Running a website can be a lot of work. However, all your effort will be for nothing if your reputation ends up ruined by security flaws. Website visitors must feel secure while visiting your pages, especially if you are running an ecommerce website or online store. 

How To Protect Your Website Visitors

To be sure that your website security meets site visitors’ expectations, it is recommended that you perform periodic security checks. Run the security checks below against your website to weed out any vulnerabilities that may stop your website in its tracks. After all, the only vulnerabilities you can fix are the ones you know about.

#1. Are all of your website elements up to date?

Updating your website will fix any security slip-ups that may have developed since your last update. WordPress websites are especially vulnerable to update mishaps. The plugins you use for various tasks can effectively act as open doors for hackers if the latest version isn’t installed. Regularly scanning your website for anything that may be out of date can secure any of your accounts that might be risky.  

#2. Have you changed your passwords recently?

Changing passwords on a routine basis is a great idea for any account, not just websites. The best rule when creating passwords is simply the longer the better. Make sure that it is at least eight characters long (12 to 16 is even better) and that you are not using a word that can be directly found in the dictionary.

A popular tactic is to create sentences mixed with alphanumerics. For example, if your typical password is supersecure1, you could create the password 5up3r53cur34cc0unt (super secure account). The second password is far more secure because of the additional characters and because the words are not a dictionary in that format.

#3. Do you have an SSL Certificate protecting website visitors?

SSL certificates work by encrypting data as it passes between the server where it is stored and your website visitors’ screens. You will recognize an SSL certificate by the green lock on the left-hand side of an address bar. If the green lock symbol is present, then the site is secure against man-in-the-middle attacks, where data is captured while in transit.

SSL certificates encrypt data and can only be translated by the proper recipient. Search engines frown upon any website not protected by SSL encryption. All Midphase web hosting packages include an SSL certificate to protect the personal information submitted by website visitors and to help your organic search value.

#4. Is your malware protector finding any trouble spots?

Midphase loves SiteLock malware detector. By installing SiteLock you can protect your website with daily scans of up to 2500 pages. SiteLock regularly performs website application scans, SQL injection scans, FTP scans, and file change monitoring. Employing professional malware protection puts your mind at ease, knowing that you are proactively securing your website on a daily basis.

#5. Are you protected against DDoS attacks?

Cloudflare is a service available in your control panel to boost speeds and protect against denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Remember that Cloudflare is absolutely free for Midphase clients. Simply add the service and you will supercharge your website to protect from hackers and spammers while simultaneously boosting website performance.  

Security may be the single most important aspect of your website’s reputation. One attack can deem your website as unsafe territory, and search engines will then prevent visitors from entering your digital space. By regularly scanning your website for any security flaws and vulnerabilities, you can prevent any security mishaps that could slow your traffic to a dead stop.

What is Cloudflare?

Cloudflare is a website performance company that is now partnered with Midphase to make sites hosted with us even safer and faster. Over 2 million sites are powered up by Cloudflare’s optimization, analytics, and security; almost 25% of the internet’s traffic passes through the Cloudflare network.

Cloudflare is a content delivery network, or CDN, and serves your data to all corners of the globe at lightning speed, but how does it do it?

What Is A CDN?

The internet is made up of billions of images, reams of text, and countless files. Over 3.2 billion internet users access this data every month by sending a request through their internet service provider (ISP) to the server that hosts it. The time it takes for these requests to travel from point A to point B, called latency, varies depending on the distance between the request and the server.

For example: If a server in New York gets a request from Egypt, the latency will be longer than if the server received a request from New Jersey.

Cut Latency, Boost Speed

Content delivery networks (CDNs) are evolving to be an integral part of online business; their method of delivering data reduces latency significantly. A CDN acts as a hotspot for information retrieval by storing your important data in several different locations around the world so that your website visitor in Egypt can receive your information from India rather than waiting for it to arrive from New York.

Think of a CDN as a franchise of a larger company. If we had to visit Bentonville, Arkansas every time we wanted to shop at Walmart, their business would definitely suffer. By strategically placing different Walmarts in convenient locations in towns across the US customers are able to easily access their products and services.

Data Distribution

A content delivery network is made up of a large network of servers placed around the world, hopefully, close to those accessing your data. Each of these servers stores an exact replica of your information; when a computer makes a request the intelligent network can route your information from the server which is closest geographically to the request.

Content delivery networks increase the reliability of your services and lower latency times, making for happier customers! With a CDN your information can be instantly available around the clock; it is an easy and inexpensive way to boost the performance of your server. If one of the servers in the network experiences downtime or an outage you can rest assured knowing that your data is still zooming around the globe to anyone who needs it.

Midphase Hearts Cloudflare

Midphase is now offering access to an amazing CDN through our partnership with Cloudflare, a web performance and security company. Cloudflare is dedicated to improving the speed, safety, and quality of online data interactions. You can now add Cloudflare for free if you are a Midphase hosting client. You will soon be taking advantage of their content delivery network with replicas of your data in 35 global data centers. Cloudflare services help Midphase clients keep their sites speedy, and their information secure and accessible around the clock and around the world.

Global Reach

Over 2,000,000 global websites are powered and protected by Cloudflare, a figure that increases daily. They are committed to a safe environment for all internet users around the world. Cloudflare has your back as you increase positive interactions with customers, attract more visitors, and improve your brand reputation, meaning that when a potential customer visits your site your product or service will be showcased without frustrating loading times or glitches.

Supercharge Your Site With Cloudflare!

Join two million other sites in their quest to be faster and safer with Cloudflare services.

Website owners and visitors alike share two main concerns when operating and interacting on the web: speed and security. Everyday sites are compromised by malicious forces such as hackers or bots. Likewise, a slow-loading site is enough to make visitors click the ‘x’ every time, which can be detrimental to your business.

If we were being melodramatic we’d say it’s enough to make us want to give up the web altogether. But before we all write the web off as ‘bad for business’ and move to the wilderness, Midphase has something up our sleeve to answer our everyday website concerns…

Introducing Cloudflare: the free addition to your hosting package which will act as your website’s security guard while keeping things running at optimum speed.

Cloudflare acts as your site’s very own security team by deflecting attackers, spammers, and malicious activities while streamlining your content quickly across the globe. The Cloudflare content delivery network (CDN) allows site visitors from any continent to quickly access and utilize your site with little to no risk.

Cloudflare protection is offered free to Midphase clients through logging in through your CHI account or at initial registration with Midphase services.

How does Cloudflare work?

A CDN like Cloudflare will improve your site in three major areas:

Speed

Cloudflare can double your website loading speeds by consolidating network requests. Their asynchronous loading of JavaScript means faster, uninterrupted service. The Cloudflare CDN brings your data closer to those who need it, no matter where they are located around the globe.

Cloudflare covers all of your typical everyday traffic, but will also have your back for sudden spikes of activity. No longer will you need to worry that the day your brand goes viral is the same day that your server can’t balance the load. Between Midphase’s top-of-the-line Cisco equipment and Cloudflare’s smart protection, we have all your bases covered.

Security

Cloudflare brings peace of mind and acts as a calm in the storm of spammers, information and identity theft, email harvesting, and DDoS attacks. Security breaches are tough to tackle with any successful site but with Cloudflare, you will have the tools to block up to 90% of harmful traffic.

Safety net

In the event of server downtime, Cloudflare will maintain a copy of your site – which you can retrieve at any time – with their Always Online service. They will also provide you with an analytics report breaking down your website’s traffic into categories like bots, threats, and visitors which will make it easier for you to determine your audience. Cloudflare harvests the information you need to make informed decisions regarding the risk levels of your site and the recourse you should take to resolve such risks.

Enlist the help of Cloudflare’s expert speed and protection (free!) through your CHI account or with the help of our technical support staff.