We all hope it won’t happen to us. We keep our typing fingers crossed. But one day, it will. Website owners who have been doing business online for some length of time know all the trouble one hacker can cause. Once a hacker gains access to a website they can do a devastating amount of damage to an established business. It is for this reason that most online businesses hire a team of website security specialists to make sure this never happens. Whether it’s people who just accidentally entered a forbidden part of a website or those who hack into a system deliberately, the goal is to prevent it before it happens. Here are three steps you can take.

Use Digital Certificates

Any website that does business online should use digital certificates. This helps to protect sensitive data when passed using a form. This could include anything from a person’s social security number, credit card information, to his or her address and contact numbers. It is important for website owners to be able to assure their clients that their website is secure. A digital certificate goes a long way towards allowing clients to trust business is legitimate and entrust sensitive information to it.

It is, however, important to be careful when buying a digital certificate. It is vital to not obtain one that is outdated or which has been sabotaged by a hacker.

Keep Security Regularly Updated

Some of the most important security procedures include methods to make sure a website’s forbidden pages are inaccessible to anyone who lacks authority to view them. This includes tracking that person’s IP and recording it. This will help protect website owners from people trying to illegally access, download, or alter the website’s files. As a last resort, it will also help authorities track down where an offender lives and, if necessary, whom to charge with a crime.

As criminals constantly devise new ways to circumvent modern security, security procedures are constantly being updated to ensure that the latest version includes protection against these new security threats and risks. It is the website owner’s duty to make sure that the security is up-to-date. This makes the correction of such problems, if they arise, easier.

A website owner should also regularly change the website’s administrator password, observing all the common-sense rules regarding password creation. Although many do not take this step, simply taking precautions can help prevent a costly breach from occurring.

Monitor Online Activities

It is absolutely vital for a website owner to monitor all of their online activities. Many website owners have unwittingly caught a computer virus by downloading something or clicking on a Web URL link while browsing the Internet. These kinds of mistakes are common and can be avoided by simply taking reasonable measures to provide security for their computers.

Email from unknown people should be treated suspiciously, particularly if an attachment is included. Often these attachments have a Trojan, virus, or other malicious software packaged inside them that will burst free when the attachment is downloaded. Although most new computer security products are aware of these viruses, a brand-new virus can remain undetected until it is discovered by security professionals who then update their protective software to counter the new threat.

For the owner of a Website, every virus and illegal access that is prevented on their personal computer represents a lot of money saved. Perhaps more than almost anyone else, website owners get their money’s worth when buying security products. A website owner can lose their website and all their earnings from a single breach by a single hacker, even if that breach is on their home PC if that computer has been used to access restricted areas of their website. The peace of mind a few security software purchases can bring is more than worth the cost in dollars. Remember the old adage: penny wise and pound foolish? This can apply to manage a site in today’s increasingly fraught environment. Are you being pounded foolish?