Security in Software Development
Nowadays many companies have contacts with their customers via their websites. They have both the customer’s data and their products and services on their servers, so spending time and money to keep all such information is vital. Based on statistics, website attacks are growing in numbers, hence the need to keep websites and all their valuable data safe and secure every always.
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Protecting CMS Login
Limiting Login Attempts
One of the most common attacks on a website is brute-force attacks. There is an easy method to ban such hackers and that is limiting the failed login attempts a user can make. If a web application firewall is installed, this will take care of such attacks.
Two-Factor Authentication
Most banks’ websites now commonly apply a new login security level called the Two-factor authentication technique. In this method, users must pass two-step authentication. The first one is the username and password, and the second step is authenticating via a separate device or application.
Strong Passwords
Based on the fact that hackers are curious to steal passwords and afterward extract all sensitive data for later purposes, users need to create strong passwords using some rules and policies proposed by security experts.
Automatically log out Open Sessions
If logged-in users forget to logout of a website, someone else can get control of the website and do what they want, such as changing the password and stealing sensitive data.
Security Questions
Asking security questions when users want to login to a website can increase the level of protection. Users can define their questions and hackers cannot find the answers easily.
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Protecting CMS Admin
Change the Default Admin Username
Each account has two parts, the username and the password. Choosing default WordPress admin username as “admin” allows hackers to solve half of the brute-force attacks to the website. Select a new admin username for better security.
Creating User Roles & Permissions
WordPress allows us to create new roles and permissions for users who contribute to the WordPress website. Such a feature lets us limit users to have access to all parts of the admin panel.
Changing your WP-login URL
The default address of the admin login page is known to most people. To protect your website against a brute-force attack, one of the best solutions is to change the WordPress login page.
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Limit Access to Vital Parts of the Website
Disable Directory Indexing and Browsing
By disabling directory browsing, we do not permit the spammers and hackers to look into files and folders. If they have such permissions then they can copy all kinds of data stored on the servers.
Disable PHP File Execution
In WordPress, there are some folders that are writable. If hackers have access to such folders then they can upload malware that is mostly in PHP language to writable folders and execute their files to get control of the website. We know how to forbid these kinds of attacks.
Disabling File Editing
If hackers can access the files of WordPress then they can do what they want. To reduce such a risk, we limit access to the WordPress files by choosing one of the several methods that disallows file editing.
Hiding wp-config.php File
wp-config.php is by far the most important file on your website as it contains your database information and other security keys.
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Security Technical Issues
Keeping WordPress & Plugins up to Date Versions
Keeping your website, all themes and plugins up to date ensure better security. Updated elements have better performance and have new features for security enhancements, stability, and bug fixes.
Acquiring Scheduled Backup
To be secure and be able to restore all data, software developers make backups frequently once a day or real-time from the websites and databases on several hosts or cloud services like Amazon and Dropbox.
SSL Certificate
Encrypted data transfer between the server hosting your website and the user browser protects your website against anyone who wants to steal information. By using SSL protocol, your website will use HTTPS instead of HTTP.
Changing WordPress Database Prefix
WordPress uses a default prefix for all tables in the database which is wp_. If we change the prefix with a new one, then all tables will be protected against SQL injections delivered by spammers and hackers.
Using a Web Application Firewall
Web Application Firewall (WAF) protects your website against hacking, and brute force & DDoS attacks. Such tools monitor the website’s traffic and block many threats before they hit your website. We suggest both the DNS level and Application level Firewalls.
Choosing a Good Hosting Company
A strong hosting provider should protect your servers against common threats, monitor the network continuously, prevent DDOS attacks, update their server software and equipment, and be able to recover your data.
Deleting Unused Plugins or Themes
A plugin or theme could be vulnerable because sometimes developers stop working on the new versions. Outdated plugins and themes are exactly where hackers find a gateway to attack your website.
Installing Security Plugin
Using a plugin supports us in protecting your website versus hackers and malware and keep track of everything that occurs on the website. The selected plugin must have some essential features such as fail login attempt detection, integrity checking, and email alerts.
Using Reputable Themes and Plugins
Many reputable WordPress themes and plugins spend a lot of time to make their products safe against potential hackers. They get help from security companies to check their products before releasing them to the market.