Some business owners, especially those who own startups or medium-sized businesses, believe that their websites are immune to cyber attacks. However, this is not true. Cyber attacks do not differentiate between large companies and startups. In fact, startup and medium-sized businesses may be more vulnerable to these attacks due to the lack of adequate security measures. This necessitates investing in website security measures to protect your business from the risks of losing important data such as customer data, business downtime, or having important files encrypted for ransom, among other things. Therefore, you must take proactive steps to protect your website and protect important data from these attacks.
In this article, we will guide you through the most important steps to protect your website from cyber attacks, so you can protect your data and ensure that your website is not exposed to any potential cyber threats.

Cyber Attacks and Their Types
Before learning how to protect your website from any cyber attacks, we must first understand the nature and types of these attacks. These attacks may target websites that are not subject to website security measures.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) Attacks: These attacks disrupt websites by flooding the server with fake requests. This causes it to stop working, making it difficult for real users to access it. This leads to business interruptions and impacts sales.
SQL Injection Attacks: These attacks exploit vulnerabilities in website applications that handle databases and inject commands into those vulnerabilities that allow them to access all data. This allows them to steal data completely, permanently delete it, or modify it.
Malware Attacks: These attacks take the form of malicious software installed on the website without your knowledge. These programs steal data, send fake emails, or redirect website visitors to other malicious websites.
Cross-site scripting (XSS) Attacks: This type of attack allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into website pages, enabling them to steal cookies and steal customer personal data.
Brute Force Attacks: These are cyber attacks that involve trying a series of passwords until they find the correct one, targeting login pages to control user accounts. Steps to Protect Your Website from Cyber Attacks
Update Software and Systems Regularly
Websites use a range of systems, such as the WordPress content management system, which requires regular updates to the latest version. These updates often contain fixes for security vulnerabilities that could compromise the site's security. You should also ensure that the plugins and templates that the website relies on are updated.

Don't forget to ensure that your hosting provider regularly updates server software (such as PHP and MySQL). This is because outdated software may contain security vulnerabilities, making it a potential target for cyber attacks.

Use Strong Passwords
One of the most important website security measures that contribute to data protection is relying on strong passwords. Strong passwords are characterized by using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. It is preferable that they be long to make them difficult to guess.

Avoid using any personal information, such as names or dates of birth. Don't use any password for more than one account. You can also use a password manager to store and securely store these passwords to ensure they are not vulnerable to potential cyber attacks, thus ensuring the protection of various data.

Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of website security by adding another request to the user after the password. This request may be a code sent via phone, fingerprint, or authentication app. This step prevents any cyberattacks that might compromise the password from accessing the account, as this layer is difficult to bypass.

Install an SSL/TLS Certificate
This certificate is a security protocol that encrypts the connection between the user's browser and the website's hosting server. This ensures that any data exchanged, such as registration information or electronic payment details, is safe from interception. This ensures the protection of important and sensitive data.

In addition to providing website security, this certificate also gives the site an SEO advantage and increases visitor confidence.

Web Application Firewall (WAF)
This barrier between your website and the internet, screening incoming and outgoing traffic and blocking common cyberattacks (such as SQL, XSS, and DDoS) before they reach the site. This type of website security measure can be implemented either through a cloud service like Cloudflare or installed at the server level.

Data Backup
Backup is the most important step in data protection. Therefore, it is important to ensure a regular, full backup of all website data. This backup should be kept in a separate location for use in the event of a cyberattack or data loss for any other reason.

Compliance with Data Protection Regulations
Countries impose regulations and policies requiring website owners to provide data protection, especially for customers, and how this data is handled through collection, processing, and storage. Failure to comply with these regulations exposes website owners to significant fines and results in a loss of customer trust.

Using Website Security Scanning Tools
There are many tools available, both free and paid, that scan a website for any security vulnerabilities or malware. They can also detect unusual activity, such as repeated incorrect login attempts from the same user.