Balancing accessibility and security – how to protect user data on inclusive websites

Learn how to balance accessibility and security on websites, protecting user data while ensuring inclusivity.

For any online business in 2025, having a website that’s both accessible and secure is paramount. Accessibility ensures that all users, regardless of their abilities, can navigate and interact with your site. Security, on the other hand, protects user data from breaches and cyberthreats.

Balancing these two aspects can be challenging and yet they reinforce each other: an insecure site is unusable for everyone, while an inaccessible site often leaks data through work-arounds. This article gives you a single 10-item checklist you can drop into your next sprint.

Understanding accessibility and security

Accessibility = people with disabilities can complete tasks without friction.

Security = users’ data and agency are protected from creation to deletion.

When either pillar fails, the other collapses: a CAPTCHA lock-out (accessibility fail) drives users to unsupported channels that bypass encryption (security fail).

Best practices for accessibility

Use semantic HTML

Semantic HTML tags help screen readers and other assistive technologies understand the structure and content of your website. Tags like <header>, <nav>, <main>, <article>, and <footer> provide meaningful context and improve navigation for users relying on assistive technologies.

Provide text alternatives

Images, videos, and other non-text content should have text alternatives. Use alt attributes for images and provide transcripts or captions for videos. This not only aids users with disabilities but also improves your site’s SEO.

Ensure keyboard accessibility

Many users rely on keyboard navigation to browse websites. Ensure that all interactive elements (like links, buttons, and form fields) are accessible via keyboard. Implementing a logical tab order and visible focus indicators can enhance the experience for keyboard users.

Additionally, avoid keyboard traps and offer skip to content links for easier navigation.

Use ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) landmarks

ARIA landmarks help define the structure of your webpage, making it easier for screen readers to navigate. Use roles like banner, navigation, main, complementary, and contentinfo to specify regions of the page.

Only use ARIA when native HTML isn’t sufficient. Overusing ARIA can cause confusion for assistive technologies.

Test with real users

Conduct usability testing with individuals who have disabilities and keep doing that periodically as the site evolves. Their feedback is invaluable and can highlight areas that need improvement. Tools like WAVE and Lighthouse can also help identify accessibility issues.

Best practices for security

Use HTTPS

HTTPS encrypts the data transferred between the user’s browser and your server, protecting it from interception and tampering. Obtaining an SSL/TLS certificate and configuring your server to use HTTPS is a fundamental step in securing user data.

Modern browsers now flag non-HTTPS sites as Not secure, which can impact user trust and hence make the site inaccessible.

Set HTTP-Security-Headers: Strict-Transport-Security (includeSubDomains, preload), Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; — these cost zero accessibility points.

Implement strong authentication

Use strong authentication methods, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), passkeys, and biometric verification where feasible, to verify user identities. This adds an extra layer of security, making it more difficult for unauthorized users to gain access.

Sub-resource integrity (SRI)

Add integrity attributes to third-party scripts. If the CDN file is later altered (hacked), the browser blocks it and falls back to your local copy and the accessibility features you already verified don’t vanish without warning.

Regular security audits and updates

Regularly audit your website for security vulnerabilities and keep all software, plugins, and themes up-to-date. Applying patches and updates promptly helps protect against known vulnerabilities.

Data encryption

Encrypt sensitive user data both in transit and at rest. This includes personal information, payment details, and any other confidential data. Encryption ensures that even if data is intercepted or accessed without authorization, it remains unreadable.

Encrypt backups and test the restore workflow with a screen-reader user. Confusing restore screen tempts staff to skip encryption or e-mail unprotected files.

Educate users

Inform your users about best practices for staying safe online. This includes recognizing phishing attempts, using strong passwords, and understanding the importance of privacy settings.

Provide tooltips, onboarding flows, and educational pop-ups to guide users, especially during sensitive actions like password resets or checkout.

Balancing accessibility and security

Balancing accessibility and security involves integrating best practices from both areas without compromising either. Here are some strategies to achieve this balance:

Secure and accessible authentication

Ensure that your authentication methods are both secure and accessible. Prefer server-side bot-detection (time-on-form, honeypot, or risk-scoring). If you must use a visual challenge, provide an alternative channel (e.g., toll-free phone verification) rather than an audio CAPTCHA.

Accessible error messages

• Security features often involve error messages (e.g., incorrect passwords or input validation errors). Ensure these messages are clear (avoid jargon), descriptive, and accessible to all users.
• Use the browser’s built-in validation UI first. Put required, type="email", minlength, etc. on the form control and let the browser render the error tooltip. It is already keyboard-focusable, localised, announced by screen readers, and needs zero extra ARIA. Only if you must override the default UI (e.g., multi-field business rule) then place the custom error text inside the label or point to it with aria-describedby, and toggle aria-invalid="true" on the input.
• Use ARIA live regions to announce error messages to screen readers. Whenever possible, prioritize using native, built-in browsers form validation.
• Provide recovery link, like Forgot password, that is reachable by keyboard after the error appears.

Privacy by design

Incorporate privacy-by-design principles into your development process. This means treating privacy as a default feature, not a retro-fitted setting: collect the smallest amount of data necessary, keep it only as long as it is useful, and give users real control over their information.

The table below shows how these principles translate into concrete engineering decisions for a typical web application. Copy the rows that match your own data flows and drop the rest.

Use the table as a living document: link each row to the actual code or config file (for example, row 1 points to the user model where the Argon2id hash is applied). During sprint planning, treat a new row as a privacy user story that must be accepted by the product owner before the feature ships.

Regular testing and monitoring

Regularly test both the accessibility and security of your website, specifically in the software development pipeline with continuous integration (CI) process. Use automated tools and conduct manual testing to identify and address issues. Monitoring your site for security breaches and accessibility problems helps maintain a safe and inclusive environment for all users.

Stay informed and compliant

Keep up with the latest accessibility standards (WCAG) and security best practices, for example CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) and EN 301 549 for accessibility in EU digital products.

Ensure your website complies with relevant regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data protection and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for accessibility.

Leveraging VPNs for enhanced security

Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can enhance the security of your website, especially when accessing it from public or unsecured networks. VPNs encrypt your internet connection, protecting data from potential threats.

VPNs are especially useful for site administrators accessing CMS dashboards over public Wi-Fi, ensuring encrypted, tamper-proof sessions.

Staff editing content over airport Wi-Fi should use a VPN or, better, an SSH tunnel to the CMS. This protects your credentials, not the visitor’s data.

Zero-friction checklist

Copy into your issue tracker:

• ☐ HTTPS + HSTS + CSP.
• ☐ WebAuthn login (no CAPTCHA).
• ☐ Semantic HTML outline validated.
• ☐ Keyboard path tested with Tab / Shift+Tab.
• ☐ Alt text for images and verbs for button text (Save, Publish, Delete item) instead of generic labels (OK, Click here, icon-only).
• ☐ aria-live on error summary only.
• ☐ SRI on third-party scripts
• ☐ Using Github? Turn on Dependabot (or Renovate) to open one pull request per outdated library every week-small, review-friendly updates keep both security holes and accessibility bugs out of your codebase.
• ☐ Backup encryption + restore runbook in plain language.
• ☐ Usability test with 3 disabled users every quarter.

Conclusion

Creating an inclusive and secure website not only meets compliance requirements, but it also enhances user trust, protects your brand, and expands your audience reach. By implementing best practices for both accessibility and security, you can ensure that your website is safe and usable for everyone.

Regular testing, user feedback, and staying informed about the latest developments in both fields will help you maintain this balance, fostering a positive experience for all your visitors.