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How to secure your website … and why you should

As 2018 drws to an end, around 82% of web pages are served over secure https protocol.

If your website is in the other 18%, you really need to understand why and how to secure your website.

The official Google Webmasters blog includes a series of videos for websters, and the Novermber 2018 video was dedicated to HTTPS migrations, and is well worth a watch.

The video covers:
  • What HTTPS encryption is, and why it is important to protect your visitors and yourself,
  • How HTTPS enables a more modern web,
  • What are the usual complaints about HTTPS, and are they still true today?
    • “But HTTPS certificates cost so much money!”
    • “But switching to HTTPS will destroy my SEO!”
    • “But “mixed content” is such a headache!”
    • “But my ad revenue will get destroyed!”
    • “But HTTPS is sooooo sloooow!”
  • Some practical advice to run the migration.

Watch the video on YouTube here

Your website … and the dreaded GDPR ;-)

You may be fully aware of the new EU regulation, and confident that you’ll be compliant by 25th May, in which case that’s great! On the other hand, like thousands of small businesses, charities and organisations in the UK, you may not be quite there yet (or even thought about it).

Whilst we can’t offer legal advice, we can help you to meet the GDPR requirements around your website, and point you towards some really helpful and easy-to-read resources.

For all our own hosting clients, we are happy to update/replace your Privacy Policy and/or Cookies Policy, and make minor changes to your copy free of charge … if you’ve not yet done this, then please get in touch today.
The GDPR requirements mean that most website owners will need to make some changes (such as replace their Privacy Notice, update some copy and possibly revise their newsletter sign-up process) … and anything more significant we will always advise clients of any costs in advance.

If you don’t have GDPR-compliant polices and would like this, along with plain-English, actionable legal advice, please see the ‘GDPR Pack’ information below.

Remember: your organisation is responsible for ensuring its own legal compliance, so it’s up to you decide what needs changing and to provide the relevant information (copy, policy etc). Whilst IJL Web Solutions can’t provide legal advice, we do highly recommend the GDPR Pack below.

GDPR Compliance Pack

Many trade organisations are providing practical advice to those in their industry, but there are many small businesses, charities and organisations who still don’t know where to turn for help.
We can than thoroughly recommend this GDPR Pack, which includes pretty-much everything you’ll need (the checklist, suggested email re-subscription wording, Privacy Policy, cookie policy, etc).

The pack contains instant access to:

  • Email for refreshing consent
  • GDPR compliant privacy policy
  • GDPR checklist inc processing checklist
  • Data processing inventory
  • Legitimate Interests Assessment form
  • Data transfer checklist
  • Marketing checklist
  • Records retention policy
  • DPO checklist
  • Employer checklist
  • Employee privacy statement
  • Employee subject access request form
  • Response to employee subject access request
  • Processor agreement
  • Subject access record
  • Data breach record
  • Data breach checklist
  • DPIA form

The pack costs £197 via this link, and gives you instant access.

These are written by Suzanne Dibble, who is a multi-award winning business lawyer who consults with multi-nationals on data protection law and the upcoming GDPR. She is one of the few lawyers who really understands small business owners and puts law and regulation in the context of your business. There has been a lot of scaremongering and hype about GDPR (with the headline fines of €20m) and Suzanne brings a practical, balanced approach.

Suzanne has also recorded a number of ‘plain English’ Facebook videos around GDPR compliance which you can see

Free GDPR Guidance Videos

This page here lists all of Suzanne’s GDPR videos so feel free to browse them. They include many relevant topics, such as:

 

This is the information IJL Web Solutions are using to ensure we meet the compliance requirements of GDPR, and we can personally highly recommend them.

We truly hopefully this information has helped you to relax and worry a little less about GDPR compliance!

 

Please note: the GDPR Pack link is an affiliate link from which we earn a small fee, you can of course order direct if you wish, but the cost/support/product is exactly the same to you.

Support available whenever you need it – 24/7

Do you have access to 24/7 support, 365 days a year?

Easy access to a knowledgable help service, who talk in plain English?

IJL Web Solutions provide personal support, whenever it’s needed

You need the reassurance that you can access technical support whenever you may need it, at IJL Web Solutions provide just that for all our hosting customers.

Help and support

As well as our front end support which our clients can contact directly and which runs seven days a week, we also have direct access to a backend has a team of around 15 server admins with senior server admins specialising in cPanel, Linux, MySQL and security. The server team is online 24/7/365 and we also use a range of comprehensive server monitoring software to ensure the smooth running of all servers at all times.

So for detailed technical support, or just some advice around running your website, you can be rest assured that we are here to help you, whenever you may need us.

How can we support you today?

 

Free SSL/HTTPS encryption for every website we host

Have you heard talk about SSL certificates and how Google are penalising websites which aren’t secure?

Secure green SSL padlock icon shown by Chrome
The ‘secure’ green padlock icon, as shown when using the Chrome browser

Have you noticed the green padlock icon on some websites and not on others?

We offer free SSL encyrption with our shared hosting packages

Back in 2016 Google Chrome announced that it will be marking on-HTTPS websites as ‘insecure’. Anyone using the Chrome browser visiting a website which does not have an SSL certificate will see a red X over the padlock symbol, indicating that the site is not secure.

Green SSL 'secure' padlock in the Firefox browser
The green ‘secure connection’ padlock, as shown when using the Firefox browser

Firefox has also floowed suite and now willshow a green ‘secure’ padlock simbol only if the website has encryption in place and is delivering content via https

With search engines and browsers now pushing for SSL/HTTPS on all websites, all website ownersshould be updating existing sites and ensuring all new sites are built with SSL/HTTPS in place.

A major stumbling block so far has been the cost of buying SSLs and the limitations of installing SSLs on shared IPs. However, we are offering a free solution to all our shred hosting ciustomers , with a free SSL certificate issued via “Let’s Encrypt”.

Enable https for your website or to find out more

Getting started with Let’s Encrypt

Using free Let’s Encrypt SSLs could not be easier:

  1. Sign up to our Web Hosting
  2. Configure your site to use SSL/HTTPS (we can help)
  3. DONE! You are now running over SSL/HTTPS

read the full article …

WordPress Backups are critical – so who does yours?

Cloud WordPress backupsIf your WordPress site is compromised or your server fails, having access to a recent WordPress backups can make your life considerably easier. The fastest way to recover from a hacked website is to restore the latest version of the site that existed prior to the hack. You will still need to close the security hole the attacker used to compromise your site after your site is back up and running, but at least you’ll have your site back to working order in hours or even minutes.

 

How often should you back up your site?

The frequency with which you should back up your WordPress site should be determined primarily by how often your content changes. Sites that change infrequently may be able to get by with weekly WordPress backups. Sites with constant updates, like new users, blog posts and comments may need to be backed up hourly. Many websites will be somewhere in between.

 

How should I manage my WordPress backups?

The easiest way to manage your WordPress backups is via a plugin that meets your needs. There are a wide variety of options available, and depending on the cost and settings, some can perform regular automated backups. Backup location is also vital to consider – most solutions allow you to store your back-up in various locations, but it is crucial that this is carefully considered. Backing up up to a folder where your website is can be futile if your server crashes, and backing up to your laptop is pointless if your hard-drive fails. Its critical that backups are stored in a location separate physically and geographically from your website.

Contact us about our WordPress plugins/security service

 

read the full article …

Free SSL/HTTPS solution to be implemented!

SSL/HTTPS encryption for all your domains

IJL Web Solutions will be rolling out offering free SSL Certificates from Let’s Encrypt!

The SSLs will be available to all our clients following the planned server upgrades in January 2017.

Boost SEO & Trust with HTTPS

SSLs used to be a niche product, confined mainly to eCommerce sites with checkouts taking card details. But over the past years, SSL/HTTPS has become desirable for websites of all types due to changes in SEO rankings and web browsers.

In 2014, Google announced that using SSL/HTTPS will give you your website a ranking boost in its Google SEO ranking. The weighting of SSL/HTTPS is assumed to be fairly light weight for now, but likely to increase in significance.

And in 2016 Google Chrome announced that it will start marking HTTP sites as insecure in future browser updates. This will mean that anyone using the Chrome browser visiting sites running over HTTP will see a red X over the padlock symbol, indicating that the site is not secure.

With search engines and browsers now pushing for SSL/HTTPS on all websites, it’s time for website owners to start migrating existing sites and to ensure new sites are built with SSL/HTTPS in place.

read the full article …

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