Data security is probably the most prominent part of overall cybersecurity, considering that most hacking incidents happen with the purpose of stealing confidential and valuable personal and business data.

Business owners must take precautions to avoid data breaches associated with website maintenance practices. However, if your hosting provider doesn’t follow the necessary data security practices, the likelihood of your critical data being compromised is high, even if you do everything right. So, it is very important to work with a reliable hosting provider.

In this article, we’ll touch on what makes a hosting company trustworthy in terms of security.

Why is data security important?

The term data security is associated with practices for safe storing, collecting, and transmitting of data, and strategies for resisting potential threats. Data security as a whole refers to organizations implementing said practices.

Every business or organization deals with sensitive data in one way or another. This includes but is not limited to business documentation, financial information, and personal data of users or customers.

Now, organizations are legally obliged to keep the personal information of users or customers from being used by third parties.

In different countries different regulations are applied: in the US it’s CCPA, in the EU it’s GDRP, and so on. This means that if those collecting personal information allow it to leak or get compromised, they will face legal consequences. In such instances, the reputation of the business or organization is bound to suffer.

So, the question of why data security is important is more rhetorical than anything. Compliance with data security standards is a must, rather than an option.
Let’s look at how you can recognize hosting providers that recognize the importance of data security.

How to identify a hosting provider that has a high level of data security?

Data security practices are commonly known and can be easily implemented. The foundational data security practices include using:

Encryption algorithms

Encryption encodes data and puts somewhat of a lock on data, which can be further accessed with a key. Encryption algorithms make infromation unreadable for third parties unless, of course, one has decryption permission.

The most basic and widespread method of encryption is SSL — a protocol, which encrypts data transferred through a network. Websites that use SSL will have “https” instead of an insecure “http” protocol in their URL.

In most cases, SSL certificates can be obtained for free. So, if a hosting provider doesn’t have an encryption option for your website, it’s better to continue the search for a hosting solution.

Web application firewall

A web application firewall also known as WAF works differently from a hardware firewall. It operates more like a reverse proxy, a filter that traffic must come through before it reaches the server. So, WAF prevents any threats coming from web activity by analyzing and blocking suspicious traffic.

WAF can block cross-site forgeries (CSF), malicious SQL strings, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other threats. Some web application firewalls offer analytics on blocked attacks to show vulnerabilities to the host.

DDoS protection

Efficient DDoS protection is probably one of the most challenging aspects of data security. At the core of DDoS attacks lies a strategy of sending the traffic from multiple IP addresses, so that the web host is overwhelmed but couldn’t block the traffic, which ultimately would affect the customers. To determine this malicious traffic one would need specific monitoring tools and software that can mitigate the attempt.

If a web hosting provider does not utilize and offer DDoS protection, chances are that sooner or later, the data security will be compromised.

Those are just examples of what the hosting provider should have and state that they use on their website. These practices prevent hacking of the overall infrastructure, however, there are security practices that are focused on data specifically.

Data masking

Data masking implies that data is hidden by incorporating letters and numbers into its structure. It is a separate form of encryption that’s aimed to confuse the hacker and make the data unreadable. Like with the general encryption technique, data can be decrypted only with a key that the person who masked the data has.

Erasing the data

Erasing the data focuses on deleting data that’s no longer being used. This way there’s more control over the data, which reduces the likelihood of it being compromised.

Data backups

Backing up data is crucial for its protection in cases of security threats. This way an organization is sure that it can recover it even if it gets leaked.

Conclusion

Efficient data security practices can help businesses that implement them earn a prominent place in the market. There are very simple methods organizations can implement to safeguard their data, from using DDoS protection to using data masking principles.

The truth is that all data should be sufficiently protected for the sake of building a solid reputation and the overall success of the business.

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