Keeping your plugins updated

Recently there was a security breach with a plugin called Elementor Essential Add-ons. If you have a WordPress website you may want to pay attention to this cautionary tale!

I have access to three websites that use this plugin. Unfortunately one of them had been hacked big time. The security breach allowed the hacker to log in as an admin user, create their own admin login, and prevent anyone else from editing the website.

Soon, Google Search Console (formerly webmaster tools) detected an additional 700,000 spammy website pages had been added. By the next day the number had risen to 1,770,000. Even after the pages are no longer there, many spammy links will continue to point to this website for some time, which will negatively affect the SEO ranking of the website.

WordPress core files had been altered, and so the website had to be rolled back to before the security breach took place.

The lesson from this sorry tale:

Use 2 Factor Authorisation (2FA)

Security and monitoring plugins are a good idea

Keep plugins, themes and WordPress up to date (making sure to do a full backup first of your files and database). There is an option to enable automatic updates. Most hosting companies will provide daily backups, often for an additional fee.

On a happier note, the joint webinar that I’m doing with Jeff Levy is being rescheduled for Tues 6th June.

On Tuesday 6th June I will be giving a FREE joint webinar with a book-keeper called Jeff Levy sharing Bookkeeping & Marketing / SEO Tips from 6-7pm, via Zoom. If you think it might be useful, whatever your business, please book in by clicking the image or with this link: https://www.subscribepage.com/growyourtradesbusiness

I hope you can make it. Do you need some 1:1 help with a website or SEO issue? Get in touch on 0777 169 1194 for a free no-obligation chat.