Ways of Securing your Website & Computer

Use Open Source Scripts

Unless you know what you are doing or have a well versed development team in your payroll, it is a great idea to use open source scripts. Open source scripts like WordPress & Joomla. are feature rich, powerful and are backed by thousands of coders for update & support.
This avoids websites falling prey to hackers & spammers due to poorly written code. Instead of building from scratch, you can use the existing scripts and modify them to your liking. Commercial scripts from reputed companies can also be deployed if they issue updates & patches regularly.

Update Constantly

New features or not, upgrade to newer versions of scripts as soon as they are released. Point upgrades mostly fix bugs in the script and are as important as a full version upgrade. If you are not sure whether the new update will break your customization, ask in the support forums and do not wait till you get your customization to be fixed before applying an update.

Use Strong Passwords

Passwords like “loveydovey123”, “unicornlover” are definitely not cute and it is absolutely reckless to even consider using them. Your password does not have to reflect your “inner persona” as they are supposed to keep things safe.
Use a combination of alphabets, numbers and special characters and make sure they are atleast 10 characters long. Apps like Lastpass, KeePass etc. can help you generate strong passwords and to store them as well.

Restrict Root Access

Be it may FTP or Database, never give root access to everyone willy nilly. Restrict access to certain non system folders in the case of FTP uploads by people other than the system administrator.

Ensure the presence of .htaccess file

.htaccess files are often used to specify the security restrictions for the particular directory, and make sure you have not deleted it by accident or if it is there in the first place.

Use security plugins

Mature platforms always have plugins to extend the core functionality of the script. Look for plugins that add an extra layer of security and install them. For example, WP Security Scan plugin checks if most of the steps I have mentioned above have been implemented properly in a WordPress installation.

Stay away from Nulled Scripts & Themes

Piracy of commercial scripts and paid themes is the easiest among all other forms of piracy. Smaller file sizes, absence of version specific keygen, cumbersome Daemons, DLL patches & cracks make it a cake walk to pirate a script rather than a software or PC Game.
However, unlike pirated desktop software where a hidden malware is removed by the Anti Virus software, there is no way you can escape the backdoor added to the codebase. Even for a seasoned programmer, it is impossible to go through thousands of lines of code to check if the script is free of backboors.
A nulled script or theme with a backdoor ensures that the hacker peddling it in the first place has gotten himself a free server to spam people with mails promising to enhance things that cannot be enhanced. If you are lucky, your website might not used for anti government propaganda or for distributing child pornography. Unless you so love orange jumpsuits or better yet, would love to go on an all expenses paid trip to a certain facility in Cuba, stay away from nulled scripts. Nulled scripts hurt the pirate worse than the developer. Enough said.
When it comes to security online, there are always infinite number of ways to protect a website. Share with us the tips & tricks you use to protect your website by leaving a comment. They will always trick you into getting something free but then you wont realise and there will be a hidden virus.

Change File & Folder Permissions

Some scripts require full read & write access while installation. This can achieved by using the 777 code on vital folders like config, admin etc. Revert the file permissions back to their original code, say 755 or 644. A file or folder with full read write code gives easy access to inject malicious code in your website.

Delete the Installation Folder

Once the installation is done there is no use for the installer folder in the day to day operations of a website. It is very much possible for a hacker to run the installer once again, empty the database and take control of the website & its content. Ideally it is strongly advised to delete the folder once the installation is complete, but if you know your way around the web server, you can also opt to rename the folder.

Add a Database Table Prefix

If you are using a CMS, blog or forum script, change the default database table prefix. For example in case of WordPress, the default database table prefix is “wp”. So if a brilliant hacker finds a way to extract data from a database, default table prefixes will leave you a sitting duck.

Password protect the Database

It is not a mandatory requirement in a lot of scripts to enter a database password and leaving them empty will still get the script installed. An empty password is a criminal waste of an additional layer of security. Database password do not slow down the website when querying the database, so there is absolutely no reason not to have one.

Secure Admin Email Address

Keep the admin email address used to login to your webserver, CMS, database etc. away from the public eye. Use a totally different address in your contact page. This will help from not being scammed by a phising email disguised to have been sent by your hosting company or domain registrar.

Avoid trojans,viruses & other hacking tools

Always run a security scan before downloading from the web, Use programs such as mcafee and avg to check for these and remember to always update them when theres a new version so its more safer.

Dont leave your computer running

Never go away from your computing for a reasonable amount of time as you might no see whats happening but hackers can still go on if you leave it running and then it will be to late for you. Also co workers may go on your computer and steal work, password, install a keylogger etc if left unattended in the office field.

Good luck with this and hope it has helped you out!