WordPress security – Are you covered?

My job includes making sure a client’s WordPress website is safe and secure.  Over the years I have reviewed various WordPress website security software packages and add on services that hosting companies offer their customers.

Here is my list of qualities that you are looking for when sourcing a WordPress security software to protect your website.  The software should:

1. Include firewall and antivirus protection
2. Include website virus scanning at least every 24 hours as well as monitoring and reporting features
3. Allow you to protect a WordPress website that has an outdated version of WordPress and not force you to upgrade your WordPress when you come on board.
4. Have extra features including being able to detect and report up and downtime of your website to you.
5. Have an excellent support team and support ticketing system
6. Include website and database scrubbing/cleaning if an issue occurs at no extra cost.
   NOTE: A fair number of security packages through hosting companies will take down your website, tell you it has been hacked and tell you to fix it before it can go live again.

A few years back a client’s website was hacked and the time, energy, frustration and cost to restore the website back to normal was not something that I wanted to repeat again.  Paying a programmer $100+ per hour to scrub the database and website was not a good time.  By the time all was said and done the website restore cost over $500.

Needless to say I didn’t want to repeat that situation and I wanted to find a better way to protect my client’s WordPress websites moving forward.  It was then that I came across Sucuri.net which specializes in WordPress security at a very reasonable cost for the peace of mind they provide.  The level of service and expertise that they offer is fabulous.  I can tell you that I sleep better at night knowing that my client’s websites are safe and sound and if something goes sideways they are there to fix the website and get it back up and running.

We have created a complete WordPress security and back up service called the Website Safety Net which has Platypi look after all your website security and back up needs leaving you free to run your business.

You can also purchase the Sucuri.net software itself if that suits your needs better.  The take away from this blog post is to make sure that your WordPress website is protected!