Website owners, regardless of the size of their site, need to prioritize web content security. Input errors, user permissions, data validation, and phishing scams are all potential risks. Even small websites can be targeted by hackers, so security measures should always be taken. Limiting user permissions and controlling incoming/outgoing information can help. Sensitive information should not be shared via email, and programmers should check for any sensitive information in the code.
Web content security is a big deal for both large websites with complex content systems and databases, and small websites with a simple HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) interface. One of the first big things a website owner needs to understand is that even if the website is small and doesn’t contain any valuable information, it can still be targeted by hackers. The site owner should also check the website for input errors, such as those that allow users to write HTML or other code in the input areas. Other areas to check to ensure web content security are user permission settings and data validation. You should also understand phishing scams and refrain from putting sensitive information in the coding.
Many website owners, both large and small, typically believe that they have a website that won’t be hacked or isn’t worth hacking. This is probably true for most website owners, especially those who own small websites and only post information about everyday life. Most hackers attack large websites because they have valuable information, but others attack small websites just for fun. Regardless of the size of the website, it could be hacked, so security should always be on the owner’s mind.
Many websites have an area for guests to enter data, such as a comments section. If a website has no limits on the values that can be entered or allows programming languages to be executed from these inputs, a virus can easily be inserted into the input. For example, if the comments section allows users to run JavaScript®, a hacker can insert a script to steal information about the website’s cookies. To protect the security of web content, the administrator must set inputs to prevent activation of programming languages.
On a website where many users work at the same time, all user permissions should be minimized. If a user just needs to read some information from a database, the administrator should only allow this privilege and nothing else. Authentication and validation programs help with security by controlling all incoming and outgoing information. While most workers don’t steal information, they work as close to the website as possible and can easily endanger the security of web content.
Phishing scams can be used to access a website and rewrite or delete all web content. In a phishing scam, a hacker will send an email, posing as a business such as a domain hosting company . The email will say that the host needs sensitive information, such as the webmaster’s administrative password. Administrators should never provide sensitive information in an email, as this will almost certainly lead to web content security issues.
In many programming languages there is a tag that allows the programmer to write a note. These notes are usually something small, like detailing what a function does, but other notes are dangerous. Some new programmers may leave a password in the code, which can be read by anyone. Administrators and programmers should check for sensitive information like this and should immediately remove it from the code.
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