What does a strong website security setup include (firewalls, backups, MFA)?

A strong website security setup includes: a Web Application Firewall (Cloudflare WAF, AWS WAF, or Sucuri) to filter malicious traffic before it reaches the application, multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforced for all admin panel and hosting control panel accounts, automated daily backups stored off-site (not on the same server) with a documented and tested restore procedure, and HTTPS enforced via SSL/TLS with HSTS headers to prevent protocol downgrade attacks.

Application-level measures include input validation and parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection, output encoding to prevent XSS, rate limiting on login and form submission endpoints, and login attempt monitoring with automated lockout. Dependency management using tools like Snyk or Dependabot ensures that vulnerable libraries are identified and updated promptly. Security headers (X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options, Content-Security-Policy, Referrer-Policy) complete the configuration, reducing the impact of a broad range of client-side attack vectors.