software.
2. Protection against DDoS and firewalls
Your website's security relies heavily on the power of its firewall. This is the first line of defense against numerous cyber-attacks, such as DDoS attacks.
What to ask:
- Does your host service offer a web application firewall (WAF) in the service?
- How can your firewall defend from DDoS attacks, as well as other popular security threats?
The reason it is important:
A well-managed WAF can block these threats prior to they get on your website and reduce the chance of a security breach, and keeping your site accessible.
DDoS attacks, in particular will overwhelm your site with a huge volume of visitors, making your site slow or unaccessible to users who are legitimate. The impact can be devastating, leading to lost revenue, damaged reputation, and frustrated customers.
A strong firewall not only filters out this malicious traffic but also plays a critical part in protecting your website from DDoS attacks. It ensures that your site remains operational even during an attack.
A good firewall as well as DDoS protection involves more than just setting up basic defenses. Monitoring is continuous for automated threat detection and the capability to handle and ward off large-scale attacks.
How handles firewall and DDoS security?
At , we take a multi-layered approach to keep your website secure, especially against threats such as DDoS attacks. Central to our protection strategy is our integration with Cloudflare.
Every traffic to websites that are hosted on Cloudflare is routed through Cloudflare which is where a powerful WAF filters it. The WAF will block harmful requests, including DDoS attacks, before they can reach your site.
Our defense doesn't stop with Cloudflare. We also use GCP's firewall to provide a third security layer, and we have internal systems to look for the patterns of abuse across our infrastructure which may stop patterns that are deemed to be harmful. This helps ensure stability of the platform overall.
3. Plans for backup and recovery
However, backups are only as good as the frequency with which they're made and how easily they can be restored. When selecting a host it's important to know what alternatives for backup and recovery are offered and the best way to safeguard your data.
The best questions to ask
- When are backups made, and where are they stored?
- What is the process for restoring data in case there is a data breach or loss?
- Backups are stored and encrypted off-site to prevent loss in case of a local catastrophe?
What is the significance of it:
Automated backups that are frequent ensure you don't lose critical site data because of unexpected incidents like a hack of security, a server failure or an error by a user. Knowing that backups are performed every day or more often gives you security that you will be able to restore your site to a recent version without significant data loss.
The location of backup storage is also important. Making backups safe in a off-site place means that the data is protected when there's an issue on the primary server or data center. The encryption of backups will ensure the data you store is secure even in the event of their being intercepted.
The ease of restoration is key. When something goes wrong being able to swiftly and efficiently restore backups without any technical issues or delays is essential in limiting downtime while keeping your website running efficiently.
A thorough understanding of your host's backup and recovery plans can ensure that regardless of what might happen you will be able to recover your website with minimal disruption.
What we do with backup and recovery
We offer the following types of backups:
- Daily backups that are automatic: We provide automatic daily backups of every one of the WordPress websites hosted through our platform. Backups take a full snapshot of your site, including databases, files redirects, as well as My settings. If something goes wrong and you need to fix it, you are able to quickly return your website to its previous state with just a few clicks inside My.
- Manual and hourly backups: When making significant modifications to your website, you can create up to five manual backups to ensure you've got the restore points precisely when they are needed. Additionally, we offer an hourly backup option for those who require frequently-restore pointsperfect for eCommerce websites or other dynamic environments where data changes often.
- Downloadable backups: We also allow users to download and create a backup of your website in a ZIP file once per week. This backup will include your site's data and databases, which allows the user to save a copy offline for extra security.
We also understand the significance of a quick backup restoration. For My It is straightforward and easy regardless of whether you want to restore to your live environment or to a staging site. If ever you have to undo a restoration the backup will be instantly created before you restore that gives you an option to control your site's state.
In addition, based on your plan, backups are retained for up to 30 days to ensure you will have plenty of backup points to choose from if something goes wrong. We offer extended retention periods for customers on our top-tier plans. These offer even greater peace of mind.
4. Control of access and authentication
The control of who has access to your website's server and backend environment is crucial for maintaining the security of your website.
Unauthorized access can lead to data breaches, site defacement, or the possibility of compromise. Implementing strong access control measures and secure authentication methods is essential to protecting your site.
When evaluating a hosting provider, understanding how they manage access control and authentication can ensure that your site is well-protected from unauthorized users.
The best questions to ask
- What access control measures are in place to block unauthorized access to my server and account?
- Does your host support Multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accessing Control Panel, FTP/SFTP, as well as SSH?
- How do you manage permissions across several team members or users?
The reason it is important:
Secure access controls are the core of your website's security. Without proper access controls, unauthorized users could be able to access your site's backend. This could lead to information theft, unauthorized modifications, or even a complete website takeover.
Access control is the process of restricting who is able to access your site and ensuring that those with access use secure, up-to-date authentication methods.
The management of permissions is vital, especially for websites which have many users or team members. A well-structured permission system ensures that only users have access to areas of the site they are entitled to, which reduces the chance of accidental or malicious modifications.
It's important to understand how your hosting provider handles permissions for users and if they provide tools that can aid in managing the access of your entire team.
How we handle access control and authentication at
In the realm of infrastructure On the infrastructure side, we utilize the GCP ID and Access Management (IAM) system for managing the access of our servers to internal users. It ensures that internal team members only have access to the information they need to perform their tasks. As we adhere to the principle of the least privilege, we reduce the risk of unauthorized access to our infrastructure. ensuring that your site remains protected by multiple layers of security.
You can also disable SFTP/SSH access when not required and alter password restrictions which gives you total control over when and what access can be granted, making sure the security of your website.
5. Detection and elimination of malware
The ability to detect and remove malware fast is critical to maintaining your website's safety and credibility. It's the reason it's important to be aware of the way your hosting company is handling malware detection and removal.
The best questions to ask
- Does the hosting provider provide automatic malware scanning as well as how frequently do they run?
- What happens if malware is detected, and how is it eliminated?
- Do I have the option of adding additional tools or plugins for greater protection from malware?
The reason it is important:
Infections with malware can affect your site's security and reputation, leading to loss of customer trust as well as search engine penalties. That's why frequent automatic malware scans are essential. They allow you to detect potential malware early, which allows the prompt intervention before they cause significant damage. If malware is found it is essential to have a thorough and swift removal process can help you quickly restore your website to its original state.
In addition, the possibility to add your security tools or plug-ins will further enhance your protection.
Understanding how your host manages the detection and elimination of malware will give you peace of mind that your website is continually checked for any threats and will be swiftly cleaned up if an infection occurs.
What is the best way to handle malware detection and removal
The security promise we offer assures you that in the event your WordPress site is hacked while hosted with us, we'll work together with you to eliminate the threat and rebuild your website. This involves a comprehensive examination of your website's file and identifying the root of the issue, as well as eliminating any affected plugins and themes.
6. Monitoring of uptime and responding
If your website is offline, it may be a serious problem for your business, such as diminished revenue, reputation damage as well as frustrated customers. Uptime monitoring is crucial for ensuring that your website is up and running for visitors.
Hosting providers must provide an excellent uptime and performance, as well as robust monitoring systems, and an immediate response plan in order to solve any issue that might cause downtime.
How to approach:
- Does the hosting provider offer continuous monitoring of uptime?
- What speed do they react to downtime, and what do they plan to get the website up and running again?
- Do they have a guarantee of uptime percentage in their service-level arrangement (SLA)?
What is the significance of it:
Monitoring continuously ensures that any downtime is immediately detected hosting service providers to swiftly respond to minimize any effects.
A good hosting provider is one that has a system that monitor the uptime of their servers 24/7, and have a committed team ready to respond to problems. Additionally, a guarantee of percent of uptime -- for example, 99.9 percent -- as part of a service-level agreement (SLA) ensures that the provider is dedicated to keeping your site running smoothly.
Knowing how your provider handles monitoring of uptime and responding to any downtime issues is crucial to ensuring your site's reliability and availability.
Monitoring uptime in
Alongside our internal response, we notify you directly in the event of recurring issues that persist for consecutive tests. These include site issues, DNS misconfigurations, SSL certificate issues, as well as domain expiration. This proactive notification helps you stay informed and act quickly if you need to.
7. Activity and log tracking
Alongside monitoring uptime The detailed logging feature allows users to monitor every step or event that occurs on your site. This assists in troubleshooting, checking, and ensuring the safety of your site by logging the activities of users, access to data as well as servers performance.
How to approach:
- Do the hosts provide activity logs to track the user's actions as well as access to data?
- Can I access server logs for troubleshooting and performance monitoring?
- How long are logs stored, and are they easily accessible?
The reason it is important:
Logging is crucial for ensuring your site's security and efficiency. Activity logs allow you to track who did what, and at what time. This can be crucial in identifying unauthorized actions or pinpointing the cause of an problem. Access to server logs is also important for troubleshooting the root of server issues, diagnosing error as well as monitoring the usage of resources.
A reliable hosting service can provide users with easy access to their activity as well as server logs. This will ensure you are equipped to check your site's health and security.
What is the best way to handle logging and activity monitoring?
To help you troubleshoot issues, our platform gives you access to important server logs such as error logs, and access logs directly from your My Dashboard.
Our platform also sends instant notifications that inform you of system status to let you know if platform-wide issues arise.
8. Audits of security and compliance
Security audits and compliance tests assure that your website is in compliance with the industry standard and adheres to best practices for protecting private information.
Regular security audits identify vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your site, and the security frameworks you use ensure your website adheres to required regulations, particularly for businesses handling personal data or financial information.
Knowing how your hosting provider handles security audits and conformity is crucial to maintain your website secure and in compliance.
How to approach:
- Does the host company conduct regular security audits on its infrastructure?
- Is the host compliant with industry security standards and regulations (such as SOC 2, GDPR and PCI DSS)?
- What security certifications do the host provider hold And how often are they renewed?
The reason it is important:
By understanding your host's approach to security audits and meeting compliance ensure that your website meets both security best practices and legal requirements, decreasing risks of security breaches as well as protecting your data.
How we handle security audits and compliance at
Additionally, we emphasize Data Leak Prevention (DLP) as well as Data Rights Management. Our system is designed to work in conjunction with your organisation's Information Security Policy, ensuring the security of sensitive information against unauthorized access or exposure.
With these certifications and regular inspections and regular audits, we can guarantee that your site is hosted on a secure, fully compliant platform that is consistently in compliance with the highest standards of industry.
Learn more on our Trust page.
Summary
The list isn't comprehensive but covers many essential aspects of security for hosting. It is possible to understand the way your host handles security by paying attention to the most important aspects like data security, DDoS prevention, uptime monitoring, and security compliance.
Asking these questions helps to ensure that your company is secure from threats common to all businesses and in line with the best practices in data security and privacy.
Be proactive in securing your website will give you confidence that your website is safe, allowing you to focus on expanding your business.
Joel Olawanle
Joel is an Frontend Developer working as Technical Editor. He is a fervent educator with a love of open source software and has written more than 300 technical papers, mostly on JavaScript and its frameworks.