Website maintenance and security go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sure, you can have a peanut butter sandwich, but without security, the steady work of maintenance can still be all for naught if someone with ill intentions targets your website.
Website Maintenance
A website can be compared to having a car or home. Regardless of whether you lease, rent, or own, everything will need regular maintenance to stay safe and secure. Websites are no different. As technology is constantly changing and being upgraded, both personal and commercial, it is an important force behind making sure a website you are in charge of stays well-maintained.
The biggest reason for maintenance is security, regardless of how you look at it. With web applications related to a website, they are software and all software needs updating from time to time to ensure functionality and to continually provide security against spam, malware, and hackers among other technical issues. On the other hand, a lack of maintenance to a website can affect performance for viewers attempting to load pages and data may potentially be lost without routine backups. Updating copy, adding photos, and training staff on using your website’s software also fall under maintenance.
Website Security
Security can be divided into two categories: internal and public. While everyone believes that they will have a website that won’t be appealing to hackers and others with ill intentions, all websites can be targeted at one time or another. A reasonable expectation for high security is understandable if the following criteria are met and followed:
• Your website has few financial resources
• The company or website is considered uncontroversial
• The network has tight permissions being used
• All patches on the server are up-to-date
• The website was coded with high standards
However, you can expect your site to still be tested, even if you don’t have any assets of importance or anything else that puts your website in the public spotlight.
WordPress Security
With WordPress being one of the most common website formats, it is also a common target for hackers. Most try to gain access to the administrator interface, allowing them the ability to do whatever they please to a website once inside. We can help you install a reCAPTCHA form, software that authenticates whoever is trying to log into your system is a human and not a bot using brute force. We also highly recommend using two-factor or two-step authentication for all user log-ins on a website. This type of authentication requires the traditional username and password, along with a unique, one-time generated code typically sent to a smartphone via SMS (text message).
eCommerce Security
Consumers have heard time and time again not to use their personal and financial information on a website that does not have HTTPS in the web address. Though upgrading your ecommerce site to HTTPS can seem pricey, consider the costs to your short and long term revenues if your website was to be hacked and consumer information stolen. And though privacy laws and regulations aren’t entirely clear about what businesses are supposed to protect when collecting information from consumers, whether it’s all emails collected or financial information, the laws are written in ways it could mean all information.
Anticipate that updates will happen and have plans to address them. Ignoring updates for even a few days could expose your site to hacking attempts or actual attacks, but planning for time each week or every other week is best. Remember the best defense is a good offense, done by regularly checking your site, and immediately fixing any problems that arise or are discovered.
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