Is Your Small-business Website Vulnerable to Attack?
My developers recently restored a family-owned website that was compromised by a jihadi group. Our service included work to address reputation issues caused by the sophisticated attack. The hacking event was disruptive and costly to this Charlottesville small business.
Think Your Business Is Too Small to Attract Hackers?
Most attacks against small business WordPress sites are automated. They are conducted by a computer program, often originating from a network of computers, called a botnet.
Every WordPress site is an attractive target to a wide array of hackers and criminals.
Is Your WordPress Site at Risk?
The two most likely vectors of attack for a WordPress site are:
- Failure to install updates promptly
- Weak passwords
3 Easy Steps to Minimize Your Risk of Attack
Reduce your likelihood of identity theft and website attacks.
- Install published updates promptly
- Delete inactive WordPress plugins and themes
- Follow the 4 DO & DON’T Password Rules for every online account
4 DO & DON’T PASSWORD RULES
- DON’T use dictionary words
- DON’T use any name or number that could be guessed (street number, birthday, names)
- DON’T email passwords
- DON’T store passwords on your computer as plain text files
- DO use at least 12 characters
- DO use, at least, one of each of the four character types: uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number, symbol
- DO use a unique password for each online account
- DO use 2-step verification when available (text message sent to your phone contains a one-time code)
