Hackers are always working, searching day and night for sites they can easily exploit. If your site is compromised, the fallout for you or your business can be devastating. A bad hack can damage to your website, reputation and your ability to run your business.
So, how can you reduce your chances of being hacked? The most effective approach is to make your website and email more secure. Start by following these simple best practices, which apply to all web platforms.
Sections
- Strengthen all passwords
- Add an email filter
- Enable Secure Socket Layers (SSL)
- Have a WordPress site?
Strengthen all passwords
A strong password is the first line of defense against hackers. The days of using "123456" or "password" are long gone (don't laugh, I have seen it).
A strong password:
- is 8 characters or (preferably) longer
- has upper and lowercase letters
- includes at least two digits and one special character
Randomly generated passwords work best. Replacing letters with numbers or symbols is better, but still not great. However, it is best to have no dictionary words in your passwords. Using "p@ssword" instead of "password" is not much of an upgrade.
Ideally, you should use a random password generator, such as the one built in to cPanel. Don’t worry if it’s difficult to remember. Most browsers, email clients and other programs will store your passwords for you. Plus, there are many password manager options available.
Add an email filter
Tired of having your mailbox fill with spam? Your cPanel hosting plan includes Spam Assassin email filtering, which will flag potential spam email so you can easily filter it out. You can manage Spam Assassin from your cPanel.
While Spam Assassin is a good start, an additional spam filter can make a huge difference. One of the most effective and affordable solutions our Advanced Spam Quarantine, which can be purchased from your MacHighway Client Area.
This service helps keep your system safe by blocking spam and placing potentially dangerous emails in quarantine. You can log into your Advanced Spam Quarantine interface and see what mail was caught by the system. From here you can choose what mail was legit and which are spam. The more you interact with your Advanced Spam Quarantine, the better it will get at filtering your mail.
Find out more about our Advanced Spam Quarantine here.
Enable Secure Socket Layers (SSL)
Online privacy is important to anyone that traverses the internet these days. It seems everyone is trying to get access to your personal information. While spam can be annoying, someone getting your credit card number would be far more troubling. Adding an SSL certificate, which can be purchased from your MacHighway client area can help protect sensitive customer data on your site.
When you purchase and install an SSL certificate, your site will change from HTTP to HTTPS (the “S” is for “Secure”). Your customers will instantly recognize that it’s safe to buy from you, which can lead to higher sales.
In addition to being more secure, Google is placing a growing emphasis on whether a site is HTTPS, to the point where site not protected with an SSL are not getting found in searches. Strengthening security with SSL encryption can also boost your search rankings.
Have a WordPress site?
WordPress is easily the most popular website platform, and its user-friendly design makes it highly susceptible to hacker attacks. By most accounts and surveys, more then 60% of all websites are built with WordPress.
Unfortunately, being the top player in the CMS (content management system) game comes with the unwanted attention of spammers, hackers and other questionable characters that would love to exploit your WordPress site for their devious plots.
Fortunately, you are not on your own in this battle. There are several simple things you can do to better protect your site. WordPress Security: Hardening Guide details proven ways to strengthen your WordPress site’s security. Highlights include:
- Keep WordPress updated with the latest version
- Limit login attempts to prevent hackers from gaining access to your site
- Install all-in-one security plugins to handle many security tasks for you
Most WordPress compromises gain access through plugins and themes, so keeping these up-to-date are vital. You also will want to research any plugin or themes before using them to ensure they are not backdoors for hackers. Your best source of information on all things WordPress is the WordPress site.
Click here to return to the New Customer Guide.
Still Having Issues?
If you are still having issues, you can contact our Customer Support in the following methods:
Live Chat
You can connect to our Live Chat Support Team from your MacHighway Client Area. If you are not sure how to do this, you can find a guide here.
Our Live Chat team is available Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time.
Support Ticket
You can submit a support ticket to our Support Team from your client area.
Our ticket Support Team is available 24/7/365.
Phone support
You can contact our Phone Support Team using the following number:
- US/Canada 1-888-974-0334
- International 1-727-800-3606
Our Phone Support team is available Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time.
