What do the 3 entrepreneurs quoted above have in common? They were all hacked without warning.
Because hackers don’t give warnings.
They don’t wait until your to-do list is down to 1 item to wipe your entire site from existence. They don’t wait until it’s a “good time” for your site to be banned by your customer’s computers. They don’t wait until you’ve had plenty of notice to get your site protected before trying to hack it.
Dramatic? Yes. Tough love? That too.
As an online business owner, you have a responsibility to protect your site + your customers. If you collect any information on your site, you need to keep it from getting into the wrong hands. If you have users visiting your site, you need to keep it free from malware + viruses that could damage physical property. Can you imagine running your business without a working computer? I certainly can’t.
If you’re still reading, that means I haven’t scared you into a crying fit under your desk. Some days that may be necessary, today is not one of those days. Because there are ways to keep your shit safe from hackers + avoid being completely blindsided by one of their attacks.
Ways to protect your online business
First things first, hackers typically gain access to WordPress sites through the login screen. If your username is admin, read this article immediately. If your password is anything but a string of 20 or more random letters, numbers + characters, read this article right now. They are both quick reads, I’ll wait here.
Keeping a weak password or the default username is like leaving your car doors unlocked + your windows rolled halfway down while you go into the grocery store. You wouldn’t do that — especially not with all of your client’s personal information sitting on the passenger seat.
Once your login screen is protected, it’s time to talk about your update number. This is one of the rare times where the lower the number, the more you have to brag about.
While updates may feel like a burden that don’t seem to do much of anything, they can actually be used to patch known security issues as they are figured out. Leaving those outdated + vulnerable plugins out of sight is only putting you + your peeps at risk. If you’re ready to tackle those updates, this post will help you out.
And last, but most certainly not least, the best way to avoid being blindsided by hackers is to have your backup plan in place before you find yourself scrambling to get your site un-hacked. The best backup plan… is to have backups of your site. pun 100% intended. There are a number of tools to help with this + this recent nerd alert covers some of the most common.
If your eyes are crossing thinking about how to add these tasks to your current to-do list, you do not have to do it alone. In order to get as many sites protected as possible, our WordPress security audit reports are heavily discounted until the start of the new year. You’ll get a detailed report with the exact things you need to do in order to turn your site into a fortress — or we can do that too.