As a website owner, site security must be a top priority for you. Cyberattacks, data breaches, and potential downtime are all threats that can significantly impact your business. Performing a website security check is essential for making sure that your website isn’t vulnerable in the worst ways, and ultimately, maintaining user trust and protecting sensitive data.
👀 In this article, we explain how you can check the security of your website and what elements to look out for. We also provide a list of online website security checker tools. Let’s get started!
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At first glance, it can seem complicated! However, there are a number of website security check tools that you can find online (sometimes for free) and that help you identify vulnerabilities, malware, and SSL certificate issues. It can give you a detailed head start in investigating your website’s security.
Additionally, ensure that you have implemented best practices for website security, such as keeping software and plugins updated, using strong passwords, enabling multifactor authentication, and maintaining regular backups.
You can check your website security for free by using various online tools and services that scan your site for vulnerabilities, malware, and SSL certificate issues.
Some of these free tools include Sucuri, SiteCheck (offers a comprehensive report), Qualys SSL Server Test (specifically for SSL configuration), and Site Guarding (a malware scanner).
Doing this, you can get basic reports without additional costs, and eventually investigate further in case of issues.
💡 Note: When choosing free tools, be sure to research carefully and choose reputable services. Bad actors can sometimes create fake free tools and use these to compromise your site’s security. If you’re not sure about using free tools but are on a budget, using the “lite” or trial version of a reputable paid tool can also be a good alternative.
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To ensure your website’s security, it’s essential to monitor and evaluate, amongst others, the following elements:
🚨 SSL Certificates: Ensure your site has a valid SSL certificate to establish a secure connection between users and your website, protecting data transmission and providing authentication.
💡 Pro tip: a short guide on SSL vs HTTPS for securing your web connection!
🚨 Malware and Vulnerability Scanning: Regularly scan your website for malware and vulnerabilities that could expose sensitive data or allow unauthorized access.
🚨 Updates and Patches: Keep your website’s software, plugins, and themes up-to-date to minimize security risks associated with outdated components.
🚨 Strong Passwords and Authentication: Implement strong password policies and use multifactor authentication (MFA) to enhance account security and prevent unauthorized access.
🚨 Regular Backups: Maintain regular backups of your website’s data to facilitate recovery in case of a security breach or other incidents.
Now, let’s dive into the top 5 website security check tools every website owner should know.
Sucuri SiteCheck is one of the most popular free website security check tool that scans your site for malware, vulnerabilities, and SSL certificate issues.
The free version provides a comprehensive scan: you have to enter your URL like and the scanner will check for known malware, viruses, blacklisting status, website errors, out-of-date software, and malicious code.
The paid plans offer additional features such as ongoing scans, automated malware and hack removal, WAF (Website Application Firewall), and more.
Qualys is a provider of information security and compliance cloud solutions.
SSL Labs by Qualys has a free online SSL server test that performs a deep analysis of the configuration of any SSL web server. It gives a grade on performance
The tool provides an in-depth analysis of your SSL certificate, DNS, protocol support, identifying any vulnerabilities or misconfigurations that could compromise your site’s security.
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Detectify is a professional solution founded in Stockholm for comprehensive coverage of your attack surface that allow you to find exploitable vulnerabilities and spot risks. It can monitor large enterprise products and prevent hackers from accessing your organization’s most sensitive data.
Detectify offers a 14-day free trial, allowing you to test its features before committing to a paid plan.
SiteGuarding is a powerful tool that has different free scanners that could be interesting for you. The malware scanner detects malware like MySQL and JavaScript injections, hidden iFrames, PHP mailers, phishing, redirects, defacements… There is also a free website spam scanner.
This company also has paid plans with advanced features for removal, protection and prevention.
Intruder is a professional cloud-based online vulnerability scanner that help organizations reduce their cyberattack exposure by providing cybersecurity. It can scan your entire infrastructure: internal, external, cloud, web application and API.
You can get a 2-week free trial to try Pro features, including automatic threat scans, detection of active/unresponsive systems and weaknesses.
We hope you find the right tool for keeping your business safe!
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