Making your website live is like unlocking the door to your premises with your office and safe open: Most of the people who visit your physical building will never even know that all of your data is there to discover just by walking in. Occasionally you will find someone with malicious intent who will walk in and steal your data. That is why you have locks on doors and safes.

Re-inforcing network security.

Computer users in your office may be inadvertently providing an easy access route to your website servers. Ensure that:

  • Logins expire after a short period of inactivity.
  • Passwords are changed frequently.
  • Passwords are strong and NEVER written down.
  • All devices plugged into the network are scanned for malware each time they are attached.

Install a web application firewall.

    A web application firewall (WAF) can be software or hardware based. It sets between your website server and the data connection and reads every bit of data passing through it.

    Most of the modern WAFs are cloud based and provided as a plug-and-play service, for a modest monthly subscription fee. Basically, the cloud service is deployed in front of your server, where it serves as a gateway for all incoming traffic. Once installed, web application firewall provides complete peace of mind, by blocking all hacking attempts and also filtering out other types of unwanted traffic, like spammers and malicious bots. This is a great way to avoid getting hacked like Craigslist.
     Back-up frequently

    Just in case the worst happens anyway, keep everything backed-up. Back up on-site, back up off-site, back up everything multiple times a day. Every time a user saves a file it should automatically back up in multiple locations. Backing up once a day means that you lose that day’s data when your hard drive fails. Remember every hard drive will fail.