An important subject that's good to think often is your website's security. Below are some good measures that you could take to prevent security issues on your website.
Backups
Potential vulnerabilities in your website's code
The usual tactic for a website creation is the usage of open source software on top of which are built simple or complex websites. Such software is the well known Joomla, Drupal, WordPress etc. that used quite often and are freely available for anyone to download and use.
On the other side of the advantages that these applications have (easy setup, low startup cost) we meet the potential security flaws that sometimes are generated. Their biggest flaw is that their source code is available to everyone, and that includes people, such as hackers, that can benefit from bugs in it and infect users websites and computers, aiming illegal profit and data theft. For this reason the communities that support open source applications often release security updates which are trying to shield these applications from the discovered vulnerabilities.
If you are using open source software you have to remember to update your applications to the latest version provided by the support community, because most likely the latest version covers security bugs of the previous versions and sometimes adds new features.
Some websites that can help you stay informed about the security vulnerabilities in well known content management systems (CMS) and their plugins are:
- The WordPress Security Learning Center contains information about the security of WordPress.
- The Joomla Developer Network contains information about the security of Joomla.
- The Drupal Security advisories contains information about the security of Drupal and its plugins.
It is also important that the plugins/extensions/modules that are installed in a website stay updated too.
Never use software from invalid sources, or cracked software as often called on the Internet.
