Checklist: Methods for Evaluating the Security of the Web page
With today’s online threats and data breaches, website security is more important than ever. Business owners, website developers, and internet users must know how to evaluate a web page’s security to keep private information safe and build trust with visitors. With so many web hosting service options, having a complete list that keeps your website safe and reassures users and potential customers is essential.
In this article, we will discuss the checklist for web page security. So, stay tuned. We’ll talk about vulnerability scans, safe coding, and third-party integrations as vital signs that can make or break the security of your website.
1. Examine the SSL certificate
“HTTPS” always comes before “HTTP” in a safe URL. “HTTPS” has an extra “S” that stands for “secure.” This means that the website is using an SSL certificate.
The SSL certificate protects everything, from the computer to the website’s server.
At this very moment, if you look at your browser’s address bar, you will see a small lock icon next to our blog’s address.
If you click on it, a message that says “the connection to this site is secure” may appear, depending on your browser.
That sounds good, but what does that mean? Simply put, this means that there is a business that promises that the messages you send to the website’s owner cannot be read or changed.
You visit a shopping website and give the company your personal information. This information could be stolen if SSL certification is absent; neither you nor the shop would know about it.
So, the first thing you should do to ensure a website is safe is to ensure it has that approval. Google already considers that security measure when it ranks sites in its search results.
You can get your WordPress site to show up on Google by meeting some requirements, and one of them is getting a security certificate.
2. Examine whether the site has a modern theme.
You might be asking what this has to do with keeping websites safe. Website styles and almost everything else on the site are made with code. Some of the settings put in the code become useless over time, which can leave the page open to attack.
You can’t just look at the website’s style; you also need to look at how safe the theme is. It makes sense that using stolen themes is a bad idea. To use them, even though they are exact copies of the originals, is like leaving the door open for attackers, and it’s also against the developers’ intellectual property rights.
3. Check the site for protection with security tools
Most likely, you have an antivirus program on your computer. Many companies that work on digital security make tools that let users know when a website is safe.
Sometimes, these tools stop navigation when the address has no security certificate or has expired.
Other companies let the Internet user look at the site and choose if they want to keep looking. Like browser add-ons, these tools are often installed immediately when you install an antivirus. There are also a lot of VPN services and pen testing tools that could be useful to you.
Find out about the company’s image on the internet before you choose an antivirus. This website is called Virus Total, and it is exciting. Pasting a URL into the search field for that address makes it do a study and decide whether the site is safe for visitors.
Google Safe Browsing is another tool that works like the first one. One of its benefits is that it uses Google’s database to look at billions of pages, which makes it more likely to find harmful websites or attempts to steal information from these addresses.
4. Verify the URL
Criminals take advantage of the fact that many users ignore details when they use scams. A missing letter, a typo, or even a major grammatical mistake are all clear signs that the site is unsafe and is probably an attempt to scam you.
Sometimes, fake addresses change characters, like the “o” being changed to a zero. The google.com page might only stand out to some people in a hurry.
5. Be careful with protection seals
A lot of approved sites have company security seals. It is easy to make a fake stamp in editing software and add it to the pages.
If you want to be sure that the seal is genuine, click on it and see if it takes you to the company’s website that gave it or gives you more information. Images that don’t provide any of that information are what fake stamps are.
It would help if you also used Google to look for the badge and ensure the license exists. This is very important for e-commerce pages.
6. Find out who owns the website.
It’s very easy to check this information. Each website has to be listed under the name of a person or a business. What company, like Whois Lookup, lets you look up a website’s “Whois” field to see who owns it?
7. Get away from spam
Some things—like banners that blink nonstop, claims that are too good to be true, or cheap prices—are classic signs that a website, email, or ad is unsafe. Many people still trust websites that use these tricks, even though they look like they belong in the 1990s and 2000s.
8. Check that all software is up-to-date
Every day, cyberattacks happen on about 30,000 websites. It would help if you ensured that the frameworks, CMS software, and tools you use on your website have the most recent patches, fixes, and version upgrades. This will help you keep your website safe from security holes caused by old code. Hackers use these bugs, glitches, and weak spots to write harmful code. One of the easier ways to get hacked and possibly have your data stolen is to use software with known flaws. It would help if you made maintenance arrangements with your web developers to ensure you get these updates.
Always turn on update alerts in your backend settings, so you know when new versions of your CMS, plugins, add-ons, and any other tools you use to run your website come out. When your website has old parts, it can be attacked, which can cause customer data to be stolen, bad press, and a loss of customer trust.
9. Do a regular back run
Make regular copies of your websites so that if one gets hacked or some pages get broken, you can quickly restore a version that works. These days, the popular way to make sure you back up your website every day is to set your backup to run automatically. Please back up your data often and make sure it’s still correct. Some hosting companies offer this cleaning service as a regular service.
10. Defense against attacks by infections
Cybercriminals often use injection attacks, like command and SQL injection, to get private information and weaken the computer they are attacking. The injection of SQL makes it easier for cybercriminals to shoot using this method because SQL controls most web servers. Hackers use SQL injection to get to data without permission by adding harmful SQL code the server sees as “normal” SQL.
To protect against injection attacks, keep track of user rights, store data securely (for example, by encrypting it), and monitor your server’s whitelist. Stored procedures should also be used to protect against SQL injection.
11. Look at antimalware applications
Cybercriminals use malware to damage your website and infect the devices of people who view it. Antimalware programs help stop malware by finding and getting rid of it on your website. Getting antimalware software can help you keep your data safe and avoid downtime and lost business.
Keep bugs from getting into your website. More than 350,000 pieces of harmful software are found every day on average! Pick paid antimalware software instead of free ones because they usually protect better.
12. Use WAF
Set up Web App Firewalls to protect your application from threats like XXE, SQL injections, and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). WAFs add another layer of security between the internet and your website or web app. It keeps an eye on your traffic and blocks and filters out bad traffic. Hardware-based, software-based, and cloud-based WAFs are the three major types. WAFs should always be kept up-to-date and managed.
Conclusion
A web page security evaluation is needed to protect private data and maintain user trust. Website owners can keep their sites safe from hackers by validating SSL/TLS certificates, checking for security holes, and reviewing the code. Security needs to be constantly checked and updated to stay ahead of threats. Safe surfing and learning how to check the security of websites can also help protect you. Everyone will be safer on the internet if these review methods are used. Protect your website and other internet assets right now.
