Should you be worried about Wordpress Security?

Well, like most things in life, it's entirely up to you!

Given that (at time of writing) Wordpress is powering 23% of all the websites in the world, it's little wonder that malicious hackers want to attack your site.

Fixing a car engine is likely to cost you more if you don't have regular services and oil changes etc. Fixing a hacked site requires professional help, and is far more expensive if you don't maintain it on a regular basis. If your site is hacked and you're offline for a few days, what will it cost your business? If your site is hacked and you don't have a recent back-up, what happens then?!

Why do they want to hack my site?

Hackers may simply want to use your server to carry out other devious deeds. They could send spam emails from your server resulting in you being black-listed for example. They could run spammy ads on your site in an attempt to earn some money. They may sneakily add a virus to your site and pass that to your visitors, or just steal passwords and other sensitive information.

Whatever the reason, it's a bad problem that you really don't want.

How can I minimise risk of an attack on my Wordpress site?

You cannot stop online attacks. But there are a number of things you can do to minimise the chances of landing yourself in hot water.

Wordpress release regular upgrades to help ensure the bad guys can't access your site. In addition, there is a whole community of developers working to make sure their plugin's are safe too (the nasty can hackers can also gain access to your site via a plugin - once a vulnerability becomes apparent, a fix is implemented and all is right with the world). Needless to say the fixes only work if you keep your plugin's up to date.

Keeping Wordpress and any plugin's up to date will give you peace of mind, as will having someone look over your site regularly to check everything was where you left it and is working as is should.

Can I maintain Wordpress myself?

Sure you can. Wordpress is open-source so there are plenty of articles online if you want to learn how to maintain it yourself. You'll also need to make regular back-ups of your site and fix any issues that appear after upgrade, but yes, you can learn if you're interested!

If you don't have the time or resources to make this the ongoing responsibility of one of your staff, a Wordpress Maintenance and Security package is for you. This way, your website will always be kept up to date and will be regularly monitored for suspicious activity. It's one less thing to worry about.

What will I get if I sign up for a Wordpress Maintenance Package?

Backups
Essential for any online entity. I’ll make sure you have a recent backup, so if anything goes wrong, you don't lose your site.

Updates
WordPress, your themes and your plugins all need updating. I’ll manage this regularly and make sure you're up to date.

Premium Plugins
I'll cover the cost of any premium plug-in's installed on your site, many of which attract an annual fee.

Malware scans
You can rest assured that your site doesn’t have anything malicious on it as I will scan for malware frequently.

Eyes on your site
I can take a look at your site on a regular basis, to make sure that everything’s in order.

The real questions isn't whether you can afford to maintain your Wordpress website. It's whether you can afford not to.

Ask me about a Wordpress Maintenance and Security package for your site.