If you are a serious web site owner / web master surely you would know how important a web site / blog / application is. You can use a web site, or a blog to reach out millions of customers, viewers across the world with less cost and with no (or limited) barriers. But do you also know that they can be a great area for hackers to play on? So here are a few tips of which we thought we’d share with you.

1. There would be some files, web pages; scripts that are not meant for public view. Protect it with a password or set permission to none. Simple way it use cPanel and user folder permission settings found there. Combine alphanumeric characters and exhaust all the character limits as much as possible.

2. Avoid using the common username for logins such as “Admin” which would make the hackers easy to guess your username, only they have to work on the password. Use some creative names which would be hard to guess.

3. Secure your source code. There are hackers who are interested in getting your source code to either destroy it or to build a website clone. That’s why it’s very important that you can protect it against such individuals. You can make use of scripts that will allow your source code to remain hidden to Internet users. Or you can simply make use of external CSS sheets as well as files for Javascript.

4. If your using famous applications such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal make sure you visit their web site and download the latest version or upgrade the existing versions. Hackers would use “reverse engineering” and try to hack the old versions. If you are planning to use any plugins , modules check the online review / rating, others review, comments would surely help you to take a wise decision.

5. Avoid using Beta products for public heavy use. Beta means it’s still in the test stage and not stable. Always go for a stable release. Always test you web site / application / blog well before opening it for public view.

6. Sign up for updates. Majority of the product and software updates may only be announced in their respective websites. This is to encourage their customers to continuously be up-to-date too of any new products that they are currently introducing into the market. To avoid the hassle, sign up using one secure e-mail address in all of their newsletters. If you receive any updates, make sure you take time in reading them.

7. Add a robot.txt. This is a special instruction you will give to search engines who may be visiting your webpages. You can instruct them to only index those files that are meant for users. You can also direct them to not index any that are only meant for webmasters. These may include files and images.

8. Check the permissions you may have set for your uploaded files. This is to prevent any hacker from getting access into your important and confidential files. You can confirm it by selecting CHMOD for your files located in the web hosting server. Otherwise, if you aren’t sure, then you can simply verify it from your web hosting company.

9. Take away old or unnecessary files. If you remove them from the server, then no one can access them anymore. It will not be obtainable for hackers and spammers.

10. Know your baby (Web site) understand  how it functions , requirements and what third part integrations have been used. Protect it from SQL injections, validate forms and fields. Look after and protect your baby it would surely bring back good news.

Cheers until we meet next time!