Website Security: The Basics Every Business Website Needs

Most hacked websites are not targeted personally. Automated bots scan millions of sites every day looking for outdated plugins, weak passwords and known vulnerabilities. A small business website is just as exposed as a large one.

The basics cover most of the risk: an SSL certificate on every page, WordPress, the theme and every plugin kept up to date, strong unique passwords with two-factor authentication for administrators, and removing plugins you no longer use.

Backups are your safety net. They should run automatically, be stored away from the server that hosts the site and be tested from time to time, because a backup that cannot be restored is not a backup. For an e-shop that takes orders every day, daily backups are a sensible minimum.

Security is not a one-off task. A maintenance plan with regular updates, monitoring and backups costs far less than cleaning up a hacked site, recovering lost orders and repairing your reputation with Google and with your customers.