How To Prioritize Cyber Security in Web Design

by James Daniels

The risks posed by cyber crime and cyber criminals are significant and should be recognized by any business that operates online or connects its IT infrastructure to the internet. Today, millions of businesses do this by using cloud-based services, providing online facilities for customers to purchase goods and allowing their workforces to operate from remote settings whilst accessing corporate systems.

Millions of companies rely on a corporate website to promote their organization or function as a key touch point for consumers. It’s therefore of vital importance that all websites follow best practice in web design so that the risks of cyber attacks can be minimized. If you’re in charge of creating a website for your company, you’ll need to be aware of many different factors that will influence the overall security of the site. In addition, small business owners or entrepreneurs who are building websites to sell their products and services should also adhere to web security best practice.

In this article, three key facets of web design will be explored with information on how to keep online security at optimum levels.

1.    When link building

Millions of online businesses look to cultivate backlinks as a key way of getting higher levels of online traffic to their website. Backlink building is an important part of any online company’s SEO strategy, but it’s one that should be approached with caution.

Put simply, not all backlinks are the same and some websites that offer backlink services may also contain malicious software on their sites. This association with poor-quality sites can lead to potential customers getting viruses on their IT equipment or search engines ranking your site lower on organic search results due to your association with the malicious website.

 In short, when building backlinks, it’s important to choose reputable sites to link from. Companies such as clickintelligence.com are experts in backlink building and can assure clients that only reputable sites will be used in this process.

2.    Ensure encryption in web pages

Modern web design relies on encryption to make sure that that customers’ personal information (including financial information when making transactions) is secure. This is vitally important when making online purchases as credit or debit card information needs to be protected and anonymized to make the information useless if cyber criminals intercept it.

Secure socket layers (SSLs) are used to encrypt web pages and this is an incredibly important part of web design. Consumers will check to see if your website has the padlock symbol that indicates that the site is safe and uses encryption methods for sending and receiving information online. This should be considered as a mandatory part of webpage design for all companies.

3.    Test for weak points

As a final point, it is of paramount importance to test websites thoroughly for weak points that could be exploited by hackers. This should be one of the final stages of web design and will provide assurance that the site is safe to use before it goes live online.

There are a variety of methods that can be employed to achieve this (even including using “reformed hackers” who have a deep knowledge of web security to attempt to hack the site) and you can read more about this here. When this stage of web development is complete there will be a thorough understanding of how secure the site is and if any remedial actions need to be taken to improve security.

About the author

James Daniels is a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics.

Click here to view more IT Briefcase content!