Small Businesses Security Checkslist

The goal here is balancing security with business continuity.

→ NCSC Small Business Guide: A world-class guide covering backing up data, malware protection, smartphone security, and phishing.

→ CISA Free Cybersecurity Tools: Guides provided by the U.S. government to help small organizations build a resilient framework.

→ Cybersecurity Planning Tool: A customizable tool to help small businesses create a strategy based on their unique risk profile.

Bloggers & Content Creators

Your primary risks are account takeovers (social media/email) and doxxing.

→ Social Media Security Checklist: Covers 2FA, privacy-focused authenticator apps, and limiting public metadata in photos.

→ EFF Security Self-Defense: Guides provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to help individuals protect their online privacy and security.

Personal Website Owners

For those running simple sites (portfolio, resume, or hobby sites)

→ Cloudflare Website Security Checklist: A 10-step list focusing on encrypting web traffic (SSL/TLS), hiding your origin IP, and preventing DDoS attacks.

→ UpGuard Website Security Checklist: Focuses on technical hardening like disabling insecure cipher suites and securing cookies.

Self-Hosted Site Owners

If you manage your own server (HomeLab, VPS, or Raspberry Pi) stacks.

→ A2 Hosting's Self-Hosted Security Checklist: A technical deep-dive into SSH lockdown, port management, and using Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) like ModSecurity.

→ OWASP Top Ten: A list of the top ten most critical web application security risks, provided by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP).

Essential Free Tools for All Categories

If you cannot afford premium security suites, these tools are the industry's gold standard for free protection:

WAF & DDoS Protection: → Cloudflare Free Tier (Essential for any public website)

Credential Management: → Bitwarden (Open-source and free for personal/basic use)

Vulnerability Scanning: → Nmap or → Nuclei (To scan your own network/site for open ports and known bugs)

SSL Certificates: → Let's Encrypt (The industry standard for free, automated SSL certificates)