What makes Web Security so Important?
The Internet has made each of our lives so much easier by making everything accessible in the palm of our hands. From watching the latest Netflix movies and shows to making secure banking transactions in seconds, it’s just convenient all around. But the internet is also a place that can leave you completely vulnerable exposing all of your sensitive data to people who really should not have access to it.
How do we solve such issues? Web Security and spreading its awareness amongst the general public can really help us take care of ourselves over the internet. Today, we are going to talk about steps and solutions for both the makers and users of the web applications of the internet.
This article will help you understand :
1. Securing Web applications
a. Encryption and Decryption
b. Access Restriction
c. Secure your server
d. Enable HTTPS on all your pages
e. Backup Automation
f. Password Change Policy
2. General Awareness for the public
a. Use VPNs
b. Use Password Manager applications
c. Awareness
1. Securing Web Applications.
Securing web applications is one of the most overlooked things that any website maker does while building their applications. If a website is secure, it makes your user feel more confident which will retain them and keeps your business flowing. Follow these steps to ensure that you keep your application security to deliver the best experience.
a. Encryption and Decryption
Data is sensitive and if it is exposed in an environment that is not secure, chances are your application’s reputation would crumble and you may incur devastating losses. So, encrypt your data before sending it over an unsecured line so that even if the data is exposed, it’s just garbled to the one who has snooped the data.
Listed below are a few of the methods that could help in securing your data.
1. AES 256 GCM Mode
2. Triple DES
3. RSA
The most ideal scenario would be to store the information in encrypted formats in your database. This will create the most ideal selling point of your application.
- Access Restriction
Build your application in such a way that roles can be assigned to each individual and they can perform certain actions only based on those roles. For example, a normal user would be able to interact with certain elements of the website but will not be able to edit anything on the website whereas a special user will be able to edit and act upon the website and so forth. Having such a framework in place makes it easy and convenient to manage your website. Also, it is important to keep checking on these roles to make sure no bugs can give away your website to any hacker.
c. Secure your server
Keeping your website settings and code well checked and secured in an environment such that no one from the outside world other than you and your team can access is a very important thing that needs to be done. Whitelist IPs of your teammates and yourself, restrict actions and do not allow yourself and your team to access risky websites. This will save your server from viruses and dangerous attacks.
d. Enable HTTPS on all your pages
Make sure that you have an SSL certificate installed on your server and set your server such that only HTTPS is served to all your users. This makes the session secure as data will be sent over using the HTTPS Protocol.
e. Backup Automation
Create scripts such that backups are taken regularly of the database as well as your server so that if your server fails, you will have a backup ready for your users to get started back with. It will also be a big win for you to have your code stored on GitHub or any sort of version control allowing you better access to manage everything in case of failures.
f. Password Change Policy
Lastly, it would be very good if you can implement some sort of Password Change Policy for your users so that passwords get updated and it becomes difficult for anyone who is trying to brute force their way into the website.
Now that we have understood the steps to take for a website maker, why not understand the steps we can take as website users to keep ourselves secure over the internet.
2. General Awareness for the public
People over the internet follow these steps. They can really help you make sure that you are as safe as possible while also enjoying the benefits of the internet.
a. Use VPNs
As cliche as it may sound, it is important that you invest in a good VPN service. VPNs connect you over to a secure tunnel which will then handle the rest of the connection to the outside world. This will in a way give you a new location, new IP, and a secure environment for you to enjoy the internet.
b. Use Password Manager applications
It is a good investment to have an application that can create random strong passwords and store them for all of your websites that you access. This can be super helpful since you will have a big password that is made of random characters, making it super hard to crack, plus no more remembering passwords as your application remembers everything for you.
c. Awareness
Lastly, it is just the general awareness to make the right choices on the internet. Never open those spam emails promising you money and wealth, never open suspicious links, buy things if you can from trusted websites, check online shops before buying something from them. Just follow these basics and you will be safe on the internet.
So to wrap things up, we understood why being safe on the internet is important, how websites can be secured, steps that the general public can use to keep themselves secure over the internet. This brings us to the end of our article. Thank you for making it this far, Cheers! 😊
Author
Ankita Chauhan
Product Manager
BluElement Technologies Pvt. Ltd