Enhance your website’s security and functionality with a wide range of add-ons. Protect your online presence from cyberattacks and boost your website’s performance.

As Internet transactions and online activity have gone up in recent times, so have the number of cyberattacks. The Internet is now a bigger hunting ground for hackers, and attacks are coming left, right, and center. With this being the case, it’s crucial to fortify your website as well as you can. Add-ons are a perfect way to do this. These are mostly applications that install on your website. They are tools that increase your website’s functionality.

You can add anything to your website, and what’s more, there are several add-ons for your website. From cool wallpapers to more serious stuff like the security of your website, add-ons can perfectly complement the website infrastructure.

Add-ons and security

There are a lot of add-ons that can help secure your website. These are usually applications and software developed by leading cybersecurity companies. They help protect your website from viruses, malware, DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, and other cyber attacks.

Security isn’t limited to preventing attacks. You will also need a robust strategy for disaster recovery. Some add-ons will automatically create and maintain backups of your website so that you have a usable copy if something were to go wrong. Given that attacks on websites are increasing by the day, it’s good to ensure that you do everything possible to fortify your website.

Best add-ons for your website

1. Sitelock

Sitelock Security is a website protection tool that’s been specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses. it provides an array of specialized tools to keep your website secure. These include daily scanning, malware scanning, blacklist monitoring, malware removal, file-level scanning, and SQL injection protection.

its also provides a badge indicating that it is actively protecting your website. This badge is displayed prominently on your site, and it increases consumer trust in your brand. People are more comfortable buying and interacting with a security-certified website.

2. Codeguard

Codeguard Website Backup is an automatic website backup application. As mentioned earlier, website backups are crucial. If you were to lose your website’s data, you would need a working, usable copy of your site to restore it. Backups help you do that.

Codeguard, however, allows you to forget about the arduous task of creating a backup periodically, maintaining it, and checking if it works. It automates the entire backup process. You install it once, and you’re done.

When you install Codeguard, it’ll take a complete backup of your website. Once that’s done, it starts tracking your site daily. Whenever there’s a change, it records that change and implements it to the backup copy. The advantage of this method is that you always have the latest copy of your website available.

So, even if you lose your data, you won’t ever lose more than one day’s worth.

3. SSL certificate

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. The best way to know if a website is SSL certified is to look at the browser’s address bar. If you see a green padlock, it means that the site is SSL certified.

An SSL certificate ensures that your customers’ data, whatever it may be, is encrypted. When the viewer enters any information, it gets encrypted, and only the server can decrypt it. It ensures that MiM (Man in the Middle) attacks where they steal data in transit  are mitigated.

4. CDN (Content Delivery Network)

A Content Delivery Network is most useful for a website that has a global audience. For sites with low and local traffic, CDNs aren’t of much use.

A CDN is a collection of edge servers that store a cached copy of your website. These edge servers are deployed across different points on the globe. It ensures that users around the world get the best performance and speed from your website.

One of the limiting factors for a website’s speed is its physical distance from the user. So, a site that has a server in New York is faster in the US than it is India. It takes time for the data to travel from the server to the user, and that increases the load time.

Enabling a CDN on your website solves this problem. The edge server that is closest to the user will cater to the requests. This way, users across the globe get high load speeds.

5. SSD storage

SSDs or Solid State Drives are storage devices that are an alternative to the traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDD). HDDs have moving parts like rotating disks and a reader head in them. It limits their performance in terms of how fast they can read or write data. also introduces an element of wear and tear, given that there’s constant movement. that means they’re bound to fail sooner rather than later.

SSDs have no moving parts in them. The technology of storing data is fundamentally different. The result is that they are a lot faster than HDDs. They’re also more likely to outlast any HDD. SSDs are no longer the storage devices of tomorrow, but they’re in use today. More and more websites are now using SSD storage to enhance the speed of their websites. You should be considering it too.

6. DDoS protectors

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. It’s a type of cyberattack, and it floods a web server with thousands of requests from thousands of different computers. The server cannot keep up and crashes. It’s a very effective and belittling form of cyberattack. Unfortunately, it’s also the most frequently used.

DDoS-protection applications and tools prevent such attacks by maintaining a list of suspected IP addresses. They also detect attacks quickly and deny service to them. These applications also ensure that a detailed record of the attack itself is maintained so that it can be used to strengthen the network.

Conclusion

Add-ons are an effective way of making your website faster and more secure. What’s more, there are plenty of companies out there, meaning you’re spoiled for choice.

However, if you’re starting your website, your web hosting company might be able to help out as well. Webzworld offers all these add-ons with their hosting plans. While some are pre-integrated with your web hosting plan, you have to pay a fee to avail of the others. Security is becoming more and more critical with each passing day, and you must stay ahead of the curve. Web hosting add-ons from Webzworld allow you to fortify your website and hosting account. Contact us for more details on how to avail of these add-ons.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask us in the comments section below. Check out more articles that can help you secure, test and offer incredible Tech tips!

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The role of AI in cybersecurity has become increasingly prominent in recent years, but the question of trust in AI decision-making is a valid and important concern. Here are some key points to consider:

1. AI Advantages:

AI has the potential to greatly enhance cybersecurity by analyzing vast amounts of data, detecting patterns, and identifying anomalies or potential threats. It can automate tasks, respond in real-time, and augment human capabilities. AI algorithms can learn from past incidents and adapt to new threats, making them valuable tools in defending against cyber attacks.

2. Limitations and Risks:

While AI brings numerous benefits, it is not without limitations. AI systems rely on data for training, and if the training data is biased or incomplete, it may lead to erroneous decisions. Adversarial attacks can exploit vulnerabilities in AI algorithms. Moreover, AI systems can exhibit unintended behavior or make incorrect judgments if they encounter situations that differ significantly from the training data.

3. Human-AI Collaboration:

Trusting AI decision-making in cybersecurity is about striking a balance between automation and human oversight. Human experts should work in collaboration with AI systems, monitoring their outputs, interpreting results, and providing context. This human-AI partnership helps mitigate the risks associated with relying solely on AI decision-making and ensures human judgment is still a crucial part of the process.

4. Transparency and Explain ability:

To build trust in AI decision-making, it is important to focus on transparency and explain ability. AI systems should provide clear explanations of their decisions and enable human operators to understand the reasoning behind them. Transparent AI models and algorithms help build confidence in their reliability and enable cybersecurity professionals to verify and validate the outputs.

5. Continuous Learning and Improvement:

AI in cybersecurity should be a continuous learning process. Regular updates and improvements to AI systems are necessary to address emerging threats and adapt to evolving attack techniques. Feedback loops and human input are essential in training and fine-tuning AI models to ensure they align with changing cybersecurity requirements.

Ultimately, while AI can be a valuable asset in cybersecurity, it should be approached with caution and a critical mindset. Trust in AI decision-making can be built through transparency, explainability, human collaboration, and ongoing evaluation and improvement of AI systems. By leveraging the strengths of AI while maintaining human oversight, we can harness its potential to bolster cybersecurity defenses effectively.

If you need any help feel free to reach me.

Cybersecurity is a complex and ever-evolving subject. Just when you feel you may have understood a majority of common threats looming on the internet, something new comes up. Catfishing, for instance, may be a new term for many and you’re perhaps one of that regular internet and social media users who aren’t too familiar with catfishing and what exact damage catfish can cause.

In this blog, we get into the details of catfishing, the motives of online catfish, and most importantly, how you can protect yourself from them.

Catfishing involves a person using information and images to create a false identity for themselves on the internet. 

A catfish can sometimes steal another person’s full identity, including date of birth, photos, and geographical location, and pretend it’s their own. They then use the fake identity to trick others into doing business online or associating with them.

Catfishing is extremely common amongst dating app users as well. A catfish may pose as someone they’re not and trap others into romance scams.

It’s important to note that not all catfish are cybersecurity threats. Many people may catfish due to insecurities regarding who they are, mental instability, feelings of revenge, desire to experiment with sexual preferences, and more. While some catfish may not be malicious, many are fraudsters and perpetrators of cybersecurity scams against their targets.

How exactly do catfish scams work? Catfish trap unsuspecting targets to believe in their false identity and can extract vital, sensitive information in the process. Many can straight off ask for money and others may get precious credentials out of you. They may then use this sensitive information for monetary gains and in some extreme cases to unleash further sophisticated cyber-attacks or ransomware attacks against a business or organization you may be associated with.

While catfish are definitely out there in hoards and their intentions can range from impish to malicious, the only way to really deal with them is to know how to protect yourself from them. Below are ways to protect yourself and your personal information from potential catfish.

1. Do a background check

You can conduct a name search or an online background check with the help of services like Instant Checkmate. This can help reveal an individual’s social media profiles, news articles they could be mentioned in, or other digital content containing their name. After the initial search, you can confirm further personal details like their workplace, where they come from, their friends, etc. to make sure that who they claim to be matched with what the internet says about them.

2. Know the signs of being catfished

If the catfish’s description is thorough and detailed, it may be difficult to tell when you’re being catfished. Since the catfish’s profile is only created to target specific persons, they may not have a lot of followers or friends. A catfish may never want to voice or video call may avoid in-person meet-ups, and may even ask for money. These are all signs that you are being catfished and that you should put up your guard.

3. Never share your personal information

Oversharing personal information with strangers can be dangerous. If someone you’ve just met online begins asking for your personal data such as an address, additional contact information, or account details, or tries to push you to tell them things regarding your life or your work, they could be catfishing you.

If they ask you for a password on the pretext of an emergency, that’s a really major warning sign that something is up. Asking for personal data is another big red flag because that behavior isn’t normal, and it should raise cause for alarm.

4. Be suspicious of those you don’t know

Be careful when you receive friend requests, correspondence, or message requests from people you aren’t familiar with. Treat online conversations the same as real-life ones. While it’s okay to interact with new people and make more friends, you should be cautious and look out for catfishing signs discussed above.

5. Ask questions that require specific knowledge

If you suspect that someone is catfishing, ask them questions that only people with their reported background would know. You can ask about malls and restaurants from where they claim to come from or something particular about what they do. If they’re hesitant or try to avoid your questions, be wary of them.

6. Use reverse image search to identify fake profile photos

Social media is full of fake images and profiles. If you’re suspicious of the person you’re chatting with online, consider using a reverse image search to identify fake images. This tool also allows you to confirm a photo’s authenticity by looking at similar images and the original version of the photo.

Cyber Security Awareness amongst employees has emerged as one of the primary concerns that a business must focus on in the modern, digital age. Imparting basic skills needed for cyber security to employees has often been the critical differentiator between companies that get compromised and those that don’t. 

The 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack is a case in point – the global cybercrime “epidemic” managed to attack those businesses that had not made necessary updates to their Windows systems. 

Had the global cybersecurity awareness levels been higher and if more organizations across the world were following better cyber security practices, perhaps the number of attacks and the damage they’re able to cause today would be much lesser. 

In this blog, we highlight some basic cyber security best practices that businesses should follow to protect themselves from cybercrime, as well as to protect the data of their customers, clients, and partners. This list is just indicative and only scratches the surface in terms of what you can do to ensure greater cyber resilience for your business. 

7 Cyber Security Best Practices To Follow

1. Review Encryption Software: It is important to review your current encryption processes, and keep up to date with the latest technology. With cyber criminals getting more advanced every day and the number of people trying to steal information for monetary gains growing, encryption software and ensure that it is up to scratch. 

2. Review Vendor Security: It is important to review the third-party security because your data gets transfer between your company and theirs. Your company can be as secure as you want it to be, but if the people who receive and handle your data do not have the same level of security

3. Invest in the IT Team: As a company, your IT team is your first line of both defense and offense. The people who make up your IT team need to be trained and updated with the latest information on what to look out for in terms of cyber-attacks and potential issues.understanding their concerns, and investing in the best possible resources for them are all great ideas if you want to ensure that you have a good cybersecurity posture.

4. Understand your Backups: Check and understand how you backup your data on a regular basis. Backing up your data is an important operation, crucial to business functioning; but it is also one of the key components of a ransomware readiness checklist. your backup processes are foolproof, that’s half the battle won against ransomware attackers as they won’t be able to block your access to your own data.  

5. Review Authentication Processes: The way that authentication occurs in a business should always be record, and the way that employees use certain systems should have checks and balances to ensure that there is no use in bad faith. Authentication processes should be as watertight as possible, and it is important to have a record of who has what access within a business. Privileg access users should be monitored and trained with a greater degree of diligence. 

6. Continue emphasizing strong passwords: As a security-focused business, you’ve probably already highlighted the importance of using strong passwords for your staff. But this is one aspect of good cybersecurity hygiene that needs continuous reiteration.

Often one leaked password is all it has taken for cyber criminals to unleash large-scale attacks on massive organizations. It should also be make mandatory for everyone to use multi-factor authentication to log in to their systems or corporate accounts. This adds another very important layer of security.  

7. Staff Training: Finally, cybersecurity training is key not just for general employees, but also for IT teams and everyone in the management. It is important to make sure that your entire company is well trained in cyber security awareness and cyber incident response training.

In terms of cybersecurity awareness training, every employee must understand their individual roles and responsibilities when it comes to cyber security. They must understand the importance of not opening malicious links, suspicious emails, or pop-ups that look untrustworthy. These and other phishing tactics lead to most identity thefts and ransomware attacks.

The digital transformation of businesses around the world has accelerated significantly in recent years. With the spread of digitalization, there is a very high increase in the number of threats in businesses due to the deficiencies in traditional network security technology. This indicates that stronger measures are needed for data secure and network protection.

With the emergence of Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) as one of these measures, network and security professionals aim to adapt to the distributed nature of users and data. According to a recent global survey, 19 percent of respondents are planning to deploy SASE in the next twelve months to obtain high security.  

SASE stands out as a security approach combined with cloud services that distribute traffic faster than traditional network services. Before deploying SASE in your business, you should understand SASE capabilities. To use SASE consistently and implement it strategically, it would be beneficial to get more information about SASE.

What Is Secure Access Service Edge?

Expected to be an essential part of enterprise network systems, SASE is an advanced network solution that offers superior performance and the highest security at an affordable cost. SASE also refers to the process of combining SD-WAN with VPN and in this way, they both run as a cloud service at the source.

The unified SASE platform aims to:  

• Reduce complexity and costs.
• Prevent data loss wherever data is used, from the edge to the cloud.
• Meet the instant and uninterrupted service demands of its customers.
• Protect employees from advanced threats with cloud-based SASE wherever they are.

SASE runs organizations’ network and security functions closer to the endpoints and puts the cloud at the center of the network with cloud-built security tools. At the heart of the SASE platform, there is a data protection solution that gives you unmatched control over many aspects of your data and ensures uniform connectivity and protection from anywhere so you can work from anywhere.

SASE provides a distributed workforce with secure remote access to cloud resources. It’s easy to gain quickness, mobility, reduced complexity, and expense reduction by applying SASE to your business. 

What Are the Main Components of SASE?

SASE combines multiple solutions and five key components at the center of its capabilities. These components are as follows:

Secure Web Gateways | SWGs:

Secure Web Gateways protect against malicious web-based software on SASE networks. Filters unwanted malware from network traffic and enforces corporate policy compliance. In addition, web-based applications are also regularly monitored by SWG solutions.

Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA):

Zero Trust Network Access offers secure remote access to any data or application. Unlike standard VPN solutions, it makes it possible to assign privileges and authorizations to users and devices. It works with the motto “Never trust, always verify”.  

ZTNA maximizes security by subjecting devices and users accessing the network to authentication processes based on location, identity, and other criteria through advanced authentication protocols that can be replicated.

Cloud-Native Architecture:

Cloud-Native Architecture works with WAN architecture with a combination of network security functions. It offers extensive scalability and flexibility. Cloud-based services can be easily tailored to user and company needs and requirements. You can build a secure infrastructure for location, mobile devices, edge computing solutions, IoT technologies, cloud data centers, and more.

Firewall as a Service:

Firewall as a Service acts as a comprehensive intrusion prevention system for online businesses much more efficiently than a physical firewall. FWaaS can be adapted to any network and need thanks to cloud technologies.

Data Loss Protection:

Data Loss Protection can be defined as a data loss protection engine integrated into the SASE architecture. DLP makes it easy to track by providing visibility into data in use, in motion, and at rest. It can protect confidential data and important activities. This protection may require encryption. It can send network security alerts to minimize the overall risk of any security and data breach.