With the focus in web design often on speed, accessibility, and a visual polish, security can sometimes slip into the background. If security is an afterthought, cyber threats including phishing, ransomware, and data breaches become bigger concerns.
Web design has evolved quickly with mobile-first thinking becoming prominent in the last decade, but the need for speed and the focus on mobile devices has introduced new – and difficult to manage – security risks.
No organization or dedicated professional wants to deprioritise security, but it’s sometimes neglected due to rushed architecture, early assumptions that later prove to be weak (or simply wrong), and/or a tendency to prioritize user experience over proper safeguards.
Stolen data
One prominent security company notes the examples of the Equifax breach and Marriott International hack. The former exposed the personal information of almost 150 US citizens, including home addresses, and the latter compromised the information of over 300 guests (including their passport numbers and phone numbers).
Those types of incidents show the importance of data security in web design. The same organization advises web designers to equip themselves with knowledge about security and consider security from the start of a design process.
Designers can improve to the security of websites by following some of the most tried and trusted, basic security advise: use strong, unique passwords; implement user role systems with varying permission levels (not every user needs access to every area); use multi-factor authentication (MFA), and encrypt sensitive data like credit card details. Regular backups are important, as is input validation.
Modern design
Modern websites integrate payment systems, analytics platforms, social media widgets, content delivery networks (CDNs), customer relationship management (CRM) software, and numerous third-party services. These all improve how a website can function, but each increases the potential attack surface if it’s not properly maintained and secured.
While designing and maintaining a website, professionals should also consider the security of their own environment. Developers and designers frequently work remotely or access staging servers, content management systems, and cloud platforms from different locations. When using public or otherwise untrusted Wi-Fi networks, a virtual private network (VPN) can help encrypt internet traffic between the device and the VPN server, making it more difficult for others on the same network to intercept data. More information is available on ExpressVPN’s website.
A business case for secure sites
Poor security can lead to reputational damage, regulatory penalties, legal costs, extra work on recovering any affected systems, as well as the time (and money) spent notifying and communicating with customers.
IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 found that the global average cost of a data breach was $4.4 million. IBM also found that 97% of organizations are using AI and automation for security, which reduced breach costs by an average of $1.9 million compared with organizations that didn’t.
These figures remind web designers that security isn’t solely an IT concern. Decisions made during planning and design—including minimizing unnecessary data collection, restricting user permissions, selecting reputable third-party services, designing secure authentication flows, and making sure that accessibility features don’t introduce unintended vulnerabilities—can contribute to reduced organizational risk.
