The security of websites is still relevant. Website threats and attacks are increasing dramatically. Whatever your activity, you may be targeted. Owner of a small website or blog, you may believe that you do not have to worry about your website by claiming that your activity or the content of the site does not interest the hacker. It will surprise you to learn that this is absolutely false. Whatever the content of your website, you are always at risk.

Many hackers are interested in a website, not to steal data or to corrupt the site, but rather to use it for an even more serious purpose. This can include using the website's server to send a mass of junk mail, distribute illegal files, or even for bitcoin extraction.

So, how do you protect your website from these attacks? Well, thankfully, we have put together a handy list of steps to take to protect your website from these malicious hackers.

1. Perform regular updates
This may seem pretty obvious, but it's one of the most basic and important steps. It is important to make updates as soon as possible especially on scripts or plugins. Many of them are open-source, which means that everyone can analyze their source code and discover the flaws. These security holes are one of the most common ways for hackers to access your website. To secure your website from these attacks, it is strongly recommended to update your plugin, scripts and platforms (like Wix, Blogger, WordPress).

2. Security plugins
In addition to updating all software, it is crucial for a site to use security plugins and guarantee maximum security. There are many free and paid security plugins to keep your site secure. These plugins offer additional features to make your site secure and reduce the risk of hacking.

3. Use HTTPS
In addition to using security plugins, you should also consider upgrading to HTTPS "secure hypertext transfer protocol" to further enhance the security of your site. Web sites using the standard protocol for data transfer between the server and the client's browser, HTTP or hypertext transfer protocol are likely to intercept the data and use it maliciously. HTTPS makes the exchange of information via your website more secure and impenetrable. The use of HTTPS is strongly recommended for an e-commerce site, or a site dealing with confidential and private information about customers.

4. Choose the right host
You can, of course, choose your accommodation based on very cheap offers. However, you may be exposed to cyber-attacks. Therefore, it is reasonable to find reputable web hosting providers that offer features such as a secure SSL server (required for HTTPS), SSH Secure Shell Access, secure email support, a database secure, regular backups.

5. Sneaky SQL Injections
SQL injections are not only sneaky, but can also be very dangerous, if a hacker manages to inject them into your site. Usually these injections take place through the web forms that you use to gather information from visitors to your site. If you do not submit the necessary constraints to all fields on a web form, hackers will be able to insert a code that, in turn, allows them to hack your database and steal any confidential information available.

In order to protect your website against these injections, all you have to do is permanently use parameterized queries. Your website will have specific parameters to prevent hackers from accessing your data and entering their malicious code.

6. The powerful XSS attacks
These attacks are similar to SQL injections because hackers use HTML form web form fields to access them. However, they are much more dangerous than SQL injections. Cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks refer to the insertion of malicious script tags and JavaScript into your website, which can spread to the accounts of all visitors who display the page on which they were served. To prevent XSS attacks, make sure that visitors do not have the privileges (or opportunity) to insert JavaScript or script tags anywhere on your site.

7. Passwords and protection
It is better to use ever more complex passwords, combining lowercase letters, capital letters, numbers, and special characters for all your accounts and especially for the administrator account of your site. Never use simple passwords. Do not use passwords such as your child's name or birthday, as hackers can usually easily access this information. In addition, make sure everyone who has access to your website uses a secure password that cannot be guessed. The use of a weak password by a user could endanger your entire website and all visitor accounts.

8. Web Security Tools
Fortunately, there are effective tools that can analyze the overall security level of your site. After applying all of the security measures outlined above, it's time to check the security of your website or you save yourself all that by hiring an expert.

Dotengee offers foolproof security against SQL injections and XSS attacks.