Website Security Checklist for Small Businesses

What to assess Start with an inventory: domain registrar, hosting, CMS, plugins, administrator accounts, and third-party forms. Remove accounts no longer needed and turn on multifactor authentication where supported.

How to apply it Keep the operating system, CMS, themes, plugins, and libraries current. Prioritize updates with known exploitation and test changes before applying them to a production site.

Operational considerations Use HTTPS, least-privilege access, secure backups kept separately from the live server, and a restore test. Check forms and uploads for abuse and collect only data you need.

Next step Review access logs and set an owner for alerts. A checklist reduces common risks, but an authorized assessment is useful for applications with payments or sensitive data.