Forms have been a part of doing business since long before the internet was even a concept. Businesses require information to do their work, to send their products—even just to communicate with customers, prospects and leads. Of course, the online version of this business staple of commerce and marketing is equally important, however, in the digital realm, there are more considerations to take into account.
In the world of information and cyber security, forms are a hot target for hackers and online threat actors. Depending on what kind of business or service the organization provides, it may require very sensitive information like health details which are very private, or of course, banking and payment card information which is a frequent target of online scammers.
When it comes to WordPress website development, plugins that run forms are no exception. These are subject to attacks of all kinds from phishing to password attacks and theft of payment card data are all on the menu for scammers looking to extract data and take malicious actions through website forms. The level of risk only increases as the WordPress sites and their form plugins become dated.
This presents a bit of a headache for developers who may not be itching to jump into another boring form backend build, but there have been a few good incentives to take the leap. For one, most plugins come with a UI that is total overkill and are loaded with features – which sounds good on the surface. However, those with even a rudimentary understanding of online behavior will know that large forms scare away leads, and that’s not to mention the pain of dealing with default style sheets.
Users Aren’t the Only Ones Who Stand to Lose Anymore
When the European Union (EU) passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018, things changed for businesses worldwide. Non-compliance with the 8 GDPR and its individual rights that includes among them the right to erasure when a user no longer wishes to have data stored by a company, is a serious matter.
While developers who don’t own a site or business can’t personally be sued for a data breach, companies that are noncompliant and do have faced massive fines. It’s not something that any developer wants on their portfolio, to say the least. Companies such as Marriott and British Airlines have faced fines of up to 200 Million Euros for data breaches.
So, at this point, we have a lot of issues. Data is a high-priority target and forms present a vulnerability that they love to exploit. This would be fine, except for the fact that they are boring and time-consuming to develop. Not only this, but compliance with data regulations is critical to maintain. As we’ve discussed, plugins aren’t always the best option—or are they?
For all of the issues that we’ve presented, there is actually one WordPress site plugin that offers a solution – to all of these problems.
Developers, meet Headlessforms.
Protecting User Data and Security with Headlessforms
Headlessforms is a new and incredibly easy-to-use WordPress form plugin that utilizes state-of-the-art security technology to ensure compliance. If data compliance was the only issue, perhaps they would have left it at that, but it isn’t – and they haven’t. But since security is the subject of our discussion, we’ll start here.
When Headlessforms are utilized, only one list is allowed to run and all other files are blocked. This inhibits and completely prevents unknown users from running files that could contain malicious scripts. Now with that said, security isn’t everything, and the creators of the Headlessforms plugin realize this.
Remember, forms are a tool for businesses and organizations to engage with the public. As such, they have more criteria to fill than simply being secure. Think about it like a bank. When you go to your local branch, the assets that it holds are done very securely, but as their customer, you aren’t walking past armed guards, dogs and barbed wire to make a transaction. There is a good amount of thought put into the customer experience and subsequently the design of the building. There is generally a nice lobby, signage to draw you in, etc.
Headlessforms, while using state-of-the-art cloud-based security technology to ensure the most rigid data protection possible is met, also offer many ways to draw in users. This allows you to easily create extremely intuitive and user-friendly forms that will perform for your clients while keeping the data safe. It’s so easy to use, that you don’t actually need to know how to write code.
Headlessforms offer a solution for businesses and developers alike, helping navigate the fine balance between convenience, security, and compliance. Save time, keep threat actors out, compliance in, and user experience up, with Headlessforms. Learn more about this game-changing new tool here.
