Unsafe website warning

Imagine, one of your good customers calls and says “I tried going to your website but I get a warning that it’s not safe – I think you’ve been hacked.” You rush to your computer and try to bring your site up – you get the same message. You ignore the warning and click through to your site and sure enough, it’s now selling a weight loss medication. What do you do?

It would be nice to think that once a website is up and running that nothing needs to be done except add new content. But that is not the world we live in.

CityCenter builds many websites using WordPress, the most popular content management system in the world, powering over 25% of all websites. As the website owner it is relatively easy to learn and use.

Because of its popularity, however, it is also the daily target of hackers. No longer pranksters, the hackers are well financed criminals who look to take over a website and then use it to make more money.

We don’t want to be the messengers of doom-and-gloom, but we do want you to be aware of what happens and what you can do about it.

Updating the WordPress software, theme and plugins is one of the best defenses because that will block new vulnerabilities as they become known. Updating can be tricky, though, and requires frequent checks to know when they need to be done.

There are also a number of security plugins that can assist in monitoring problems and plugging holes. Finally, regular backups both onsite (to the same server your website is on) and offsite (to a separate storage location such as Dropbox) should be performed in case your defenses are breached by the hackers.

Small and medium sized businesses are often hit by the hackers because they don’t have the time or technical know-how to protect themselves. Once your website is taken over it can be used to launch spam email, sell illegal products, or redirect to porn sites. Whatever it might be you lose money and take a hit to your reputation.

CityCenter has put together a package to assist you in securing a WordPress website on a long term basis. It consists of constant monitoring, updating software, and backups. If you are using WordPress we hope you take advantage of our experience and skill to keep your website safe – cleaning up after you’ve been hacked is very expensive.

If your website is built with WordPress, give us a call (626-449-0100) or write us and we will get you protected now!

Update, Security and Backup Monthly Services

Update WordPress whenever new versions are released.
Update all plugins monthly.
Installation and setup of backup software to locally backup database daily, plus offsite backup of files and database weekly.
Setup and monitoring of security software (On start of service: delete unused themes and plugins, change admin password if it is set to “admin”)
Clean database of unneeded post revisions and unneeded entries
Uptime monitoring hourly
A complete log of plugins and themes installed, last updated, link to source
  Pricing
  $40/month   (via PayPal)
  $100/quarter   (via PayPal)
  $360/year

Contact CityCenter Today!

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