7 Benefits of Firewalls & Encryption for Website Security

Websites are experiencing more and more cyberattacks daily.

According to Sitelock, a website security company that conducted an analysis of 7 million websites, the average website experiences 94 attacks every day – and this number is only increasing.

Despite these threats, there are ways to protect your website from potential cyberattacks.

Implementing firewalls and encryption is a great way to protect your website from malicious attacks.

Firewalls and encryption can offer many benefits to your website security, such as protecting users’ confidential data, preventing unauthorized access, and blocking malware or viruses.

In addition, these tools also prevent bots from crawling your site – on average most websites are visited by bots approximately 2608 times a week.

This article will explore the 7 benefits of having firewalls and encryption for website security.

Benefit #1: Defense Against Malware

According to data, 560,000 new pieces of malware are detected every day.

a. What is Malware?

Malware, or malicious software, is a term used to describe any type of malicious code, program, or file designed to cause harm to a computer system.

This website attack spreads through downloading programs and files from the internet, email attachments, and infected websites.

It can be used for anything from stealing data and passwords to destroying important documents and corrupting hard drives.

Malware has also been known to use computers as part of larger networks for illegal activities such as sending out spam emails or participating in denial-of-service attacks.

b. How Does a Firewall Protect Against Malware?

A firewall is a vital tool for protecting against malware. It monitors data and network traffic that flows in and out of a system, allowing only authorized traffic to the protected computer or network.

This helps to block malicious software, including viruses and other malware, from entering your system.

A firewall acts as the first line of defense against unauthorized access to the protected computer or network.

It can analyze both incoming and outgoing communications from the outside world, identifying any suspicious activity before it reaches its destination.

And if the firewall detects any suspicious activity, it can be blocked immediately without compromising user data or allowing malicious code into the system.

The firewall also provides real-time protection against new threats not previously identified.

Benefit #2: Prevention of Unauthorized Access

Every minute, four companies fall victim to ransomware attacks.

a. What is Unauthorized Access?

Unauthorized access is when an individual or group gains access to a website, computer system, or network without proper authorization.

This type of website attack can be extremely damaging as it can lead to stolen data, financial losses, and privacy violations.

And is often the result of hackers exploiting a system’s security vulnerabilities.

b. How Does a Firewall & Encryption Prevent Unauthorized Access?

A firewall and encryption provide essential layers of protection that can help prevent unauthorized access to a website.

On one hand, firewalls monitor incoming and outgoing traffic on a network, allowing only authorized connections.

You can even configure the firewall to detect malicious or suspicious activities, such as unauthorized attempts to access the website or malware infections.

By blocking these threats, firewalls help keep hackers away from sensitive data.

But it doesn’t work alone.

Encryption is also essential when it comes to protecting data from unauthorized access.

It does this by scrambling data into an unreadable format so that even if an attacker intercepts it, they won’t be able to understand its information.

This prevents them from stealing sensitive information such as passwords or credit card numbers.

So, together, these two security measures offer powerful defense against unauthorized access and keep your website safe and secure for all users.

Benefit #3: Protection Against Denial of Service Attacks

According to Kaspersky’s quarterly report, nearly 57,116 DDoS attacks were reported.

a. What is a Denial of Service Attack?

A denial of service (DoS) attack is a type of cyberattack in which an attacker attempts to make a computer or network resource unavailable to its intended users.

This can be done by flooding the targeted system with traffic or requests, overloading it, and preventing it from being able to respond to legitimate requests.

The goal of a DoS attack is to disrupt the normal operation of a network or system, usually with the intention of making it unavailable to its intended users.

DoS attacks can be launched from a single device or a compromised network, known as a botnet.

These attacks can be difficult to defend against because they can come from many different sources and are often distributed in nature.

And it gets worse!

DoS attacks can also be difficult to trace because the traffic used to launch the attack is typically routed through multiple intermediaries.

These attacks can be launched against any computer or network resource, including websites, servers, and online services.

They can have serious consequences for businesses and organizations, disrupting operations and leading to financial losses.

Scary part?

It can be used to distract from other, more malicious activities being carried out by the attackers.

b. How Does a Firewall Protect Against Denial of Service Attacks?

A firewall can protect against DoS attacks on your website by limiting the number of incoming connections that are allowed to reach a network or device.

This can help to prevent an attacker from overwhelming the system with too many requests or connections.

Firewalls can also be configured to block traffic from known malicious sources or traffic that exhibits certain characteristics associated with DoS attacks.

For example, a firewall might be configured to block traffic that originates from many different IP addresses, as this is a common tactic used in DoS attacks.

In addition to these measures, firewalls can monitor network traffic and alert administrators to unusual activity that might indicate a DoS attack is underway.

This can help organizations quickly identify and respond to DoS attacks before they can cause significant damage.

Benefit #4: Enhanced Security of Sensitive Information

More than half of all U.S. companies have experienced phishing.

a. What is Sensitive Information?

Sensitive information is any type of data that must be protected from unauthorized access.

This includes financial and personal customer information, trade secrets, confidential business documents, and other confidential data.

Sensitive information must be kept secure to protect the privacy of customers and businesses.

And if you don’t, you run the risk of getting prosecuted!

b. How Does a Firewall Enhance Security For Sensitive Information?

By controlling incoming traffic, firewalls create an additional barrier between internal networks or systems and external sources.

And on the other hand, encryption uses algorithms to scramble data into unreadable codes that can only be decrypted with a special key or password known only by authorized personnel.

This ensures that any intercepted data cannot be understood by anyone other than the intended recipient.

Benefit #5: Protection Against Hackers

Globally, an estimated 30,000 websites are hacked daily.

A hacker is an individual who uses computer programming and software systems to gain access to a network or system without permission.

Hackers may use malicious code, such as viruses and worms, to gain access.

Once they have gained access, hackers can manipulate the data stored on the network or system by deleting or altering it without authorization.

They may also use their skills to steal confidential information or use the system to launch denial-of-service attacks (see point #3) against other networks.

By using firewalls and encryption technologies, organizations can protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

It blocks unauthorized access and ensures that any transmitted data is encrypted so that only authorized users can read it.

This ensures that sensitive information stays safe from malicious hackers and prevents them from damaging a company’s reputation or finances through cyber-attacks.

Benefit #6: Prevention of Unauthorized Data Exfiltration

On average, 5% of a company’s files are properly protected from cyber threats.

Data exfiltration is the unauthorized transfer of data from a computer system.

It often occurs when malicious actors use malware, phishing attacks, or brute force to access sensitive systems.

This attack often results in the theft of intellectual property, financial information, and other confidential records.

Your organizations must be aware of the risks associated with data exfiltration and take steps to protect your networks from potential threats.

That’s where firewalls and encryption come in.

Firewalls are an important part of a defense strategy as they act as an electronic barrier between internal networks and external sources, protecting against malicious activity.

Encryption is also key for website security as it prevents hackers from accessing sensitive data by scrambling it with a code that only authorized personnel can decipher.

As such, encryption can help prevent data exfiltration from taking place on your network.

Benefit #7: Increased Website Uptime

The average cost of downtime is $54,000 per hour. For small-to-medium-sized businesses, hourly costs are between $8,000 and $25,000.

a. What is Website Uptime?

Website uptime is the percentage of time a website is available and accessible to users.

It measures the reliability of a website and its hosting infrastructure.

If a website has high uptime, it is available to users most of the time. If a website has a low uptime, it is often unavailable to users.

This metric is crucial because it affects the user experience and the ability of users to access the website.

If a website is frequently unavailable, users may become frustrated and not return to the site in the future.

On the flip side, if a website is unavailable, it may not be able to fulfill its intended purpose, such as providing information or allowing users to make purchases.

b. How Does a Firewall Increase Website Uptime?

A firewall can help to increase website uptime by protecting the website and its hosting infrastructure from cyber attacks and other security threats.

By blocking unauthorized traffic and blocking or mitigating attacks, a firewall can help to prevent disruptions to the website and ensure that it remains available to users.

For example, suppose a website is targeted by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, a type of cyber attack that involves flooding the website with traffic to make it unavailable to users. In that case, a firewall can help to mitigate the attack and keep the website accessible.

NOTE: A firewall is just one aspect of a comprehensive security strategy.

In addition to using a firewall, regularly update and maintain the website, use strong passwords and implement other security measures to protect against cyber threats and increase website uptime.

Final Thoughts

When protecting your website, firewalls and encryption offer unparalleled security.

In today’s digital world, businesses must use these methods to secure their websites from malicious attacks.

Firewalls can be configured to detect and block suspicious traffic, while encryption ensures that data transferred between web servers and users remain confidential.

By deploying a combination of these two tools, businesses can rest assured that their website is safe from the latest threats.

In addition to the security benefits, firewalls and encryption provide performance gains.

Firewalls help reduce bandwidth usage by blocking unnecessary or malicious traffic, which can significantly improve visitor load times to your website.

Encryption also offers performance advantages as data is transferred between web servers and users are encrypted, which ultimately helps reduce latency issues caused by slow connection speeds.