Malware attacks surged 385% since 2020 [Report: Helpnetsecurity]. Therefore, securing the website from various cyberattacks, such as ransomware, malware, and other malicious activities, can be a challenging and time-consuming task. You need to have a cPanel email hosting plan where top-notch security is installed.

Fortunately, there are several ways to protect the website from the threat of malware and other cybersecurity issues. Many React website hosting providers enable customers to configure a range of site security settings using the popular Linux control dashboard cPanel.

In this post, we will explore how cPanel tools can improve website security. Let’s get started.

Ways to Protect Your Website With cPanel

1. Update cPanel Regularly

Outdated website elements lead to serious vulnerabilities. This is also true for cPanel. If it isn’t up-to-date, you could be leaving your site open to attacks and breaches. Moreover, you could be missing out on security features by using an outdated version. Updates are typically applied to fix bugs, add features, and improve security for cPanel.

The good thing is that keeping cPanel updated should be easy. Depending on your hosting package, you may not need to manually update cPanel, as system administrators may handle this task for you.

2. Choose Strong Passwords and Regularly Update Them

Ensuring all website entry points are password-protected. It is the need of the hour. Without secured passwords in place, professional cybercriminals easily infiltrate the website and install malware.

It is easier to reset the password with cPanel. It comes with a password generator to help protect websites using strong credentials. To keep your site as safe as possible, it’s recommended that you change all passwords regularly. Configuring them around once a month is usually sufficient.

3. Password Protect Your Vulnerable Directories

Although you have a strong password for your cPanel account, it is equally essential to password-protect your vulnerable directories. Doing this in cPanel enables you to limit access to certain content for specific users.

After you set password protection on a directory, your website will require visitors to enter a username and password in their web browsers before they can visit it. This keeps sensitive content secure from unauthorized access.

4. Enable cPHulk Brute-Force Protection

cPHulk is another helpful service offered by cPanel to protect your server from brute force attacks. Brute force attacks occur when an attacker uses an automated system to guess your username and password by attempting hundreds or thousands of different combinations quickly.

Using cPHulk through cPanel will allow you to block the IP address or accounts showing suspicious behavior automatically. By blocking these attackers, you can prevent further attempts to log in. This way, you do not need to risk the attacker gaining access to your server and thus installing malware on your site.

5. Protect Against Hotlinking

Hotlinking is also called “direct linking.” It refers to when another website links directly to content hosted on our website, such as image files. When visitors to your website load pages, your website serves the image files they see. It enables other websites to effectively steal bandwidth and use it to display images to visitors.

Of course, this is something that you may want to avoid doing. However, you can easily avoid this situation. All you need to do is set up hotlink protection through cPanel. Here is how you can do this.

6. Utilize Patchman by SITELOCK

Patchman is a valuable security service that prevents the website from being hacked. Once installed, it automatically scans websites for malware. Any potential threats were detected immediately, and you were notified. If you don’t resolve the issue within 24 hours, Patchman quarantines the affected files to protect the website.

Along with detecting vulnerabilities, Patchman can identify patches for Joomla, Drupal, or WordPress installations that require a patch. And it will notify you by email and patch it for you if you do make corrections yourself within a week.

Summing Up

Securing your website is not limited to just one responsibility but rather an ongoing obligation. cPanel has everything you need to help ensure your site is protected from common attacks. You can utilize the tools to manage your SSL certificates and firewalls, and even review suspicious activity on your site, and that is just scratching the surface. cPanel makes it easy to aid security so that anyone, regardless of their technical background, can secure their site.

Suppose you are diligent in using cPanel’s security tools and keeping your applications up to date. In that case, you can prevent security risks and ensure your website remains safe, trusted, and available for your visitors. If you are securing your site, knowing that your data is protected will instill confidence in your users, which is a key item for future variation and growth.