Four tips to help safeguard your small business website

As a small-business owner, you may think your website isn’t at risk of a data breach or hack. The reality though, is that attacks on websites are largely automated so there is no person responsible for deciding what sites do and do not get hacked. This means that your website is just as likely to fall victim to a cyber attack as the next one.

Here are four ways to help you protect your website:

  1. Make sure you have an SSL certificate

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and it is the “s” in https. An SSL certificate helps to ensure that transmission of data between a user’s browser and your website is encrypted, protecting data that is sent to your site by customers.

SSL certificates are important when it comes to protecting customer data, as they reassure the customer that your site is more secure than other websites without an SSL Certificate. Additionally, Google is now alerting website visitors when a site is not secure, and placing them lower in search rankings. An SSL certificate can help to ensure your visitors aren’t put off visiting, and can also help bolster your SEO ranking.

  1. Keep regular website backups

Years’ worth of valuable content and data can be at risk of disappearing if your website is hacked. Physical backups are helpful yet they often aren’t quite enough to confirm that you can retrieve all of your lost data if needed, as  hard drives can break. You may want to consider conducting weekly backups to help minimise your risk.

Luckily, some website hosts perform backups for you. Services like GoDaddy Website Backup can make this process easier for you, featuring built-in automatic daily backups and malware scanning.

  1. Auto-generate your passwords

All sites and accounts are at risk of brute force attacks, where hackers use application programs to automate many trials to crack your password. This is why we are often urged to use complex passwords, with letters, numbers and symbols.

Password managers can auto-generate complex passwords for you, and the best part is that you only have to remember one password! It will simply store your login information for everything you use online, encrypt your password database with a master password and you will then use that password to access everything you need. Using a password manager will ensure your site is safeguarded from any brute-force attack attempts.

  1. Run an online safety check with malware and virus protection

All sites are vulnerable to malicious malware and viruses. Protecting your website from harmful viruses and malware is crucial to its health, so it’s best to be ready to tackle any hiccups if they arise. You may want to try using malware protection services to run safety scans for any existing problems, and to then remove any issues found.

Security monitoring services like GoDaddy Website Security will continually scan your site for malware and ransomeware with alerts to help you fix situations that may arise.

Website security is a key element in running your online business, as well as reassuring your customers. Now is the time to review and update security protection for your website, to keep yourself and your customers safer!

Tara Commerford, Vice President and Managing Director Australia & New Zealand, GoDaddy