How to Protect Your WordPress Survey Plugins and Websites from Hackers
You might think that your website and its corresponding wordpress survey plugin is secure or doesn’t contain anything exciting worth hacking. However secure or boring you think your website is, there is still a chance of someone attempting to find their way in.
Did you know that majority of hacking incidents or security breaches for websites are not robbery attempts; rather, they try to use the server as their own temporary web server or to relay email spam usually for files of illegal nature. Other reasons for hacking or security breaches would be to use your servers to mine for Bitcoins.
Hacker usually use automated scripts to explore the internet and find websites that have software security issues. Here are some tips to help you maintain your website’s safety and security.
Updated Software
It may not come as a surprise for some, but the value of keeping all your software updated can never be understated. Its importance is applicable to both your server operating system and software you’re running such as wordpress and its survey plugins. Whenever hackers find some inadequacy in your software, they are quick to abuse it.
If you have someone managing your hosting solution, then you do not have to worry about the constant security update for the operating system because the hosting company should be the ones to take care of this.
Additionally, if you have a third party software installed (such as WordPress), it is up to you to ensure that your CMS or forums are up to date on all their security patches. Fortunately, WordPress and a handful of other CMS platforms regularly notify their users if there are any available system updates.
Security Plugins
Once all your updates are finished, you further improve your site’s security by installing plugins that are actively protecting your website from hackers.
To give you an example, WordPress, as a CMS platform, offers free security plugins for all their users. These security plugins shall give you an airtight defense against hackers because they cover every hole that your website’s inherent security features fail to protect.
Stronger Passwords
It is a well known rule that everyone should use complex passwords to keep all their accounts safe and secure, but this rule isn’t always followed. So, it is imperative for you to remember that the stronger the password that you use, the more secure your account will be, however, as a website administrator, it is also equally important for you to impose good password practices to your users to heighten their account security.
Even though users do not like password requirements, enforcing a minimum of eight characters, the inclusion of uppercase letter and numbers, will help keep all the information they have in their account secure and protected.
Additionally, all the passwords in a website should be stored as encrypted values. A recommended way to use a one way hashing algorithm such as SHA. Through this method, whenever you authenticate users, you will only be comparing encrypted values.
If ever a hacker does steal passwords from your website, using hashed passwords will help limit the damage as the hashed passwords are impossible to decrypt. This gives the hacker one option left: to force their way to a user’s account by trying every possible combination until they find the correct one.
Fortunately, CMS platforms such as WordPress and its corresponding survey plugins have a built in security feature, so that their users can feel safe and secure. Although the administrator must add some minor tweaks to the CMS platform’s security feature, it is still better than not having anything.
HTTPS
The importance of HTTPS for websites have taken a rise over the years. The search engine giant, Google, has already enforced the use of HTTPS to all websites because it’s that important. Most users already look for the green HTTPS in their browser’s address bar whenever they are required to put in sensitive information to a particular website. This is all due to the fact that having HTTPS entails that your website is secure, and it is safe for them to input any sensitive information on that website.
If you have an ecommerce store or requires your users to input sensitive information, then it is imperative for you to invest on an SSL certificate. Of course, you will have to shell out some money to pay for the certificate, but the improved website protection will help you keep a good and trustworthy image.
Key Takeaway
Being able to keep you website safe and secure from hackers is not a difficult task to undertake. Aside from the necessary technical processes that you should know, you only need adequate motivation and passion to regularly check your website’s security capabilities. If it is not up to date, then just perform the necessary updates. So, keep in mind the tips we have highlighted above, and enjoy your safe website!
