September 02, 2023
Website maintenance is a critical factor in the growth of any business. If you want your website at peak performance at all times and avoid any downtime, you need to keep track of your website. Regular audits can ensure your digital infrastructure is secure, functioning properly, and meeting your users’ needs.
Drupal is one of the biggest names in website development that comes with high-level security and rich functionality. Although it is one of the best in the business, there can be potential issues that can affect the performance of the website. If you can address the issues, you can retain the customer base and expand your growth.
To eliminate this barrier and run safely on your website built on Drupal, you need to conduct regular Drupal security audits. Regular security audits are essential to maintain a strong security stance, protect sensitive data, and ensure the website's resilience against emerging security threats.
What is a Drupal Security Audit?
A Drupal security audit is a detailed analysis of the website that is built with Drupal CMS. With a security audit, it is possible to identify potential security vulnerabilities and risks so you can stay with the best security posture online. It is conducted by Drupal experts to proactively assess the website's security to ensure it is well-protected against potential cyber threats.
What is covered in the Drupal security audit?
The Drupal security audit includes a comprehensive review and analysis of the Drupal themes, plugins, and module source code. You can identify coding errors, know about outdated libraries, and find vulnerabilities in your website with security audits. The configuration settings of Drupal are evaluated to examine access controls to prevent unauthorised access.
Data handling is also covered in the security audits where security is reviewed with encryption, data masking, and limited control. Identifying flaws to manage functionality is also covered in this. If the Drupal website has third-party integrations, the integrations are also reviewed for potential security risks and adherence to best practices.
There are chances that the input is malicious so user input validation testing is performed. It is done to prevent security threats with user inputs like cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection attacks.
How Can a Security Audit Improve Drupal Website Performance?
Here are the top areas where the role of security audit can shape your Drupal-based website performance:
Site Architecture and Quality
You can improve website content architecture, including content types, taxonomy terms, users, and menus. With a quality assessment, you can ensure that the website's architecture is well-structured and provides a seamless user experience.
Improved Performance
With security audits for Drupal websites, you can improve overall performance. This includes improvements in website speed, load time, server response time, caching mechanisms, code optimisation, and database optimization.
Security and Maintenance
By checking the web server and database, you can ensure they are up-to-date with the latest security patches. It also affects the Drupal core and module update status, user permissions, usage of SSL certificates, and efficiency.
Enhanced SEO
With security audits for quality performance, you can improve your website's SEO performance as well. This technical SEO audit includes the crawling ability, site speed, and mobile-friendliness of your website. With this, you can identify strengths and weaknesses in the website's SEO strategy, and address issues that hinder its visibility in search engine results.
Reasons Why Drupal Security Audit is a Necessity.
You should consider the performance and current state of website security when deciding whether or not you need a security audit. Here are some points to help you determine if you need a security audit or not:
No Previous Security Assessment
If your website has never undergone a security assessment or audit, it's a good idea to get one. As there can be issues and you can eliminate them with an audit and maximise performance. You can identify vulnerabilities with this and get better and more secure with your website.
High-Value Website
If your Drupal website handles sensitive user data, financial transactions, or confidential information, it can be an attractive target for attackers. If you have a website like this, you need to have more frequent security audits.
Outdated Drupal Version
When a website is running an outdated version of Drupal, there can be vulnerabilities and the risk of attacks is more. If you have not kept your Drupal installation up-to-date, a security audit is essential to identify and rectify potential weaknesses. You can contact our experts to perform the Drupal 10 upgrade today.
Recent Cyber Attacks
If you have been a target for cybercriminals in the recent past, you need to have an audit to ensure you are safe now. In case of any suspicious activities, you need a security audit to strengthen your website's security.
Third-Party Integrations
If your Drupal website integrates with third-party applications or APIs, there can be security issues. As third parties add another layer of complexity to security, the audit can help in reducing vulnerabilities to your website.
Regulatory Compliance Requirements
There can be legal trouble if you are not managing compliance. With a security audit, you can meet specific security and privacy regulations while working without any potential long-term issues.
Multiple Development Teams
If you have worked with multiple developers or development teams, there can be security issues. With a security audit, you can ensure there is no security threat and you can stay secure online with your business platform.
Unusual Website Behaviour
If you notice any unexpected behaviour on your website, such as suspicious logins, unauthorised changes, or unusual network activity, there can be security threats. For this, you need to have a strong security analysis and it is possible with a security audit.
Conduct Expert-Led Security Audit With Our Drupal Team
Even if your website looks secure and well-functional, there can be security issues. With regular security audits, you can identify potential weaknesses and safeguard your website. Moreover, if there are no security issues, you can get valuable insights into how you can improve your website's overall security posture. Want to know more? Contact Dotsquares Drupal experts today.
