In the past few days I have been contacted by former clients who have found out that their sites have been hacked and are worried about their WordPress security. They had been advised of the importance of keeping the WordPress version and plugins updated and warned that their sites were not secure. But you can lead a horse to water and all that…..
So what is the best practice for keeping your WordPress site secure? Backup and Update!! The two most important words in WordPress website ownership.
Clients pay to have a site developed in WordPress because it gives them control of their site and content, allowing them to make changes as their business grows and changes. This is all good. But…ignoring the ongoing maintenance of the site is dangerous. Plugins are updated by their authors, the WordPress version is updated to increase security and functionality. Site owners have to keep on top of the updates.
Making sure the site is backed up regularly is also important – not just backing up the site before an upgrade. Backups should be made on a regular basis and stored offsite. It’s so much easier to restore a working version of a site than to go looking for compromised files or database tables.
If your site is important to your business and you don’t have time to keep it backed-up and updated check out my WordPress Maintenance Plan.
