Astra Security Suite Review | Ultimate Web Security Tool
If your website contains any personal information at all, or is dynamic in any way, then you need to make sure that it is secure. Hackers and crackers do make targeted attempts to break into shop websites, but they also target sites opportunistically. If your site is vulnerable in any way then there’s a good chance that it will get attacked. Website security really does matter, and it can be hard for people who are not web developers or systems administrators to know where to start with securing their website.
Let The Experts Handle Your Security
That’s where third-party tools such as Astra Security come in. These tools help you to keep your site secure, picking up on common vulnerabilities, and protecting you from the cyber equivalent of thieves ‘trying your door’, giving you peace of mind that your site is safe and secure.
An Astra Security Suite Review
Cyber crime comes in many forms. Researchers have found that around 80% of websites have at least one vulnerability that could be patched quite easily. The webmasters are often blissfully unaware, and simply have not been hacked yet because there are so many other potential targets. Security by obscurity, as it is called, will only last so long.
Each day, around 45,000 sites are hacked, and there are millions of malware threats out there. Shoppers are becoming increasingly savvy and want to know that they can trust the sites they work with. It’s vital that web business owners can keep their sites secure. But is Astra Security up to the job?
What Can Astra Security Protect You From?
The most obvious topic that needs tackled in an Astra Security Suite review is exactly what threats it can protect people from. The suite is actually quite comprehensive. It can help with a number of issues, including:
- SEO Spam
- Email spam
- Credit card hacking
- Phishing
- Blacklist monitoring
- Honeypots
The way Astra security works is through proactive monitoring. They will block the IP addresses of the most active spammers, so they can’t try to leave comments or messages on your website. They will monitor your SMTP IP address, and if they notice that you are on any of the blacklists for email servers, you will be notified so you can address that issue and then get your site’s email server removed from the blacklist.
Astra also has plugins for most common content management systems that will help to block malicious code from being injected into your site. This protects your users from having their credit card information or other personal details stolen. It’s a simple thing to set u and it can make all the difference in terms of giving peace of mind to your users.
No Astra Security Suite review would be complete without a mention of the support that they have. Through a combination of ‘community’ monitoring, honeypots to deflect malicious traffic (thereby making your site faster and safer), and having a team of staff on hand to offer real-time security information, Astra has a lot to offer. It’s robust, simple, and does not need you to make complex changes to your site’s setup. If you don’t know what DNS is and have never heard of a CDN, don’t worry. If you know your way around your site’s admin panel that’s all you really need to get Astra working.
Astra Web Security Pricing and Features
You have the option of a few pricing tiers, from ‘Essential’ protection for websites and blogs, to Pro for small businesses, and a Business tier for more sophisticated online shops.
Prices start at $9/month if you buy a year of the Essential package (or $12 if you’re paying month to month), or $119 for a year of the Business package. There’s also a lifetime offer for those who are willing to spend a bit more up-front. This will give you ongoing protection for one website. You will need to buy it for each site you want to protect.
Will Astra Keep Your Site Safe?
Astra is a good package that will go a long way towards keeping your site secure, but by itself, it may not be enough. If you are worried about website security, you should combine something like Astra with general good security practices, for example:
- Choose secure passwords for your FTP, control panel, databases etc
- Do not use the same password for more than one service
- Update your WordPress, Joomla, or other Content Management systems regularly
- Update your server regularly, or make sure your host is doing so
- Update plugins regularly
- Keep offsite backups of all your data
- Lock your laptop / phone / other devices when they are not in use
- Encrypt your drives so if a device goes missing people can’t access your passwords
- Do not click links in emails, visit the site of the company that claims to have sent the email and log in manually
- Do not give out login credentials to third parties, even if asked
- Install SSL on your site to protect your customers from hacking attempts
- Get your social media profiles verified so that your customers know when they are talking to you
- Consider using a CDN to protect you from ‘denial of service’ attacks.
Astra is a good starting point for protecting your site, and it is something that will go a long way towards protecting your site from opportunistic attacks and automated spammers. If you want to make sure that you are not a victim of more targeted attacks, then you will need to take further precautions.
Hopefully this Astra Security Suite review will have helped you to understand some of the threats that are out there. Astra’s offering is a good protection system that covers many common issues, and it is also very good value for money. It would take a lot of effort to protect your site individually from each of the threats that it covers, so it’s handy to have a single tool that can do the whole thing, and that is supplied by a long-running, well-known name in the security industry.
