The Critical Importance of Keeping Your WordPress Site Up-to-Date
As the world’s most popular website platform, WordPress powers almost 50% of all websites worldwide. While its popularity stems from its flexibility and extensive plugin library, it also makes WordPress sites a top target for cyberattacks, especially if they’re not kept up-to-date. Hackers look for outdated plugins, themes and core WordPress files to exploit and when they succeed, it can lead to severe consequences for site owners. Fortunately, Brag Design offers Managed WordPress Hosting services, providing the security, stability and support you need to keep your site safe.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why updating your WordPress site is critical, explain how hackers locate vulnerabilities and outline how Brag Design’s Managed WordPress Hosting can protect your site from these risks.
How Hackers Target Outdated WordPress Sites
Cybercriminals are constantly on the lookout for weaknesses in outdated WordPress websites. Here are the primary methods they use to identify and exploit these vulnerabilities:
- Automated Scanning Tools to Identify Weaknesses
Hackers deploy automated bots to scan the internet, searching for websites running outdated WordPress installations or plugins. These bots examine websites for specific plugin versions and themes with known vulnerabilities. If your website is using outdated software, it becomes an easy target.
- Exploiting Outdated Plugins and Themes
Plugin and theme developers regularly release updates to patch security vulnerabilities, but if these updates aren’t applied, your site remains exposed. Hackers can exploit outdated plugins to inject malicious code, gaining access to your admin panel and taking control of your website. Once inside, they can do everything from redirecting your visitors to spammy sites to stealing customer data and deleting essential content.
- Remote Code Execution
Hackers often exploit vulnerabilities in outdated plugins to execute malicious code on your server. This allows them to install their own files, malware, or backdoors to maintain control over your website. Remote code execution is a serious threat and can lead to malware infections, data theft and website crashes. In many cases, it requires a complete cleanup or even a site rebuild to resolve the issue, which can be both time-consuming and expensive.
- Installing Hidden Plugins and Backdoor Malware
Once hackers gain access, they can install hidden plugins or code that gives them ongoing access to your website. These hidden plugins act as backdoors, enabling hackers to re-access the server whenever they like, often without the site owner knowing. This kind of persistent malware is difficult to detect and often requires professional support to remove.
- Compromising Emails and Sensitive Data
If hackers gain access to your WordPress admin panel, they may also access your email system, contact forms, or newsletter tools. This can lead to data theft, spam emails being sent from your domain and the exposure of sensitive client information. Email compromises can damage your reputation and make it difficult to regain your customers’ trust.
How Brag Design Keeps Your Website Secure with Managed WordPress Hosting
At Brag Design, we specialise in WordPress security and website management, making us Mornington Peninsula’s top choice for website development and hosting. Our Managed WordPress Hosting services are designed to protect your site by handling all essential updates, monitoring and backups.
Benefits of Choosing Brag Design’s Managed WordPress Hosting
1. Automatic Updates of Plugins, Themes, and WordPress Core
Our Managed WordPress Hosting ensures that your WordPress core, plugins and themes are automatically updated as soon as new releases are available. Regular updates are your website’s first line of defence against hackers, patching known vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. This proactive approach keeps your site safe without requiring your involvement in the update process.2. Real-Time Monitoring for Downtime and Outages
Brag Design actively monitors your website’s uptime and performance, enabling us to quickly address any downtime or issues. Real-time monitoring means you won’t have to worry about unexpected outages affecting your visitors or customers.3. Server and cPanel Maintenance
Our Managed WordPress Hosting includes server and cPanel maintenance, keeping all server software updated and avoiding issues related to outdated PHP versions. This prevents security risks and optimises performance, helping to maintain fast load times and a seamless user experience.4. Affordable and Comprehensive Hosting Plans
Our Managed WordPress Hosting plans start at $100 per month, covering website and domain hosting, updates, security monitoring and expert support. This all-inclusive package ensures your site remains secure and functional without the stress of handling technical maintenance on your own.5. Reliable, Australian-Based Hosting with VentraIP
Brag Design is a proud partner of VentraIP Australia, one of the nation’s most reliable hosting providers. VentraIP’s servers are based in Australia and provide fast, secure hosting with support available right here in Melbourne. As one of the largest hosting providers in the country, VentraIP offers outstanding reliability, performance, and pricing, making them an ideal partner for Brag Design’s Managed WordPress Hosting services.
Smooth Migration to Managed WordPress Hosting
If you’re currently on an unmanaged hosting plan, Brag Design can manage the migration to our Managed WordPress Hosting service for you. We’ll transfer your site files, database and domain securely, ensuring minimal disruption and a seamless transition.
Why Choose Managed WordPress Hosting Over Unmanaged Hosting?
With unmanaged hosting, you’re responsible for updates, security and performance monitoring. While unmanaged hosting might seem cost-effective, it often results in greater risks and hidden expenses over time. Unmanaged websites can experience security breaches, data loss and severe performance issues that compromise your visitors’ experience and may lead to costly repairs.
Managed WordPress Hosting from Brag Design takes care of every technical detail, including regular updates, malware monitoring, and data backups. Our services provide peace of mind, knowing that your site is protected by a team of WordPress experts and that security, stability and performance are being prioritised at all times.
Choose Brag Design for Secure, High-Performance Managed WordPress Hosting
If you’re looking for a dependable partner to keep your WordPress site secure, functional, and up-to-date, Brag Design’s Managed WordPress Hosting offers the solution you need. With years of experience in WordPress security and management, we’re the Mornington Peninsula’s leading choice for website development and hosting.
With Managed WordPress Hosting plans starting at just $100 per month, we make it affordable to secure your site, avoid downtime and provide your users with a fast, seamless experience.
Contact Brag Design today to learn more about our Managed WordPress Hosting plans or to discuss your website security needs. Let us handle your website’s updates, monitoring and security, so you can focus on growing your business with complete peace of mind.