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6 Cyber Security Tips to Help You Keep Your Insurance Website from Being Hacked by Other People

Dean Jones's picture
Submitted by Dean Jones on Thu, 04/21/2022 - 02:00

Cyber security threats are always changing. To keep your insurance agency website safe, it is important to stay up to date on new things that happen. Having a safe website not only protects your customers, but it also protects your brand. Here are the top six things you can do to keep your insurance site safe.

Be Careful When You Make Login Credentials

When you give someone access to the back end of your website, it's kind of like giving them a key to your business. When giving someone login access, be careful and only give them access to the people who need it to keep your website up-to-date.

Limit Password Attempts and Use Malware Protection Software if you want to keep your computer safe.

One of the most proactive things you can do to keep hackers from getting into your website is to make sure that all of the code on it is up to date. When new security patches, plugins, or dependency updates come out, install them as soon as you can so that your computer is safe. Hackers are always looking for ways to break popular coding methods. In most cases, when a flaw is found, the code developers fix it as soon as possible. The sooner you update your code, the sooner you can remove a threat that can be used by a lot of hackers. All insurance websites should also use a malware detection and prevention tool and limit the number of times a user can try to enter a password at the same time, as well.

It's time to make a "We've been hacked" response plan

Even the best efforts to keep your site from being hacked can fail. Having a plan for how you will respond is very important. A plan for responding to an emergency should include audit logs, backups, and information about how to get help from an IT person.

Keep Track of Everything You Do.

Make sure you can see log reports on all back-end website functions, so that you can figure out what went wrong when a breach happens. Every time someone logs in, changes a page, changes code, or adds a plugin, they should be recorded with their own time stamps

Perform regular backups and keep a copy of the most recent backup data somewhere else.

It's important to back up your website as part of your response plan, and some hosting providers offer daily backups. How often you should back up your website will depend on how often you make changes to it. When your insurance agency backs up your site, save a copy of the backup off of your server in a place that is easy to get to. The server's contents could be stolen if your host is hacked. You'll be able to keep an unaltered version of the server out of the hands of hackers.

Users should be taught how to stay safe.

When you have your cyber security service plan set up, make sure everyone knows how to stay safe and avoid being attacked by other people. Password managers make it easier for people to make very strong passwords and keep them safe. They can also learn how to recognise email phishing scams, and how to encrypt emails that have sensitive information. A strong password is one that is hard to guess. Today, you should use at least 10 characters, with alpha (including a cap), numeric (not a string of numbers), and special characters (exclamation, etc.). Websites like WordPress make and/or check the strength of your password, and many of them do this for you.

To protect your website, start with the basics above, then figure out if you have the skills to stay up to date on possible cyber attacks. If not, think about hiring a web hosting and development company or an insurance marketing company to help you with this project.