The following article is a bit long and a lot technical. Not your favorite type of reading. Please read the article any way! Hacking is becoming a critical issue for small business web sites. I want to protect your web sites. It is so critical that I am offering this service AT MY COST to make it as affordable as I can so that each of you will take advantage of it.
WordPress Maintenance will be $30 per month. YCL will invoice you monthly via credit card.
Mr. Buyna has 30+ years experience in programming. Though he began with software development, Joerg transitioned into web development early and focused his services on small businesses. He has been contracting with YCL for over a year.
Re-printed with Permission
From Joerg Buyna of JMB Virtual
Another day at the office? Actually it isn’t. The difference is that for a few months now my days start with evaluating numerous warning messages I receive from my web site scanning software, rather than evaluating my work progress for various projects.
So what’s happening? Well, we all have become unwillingly part of a new era of worms, viruses, malicious software and hackers.
For the longest time, hackers were only interested in breaking into web sites of larger companies where they could steal sensitive data – credit cards to social security numbers. Now that has changed. Hackers are targeting more and more small web sites. Through the implementation of malicious code, they gain control over a web site and use it as part of a worldwide network to distribute spam or to hide themselves behind a hacked web site’s IP. In most cases, the legitimate owner of a hacked site doesn’t even know about it. Until they get black listed as a spam-site and experience problems while sending emails or, even worse, their site becomes completely unusable. Hackers control sometimes as many as 50,000 web sites through injected malicious code. They even go into competitions where the winners are those who hacked the most sites within a given time.
But what can web site owners do to protect themselves from intruders or “brute force” attacks? Web site maintenance is the answer to that question. While it previously was sufficient to check on your web site once or twice a month, it is now necessary to do so at least weekly. It should be done every two days in my opinion. But let’s be realistic. Most site owners don’t have the time or the technical knowledge for a check-up. And who would blame them; they have a business to run. But there are a few things every one can do.
- Check your site’s public face once a day. Be alert if it takes an unusual time to load the content
of your web site. This might be an indication of malicious software running in the background and controlling the output. (YCL NOTE: Make your web site the default opening page for
your browser.) - Check the back end of your web site (WordPress Admin Panel) at least once a week. At the top of the screen you might see just notes about an upcoming or available update of one or more plug-ins or other software. Nothing you should be worried about. If you are uncertain about a message, ask for help immediately.
- If you see warnings – always in black lettering on white background – seek professional help. (Example: Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /homepages /4/d1238967521/domain/blog/wp-includes/user.php on line 660) DO NOT ignore them just because your site looks OK from the outside on a browser screen! If you see a ‘red light’ on your car’s dashboard you wouldn’t ignore it, would you? Your car looks OK from the outside and might still be running. But a few miles down the road, it will stall.
- Make sure the components of your web site such as core files, theme files and plug-ins are up to date. Serious software developers are aware that hackers are constantly trying to compromise their work. That is why we have so many unscheduled updates for system files, themes
and plug-ins.
Sophisticated software makes it possible to monitor web sites on a 24/7 basis. So you don’t have to worry and the job can be done as efficiently as possible. I consider anything less as recklessly taking chances.
WordPress Web Site Maintenance Plan
Your Computer Lady has most of its clients on a WP Maintenance plan. What began a few years ago as semi-annual software updates and monthly full backups of clients’ web sites is no longer sufficient.
The malware and hacking issues now demand a full cycle maintenance service. Your monthly maintenance plan covers all the areas that keep your site safe. That includes:
- YCL will install monitoring software that reports your site performance, visits, successful or non-successful intrusions, viruses, malicious code injections and vulnerabilities as well as changed files on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. When an alert is issued – on average once or twice a week – YCL will visit the site immediately to check for compromised functions.
- At least 6 times a year, YCL will update your WordPress software and plug-ins. Twice a year we will update your WordPress theme.
- Every time YCL edits your site, whether they install new software or update existing ones YCL will manually do a full site update that is stored on-site and on their development server. (A development server is a separate, un-connected server for testing.) This way we always have two fully functioning and restorable backups. When core updates are issued, YCL will test on the development server to confirm that they are in compliance with all other components on your site and that no unwanted changes occur. Only if the updates check out will YCL perform core updates on your live site.
- In addition, YCL will also perform monthly scheduled full site backups, including the WordPress database(s) and core files that are stored off-site for a minimum of 3 months. Some malware is set to wait 2 or 3 months before injecting malware into your site. Having off-site back ups for 3 months gives you more insurance for being able to restore your site instead of re-build your site.
I realize this is an expense you don’t want. It is better than the alternative! It is less than the cost of re-building an infected site. I’ve set up the same service for Your Computer Lady’s web site.
As stated earlier, I am offering this service at my cost to help you. It’s that important.
Please call me today to take advantage of this offer!