Posted January 9, 2026  |     |   

Header Text - The 8 Cybersecurity Tips You Need To Keep Your Site Safe

Your website is more than a collection of pages. This is where you interact with customers, store information, process payments, and where your brand is represented. As a result, even small businesses are a constant target for cybercriminals. With threats constantly evolving, ignoring website security can lead to data theft, downtime, and loss of customer trust. The good news is that many attacks are preventable with the correct knowledge and preparation. This guide offers essential cybersecurity tips to help you identify various attacks early, respond fast if something goes wrong, and understand how your Web Hosting can protect your site.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Understanding common website threats helps you apply cybersecurity tips more effectively and reduce exposure to common threats.
  • Knowing the early warning signs of cyberattacks gives you time to act before they can steal data and cause lasting damage.
  • Following these eight top cybersecurity tips strengthens your website’s defenses, prevents data breaches, and downtime.
  • Hosted.com® provides the essential security features to keep your site and customers from cyberthreats.

Cybersecurity Risks & Threats

Cyberattacks come in many different forms, and hackers often combine them to get what they want. If left unprotected, your site can become a target, so knowing what you’re up against is the first step in preventing your website from being harmed.

Attackers usually attempt to steal sensitive data, such as login credentials, payment details, and personal information. This personal data can be used for fraud, identity theft, or sold on the dark web to other criminals. They can also make your site inaccessible to visitors or damage it beyond repair.

Below are those you are most likely to come across, and the risks they pose.

Strip Banner Text -Knowing the signs means you can act before damage is caused

Unauthorized Access

Without proper controls and permissions in place, hackers can gain access to administrative areas and user accounts. Weak passwords (particularly vulnerable to brute-force attacks) and good old-fashioned human error are the most common causes here.

Once they have access, they can view and manipulate files, steal databases, or inject harmful code; your site’s back-end becomes their playground.

Malware, Ransomware, & Injection Attacks

Malicious code injected into your site can infect your devices and your visitors. Viruses can redirect visitors to harmful sites that further infect their systems or cause yours to crash or do things it’s not supposed to, damaging your credibility and trust.

Ransomware can lock files and hold them hostage until you pay for their release, while cross-site scripting (XSS) inserts harmful scripts that execute in visitors’ browsers. SQL injection allows attackers to exploit queries and manipulate your database through insecure input fields, such as contact forms, which cause data breaches.

Phishing Scams

Phishing attacks are designed to trick people into giving away sensitive information using fake email addresses, text messages, or even phone calls. Scammers often impersonate real companies, financial services, or colleagues. Even worse is the growing use of deepfakes, where voices, images, and videos are manipulated; this makes these scams even more convincing.

Unsecured Public Networks

When you use public Wi-Fi networks or other unencrypted connections, it makes it easy for attackers to intercept sensitive information or hijack sessions, especially on mobile devices. They can perform a Man-in-the-Middle (MiTM) attack, which does what it says: placing them between data transfer points, in this case, a web server and their browser.

Traffic Attacks

Some attacks focus on disruption rather than data theft. Hackers will flood your site with fake traffic and requests, for example, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. This puts strain on your server and uses resources (CPU, RAM), which results in slow load times or complete crashes, and makes your site unavailable to legitimate visitors. In the long-term, it will drive customers away and affect conversions and search rankings.

These attacks can be relentless and difficult to stop without proper monitoring and filtering tools in place.

Outdated Software

Plugins and extensions add the necessary features and functionality to your website, but outdated or poorly coded ones are among the biggest vulnerabilities. Attackers exploit known gaps in these add-ons to gain access to your site.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cyberattacks

As AI and machine learning become integrated into our daily lives, so do AI cyberattacks. Hackers use intelligent AIs that learn as they go and adapt in real-time to scan for vulnerabilities faster than ever; they attack repeatedly until they find gaps.

Prompt injection and jailbreaking also allow them to manipulate AI models into ignoring their built-in safety protocols, revealing source prompts, sensitive data, and creating harmful content and code.

Thanks to dark generative AI manipulation and advanced deepfake technology, scammers and threat actors can create convincing phishing emails and content (including realistic voice cloning and fake video) to defraud companies and steal vast amounts of money.

Defending against these new cyber risks can be very difficult because they are constantly changing and getting smarter. Recent findings have also shown that20% of breaches involved shadow AI incidents, caused by employees uploading data to public AI models without proper oversight.

How to Tell Your Website is Not Secure

Even with all the correct security practices in place, you can still have a website that isn’t secure. Knowing how to spot the signs of attacks and whether your website has been hacked is the first of our cybersecurity tips. Forewarned is forearmed. Cyberattacks rarely occur without at least some red flags (although zero-day attacks don’t give much warning), allowing you to respond and mitigate them before irreversible damage is done.

Phishing Attempts

If you start receiving suspicious emails or spam with attachments and links, tread carefully, even if they seem legitimate, and especially if they ask for passwords or financial information.

They can often contain harmful files and code or attempt to redirect you to fake login pages. Phishing attacks were the cause of over 80% of reported cybersecurity incidents in 2025, according to aggregated security reports, so knowing how to spot them is one of the best cybersecurity tips you can use.

The most common warning signs include urgent, pushy language, spelling errors, redirects to unknown domains, and misspelled email addresses that resemble familiar ones.

Unusual Login Attempts or Activity

Repeated failed login attempts, logins from unfamiliar locations and/or public places, or suspicious activity, such as password reset requests from unknown users accessing sections they shouldn’t, can be signs of brute-force or credential-stuffing attacks to access your site.

These attacks can also run automatically and continue until they break through, often going unnoticed unless you check for them.

Unexplained Traffic Spikes

More site traffic isn’t always a good thing. An unexplained spike with no clear sources and no correlation with marketing or promotions could be automated bots trying to flood your site with requests and crash it, instead of actual visitors.

If your site slows down, your bounce rate rises, or your hosting plan’s resources reach their limits much faster than usual, the odds are that a DDoS or similar attack is underway.

Malware Alerts

This one speaks for itself. These attacks often begin quietly and escalate quickly. For example, you may see unexpected redirects on your pages, unfamiliar files on your server, or browser warnings telling potential visitors not to access your site. If they aren’t quarantined and removed, they can spread quickly.

Thankfully, secure web hosting with reliable malware detection tools will flag potential infections, giving you time to respond.

Top 8 Cybersecurity Tips to Keep Your Site Safe

You have probably already been targeted at some point. It’s unfortunately the way of the internet these days. Website security starts with assuming attempts to hack or bring it down are not an “if” but a “when”.

This sentiment is echoed by James Hughes, representative for cybersecurity firm Rubrik Test Labs, who told the South African Mail & Guardian on 13 January 2025, “Organizations need to operate as a ‘zero trust’. And what that means is, just operate as if you’ve been breached, which means all of your systems need to be operating as if they’ve been assumed breached.”

The following cybersecurity tips will help you prevent falling victim to them and protect your business and customers.

Strip Banner Text - Following cybersecurity best practices helps prevent falling victim to attacks

Good Password Practices

The top of your cybersecurity checklist should be strong passwords. Use unique passwords combining letters, numbers, and special characters. Use a different one for each account; never reuse the same one. Avoid using common words, names, or dates. Always change default passwords immediately.

Another cybersecurity tip is to use a password manager to generate and store your login details, making them much harder to guess and access. Limiting login attempts and permissions also reduces the risk of unauthorized access.

Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)

Multi and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) add an extra layer of security and access control by requiring a second form of verification, such as a text message to your phone number, an authentication app, or a biometric login using your fingerprint.

This makes it much more difficult for attackers and bots to access accounts. Even if login credentials are compromised, without the second factor, they won’t be able to gain access. Adding MFA to your hosting control panel, WordPress dashboard (if using), email, and other accounts, and adjusting privacy settings are essential cybersecurity best practices.

Don’t Open Unknown or Spam Emails

Email and human error are often the weakest links in the cybersecurity chain. As we’ve discussed, phishing attempts try to get you to open malicious attachments that can install harmful scripts or click links to seemingly official websites that can compromise your data privacy. Phishing attacks were the cause of over 80% of reported cybersecurity incidents in 2025, according to aggregated security reports.

Always verify the sender’s address, especially if they have strange, urgent requests. The best thing to do is delete them and block email spam without opening files or clicking links. If you accidentally do, never enter credentials or credit card information if redirected.

Software Updates

Outdated software is another common way your website can be exposed to threats. Attackers actively search for sites running older versions, so delaying or ignoring updates leaves holes that can be exploited, for example, the case of the WordPress Post SMTP plugin.

Developers release updates to fix these vulnerabilities, and regularly updating your core software, themes, and plugins to the latest versions helps ensure any security gaps are patched. Enable automatic updates and remove unused themes, plugins, or extensions. Fewer components mean fewer openings for hackers and malware.

Antivirus & Malware Detection

Antivirus and malware detection software continuously scan your website for malicious code, unauthorized changes, and suspicious behavior. These tools help identify infections and potential issues early so they can be isolated and removed before causing major damage.

Regular scans (ensure you set up alerts!) keep you ahead of hidden threats without needing manual file and database checks.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates

SSL certificates encrypt data transferred between your site’s server and visitors. This protects login credentials, contact forms, credit card numbers, etc., from being intercepted and read. Having an active SSL certificate adds the HTTPS prefix and the padlock icon to the browser address bar.

Most browsers flag sites that don’t use an HTTPS connection as unsafe, and warn visitors to stay away, so an SSL certificate is both a security and a trust signal. Search engines like Google also use it as a major factor when ranking sites.

Firewalls

Firewalls are your first line of defense for network security by filtering traffic and blocking suspicious requests before they reach a server, based on IP addresses and connection types.

Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) protect your site by blocking malicious requests and preventing SQL injection and XSS attempts. Together, they provide site and server-level security.

Ensure Everything is Backed up

One of the most important cybersecurity tips for data protection is regular backups. Backing up your files and databases provides a safety net in a worst-case scenario. If your site is compromised, corrupted, or taken down, backups allow you to restore it to a clean, safe version.

Another solid cybersecurity tip is to store copies of your backups in separate locations (cloud services or external hard drives) as well as on the web server. Regularly test restorations, so you ensure these backups will work when required.

Despite all the gloom and doom, in his keynote speech at the 2025 RSA Conference on April 29, John Fokker, Head of Threat Intelligence, Trellix Advanced Research Center, said, “So often we forget that these cyber criminals are real people. It’s tempting to anonymize threats … but really, they’re just bad people with regular names sitting behind a keyboard.”

Protect Your Website with Hosted.com®

Understanding the different threats that arise and the risks they pose, watching for signs of trouble, and using the above cybersecurity tips will help protect your online business. And remember: Secure websites start with secure web hosting.

The Hosted.com® Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting plans are designed to make security easier to manage while maintaining performance so you can focus on running your business.

Automatic updates ensure outdated CMS versions are kept current, while the Smart Update tool handles plugin updates as soon as they become available. Daily automated Acronis backups provide a fast, reliable recovery solution if your site experiences data loss, corruption, or a security incident.

DDoS protection and built-in firewalls filter and block malicious traffic before it can slow down your site or affect its availability. Every plan includes a free SSL certificate to encrypt data exchanges between your site and visitors, giving them peace of mind and keeping search engines happy.

Server-level security is strengthened through Monarx server security software, which uses intelligent, real-time monitoring, malware scanning, and intrusion detection to spot and neutralize a wide range of threats before they cause damage. At the same time, Imunify360 integration uses advanced machine learning to identify and block malicious activity and proactively detect, mitigate, and prevent breaches before they escalate.

We also include SpamExperts email security, which filters incoming and outgoing mail to block spam, phishing attempts, and harmful content.

Together, these features help you apply cybersecurity tips without installing or managing multiple security tools.

Secure Web Hosting means a secure site for your business. [Learn More]

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FAQS

What are the best cybersecurity tips for small websites?

Use strong passwords, enable multi-factor authentication, keep software updated, use malware scanning, and have secure hosting.

How often should I update my website’s security settings?

Update your security settings and software as soon as updates are released, and review security settings at least monthly.

Can SSL certificates prevent all attacks?

No. SSL certificates encrypt data in transit, preventing interception and MiTM attacks, but do not stop threats like malware, DDoS attacks, and phishing. They are one piece of a solid cybersecurity suite.

How do I know if my site has been hacked?

Signs your site has been hacked include unexpected content changes, alerts from monitoring tools, unusual traffic, or unauthorized access and activity.

Are backups necessary if I have strong security?

Yes. Even with strong security, backups are essential to recover your site if something slips through the cracks or is corrupted.

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