On the 14th January 2021, Let’s Crea8 officially announced one of our key services WordPress Maintenance and Security. Certain clients of ours has benefited from this service as we protected their website from thousands of brute force attacks. We prevented our official launch as we wanted to add more features while stress testing our solution. As things stand now we are happy with the results. From here we want to break down certain key steps which lead to the WordPress Maintenance and Security success. These steps are focused on attacks, updates, notifications, and backups.
The Challenges
Relentless Brute Force attacks
Over the years of providing Web Design services we were always aware of one simple truth. Websites regardless of their age become the focus of malicious brute force attacks. Back in 2013 there was a massive brute force attack that resulted in WordPress website logs collecting numerous brute force attacks per minute. As a result, additional security measures were encouraged to provide a safe and secure WordPress website for every user or visitor. Leaving some to wonder ‘is WordPress is a safe platform?’. According to Kinsta Statistics, 34%* of all websites on the internet make use of the WordPress platform. With this wide usage and online support it is a viable platform to be used.
* Kinsta statistic updated on March 4, 2023.
WordPress and Other Updates
WordPress continues to release core updates to improve functionality amongst other things. These can be disabled for various reasons attributing to cost and understanding. Service providers may not provide update services on their quotes to reduce pricing. Whereas from the client’s side they may not understand the importance and opt to leave it for a later stage. When it comes to website security outdated code often leads to vulnerabilities. Developers of add-ons often release updates that includes new features, compatibility support, and security improvements. In other cases, major updates of developers may switch from free services now being part of a subscription. For now we are leaving their marketing plans out of this article.
Real Time Notifications
Notifications are a great way to keep a finger on the pulse of what is going on. When it comes to the host, on-site or even off-site connections can be interrupted at any time. Getting these restored improves not only the users experience, but also contributes towards SEO relationships with search engines. A website that has a history of broken or dated content may face penalties with search engines such as Google.
Host versus Off-Site Backups
Hosting companies understandably are under more attacks with the growing amount of websites they may host. As a result, server’s data may become corrupt due to one or more website vulnerabilities. While hosts do their best to prevent this happening there may be a time that data needs to be restored from a historic backup. In our experiences, and very rare occurrences, backups have gotten corrupted with no visible restore point in sight. Having off-site backups is a extra precaution method that is separate from host local backups.
Our Conclusion
A website isn’t a 5-minute task. Investments such as time, research, content building, and costs go into building a website. Let’s Crea8 understand the investment values and long-term damage a high-risk website. Our Maintenance and Security service was built to protect data, protect users, and manage associated systems securely. To find out more about our service, be sure to check our Maintenance and Security page or Contact Us directly.