Whether you’re doing a bit of casual browsing, shopping through ecommerce websites, writing a social media post, or simply watching a YouTube video, you are leaving a digital footprint that is then followed by companies looking to monetise what you leave behind.

They do this by collecting your data and then selling it to the highest bidder, which is not only an issue ethically, but also puts you in danger of data misuse, offensive targeted ads, and even cyberattacks.

With this in mind, it’s important to be aware of how insecure your online presence really is.

Cyber Hygiene And Awareness

In this instance, knowledge is the best form of self-defence. Although there has been a lot of emphasis put on governments to formulate effective legislation, the problem of data brokers is not going away any time soon.

Right now, the data broker market is valued at around $350 million, and it’s growing at a CAGR of 7.96% to potentially reach $550 billion by 2028. But despite all of this, a lot of people are still not aware of how seemingly innocuous sites and third-parties are profiting from them.

If you want to know how to delete yourself from Google, how to stop spam, or how to remove your digital footprint, then there are tools available to do so and reduce the amount of value that brokers can extract from you.

Firewalls And Antivirus

With this knowledge, you can start putting in the steps to reclaim your personal data, but the fight for your internet safety is not over. We mentioned before that data brokers can put you in danger of cyberattacks, and with around 800,000 individuals being targeted by hackers every year, this is a key problem that also needs addressing if you want to secure your online presence.

The answer is relatively simple, too. Firewalls and antivirus software have long been some of the best tools to fight cyberattackers, but according to a recent survey, the usage of these tools is on the decline – from 78% in 2021 to 66% in 2023. Having this protection, however, can shield your computer and your network from hackers looking to breach it.

A VPN

VPNs can also be effective against both hackers and data brokers. Although they cannot hide your data completely, they do offer more protection from malicious third parties who are after your data by hiding your IP address, and securing your online browsing experience by encrypting it.

This is part of the reason why they have become so popular over the last few years. Earlier this year, it was reported that 1.5 billion people use VPNs, with a current market size of $44.6 billion that is expected to double by 2027.

2-Factor Authentication

These are the three best ways to defend your data and your overall internet safety, and each one of them should be put into practice if you care about your data being taken and your safe browsing being put at risk.

That being said, the emphasis isn’t just on you. Over the last few years, more sites and apps have been required to implement multi-factor authentication, essentially asking users to open two locked doors before they can access something. This is usually done with a password, and then a text sent to the smartphone – or biometrics using retinas, facial features, or fingerprints.

With businesses having to do more to protect you and your data, it’s important to jump on board and opt-in whenever you’re given the choice. With new technologies changing the world of computing, the cybersecurity threat is only going to get worse over the coming years, which means you should remain aware of new legislation and welcome efforts being made to keep you safe – while also doing everything you can to protect yourself from the off.

The post Securing Your Online Presence: Tips for a Stronger Digital Defense appeared first on WP Pluginsify.

From vulnerable plugins to weak passwords, let’s review how to ensure your WordPress site is cyber-secure.

Pick a secure host

One of the largest security factors for the safety of your WordPress site is the hosting provider. You shouldn’t go with the first option that pops up. Instead, spend a few hours researching.

You’ll run into ads promoting cheap hosts. But paying a low price leads to paying twice. Many people got their websites deleted by their hosts or breached because the host ignored cybersecurity.

Look for a top-notch company that performs daily malware scans. Good hosts also have 24/7 support, so any time you run into an issue, you can ask for help.

Use strong passwords

Here’s a surprising fact. People still use “123456’ and ‘password’ as their main passwords. What’s even worse, those two combinations are the most popular passwords in 2023.

Any kid or grandma can breach your WordPress site if you use such a weak password. So, you should change your passwords every six months and make sure they have 12+ characters, including special symbols, numbers, and uppercase and lowercase letters.

Even if your password is more complicated than ‘qwerty,’ it’s not secure unless it follows the rules above. Hackers perform brute force attacks. They have special software that can guess tens of thousands of letter combinations in seconds. If you have a long and hard password, the time it takes for them to breach it increases exponentially.

Update PHP

PHP is a crucial component of your site. Whenever a new update rolls around, install it immediately.

Many breaches happen because users don’t update their sites.

Old versions of this code make your site run slowly and negatively influence performance. So you risk SEO rankings, cybersecurity issues, and user satisfaction if you don’t make the update.

Use secure plugins

Plugins are essential if you want your website to look quirky and wow visitors. But that comes at a high price. More than half of all WordPress breaches happen because users install unsecure plugins.

So pick your plugins wisely. Check the popular and featured ones, and read the reviews. After installing, make sure they’re updated to the latest version. Lots of plugins suffer from exploits and bugs, and not updating them could lead to a breach. Don’t give hackers the gateway they want.

Use 2FA

Two-factor authentication is an extra step when logging in that sends you an SMS message or shows a disappearing code.

If a hacker guesses your username and password, they’d need your phone to log in. It’s a great way to strengthen your account, and it helps with file sharing. If you have the option to pick, always choose to receive codes through an authenticator app instead of SMS.

Add an SSL certification

Secure socket layer encryption is a must for every modern website. If you deal with payments and e-commerce, you must have this certificate.

If you don’t, hackers can perform a MITM attack to listen to the communication between visitors and your site. So when a user inserts their credit card data, hackers can save and abuse it.

The SSL certificate encrypts communication on the website. That way, even if a hacker intercepts the credit card data, they’ll see random characters that make no sense without a decryption key.

Limit login attempts

There’s one loophole that cyber attackers love to exploit on WordPress sites. And that’s login attempts. By default, you can try to log in as many times as you want in the admin panel. This is a great feature for people who easily forget their password. But hackers can abuse it to perform brute-force attacks without any penalty.

Limiting the number of times you can log in will stop hackers from trying to breach your admin passwords.

The post How to Ensure Your WordPress Site’s Cybersecurity appeared first on WP Pluginsify.