Important Tips and a SiteVision Option

[image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”5602″ align=”left” size=”small”]Websites are generally built to display information in the form of content, and in the last decade managing that content has become much easier due to the widespread use of a Content Management System often abbreviated as “CMS”.

The most popular CMS by far is WordPress, with an impressive 60.1% of the CMS market share. With widespread popularity comes vulnerability, and many WordPress sites are susceptible to attack due to running outdated, unsupported versions of the WordPress software. It’s also worth noting the 50 most downloaded plugins for WordPress in 2013 were also vulnerable to attacks such as SQL injections and Cross-site scripting (XSS).

These issues are not unique to WordPress.  All CMSs are susceptible to security risks, and it’s equally important to maintain updates no matter what your platform

The purpose of this article, however, is not to persuade you to abandon WordPress or other CMS Systems.  In fact, we use WordPress every day, and chances are you’re reading this on a WordPress-based website.  Our intent is to point out security risks, but more importantly to discuss solutions – updates!

Your operating system, software, smartphone, and maybe even your car need updates in order to function at their highest capacity. Software and firmware are often made up of a constantly evolving library of code, and developers are constantly improving those libraries by fixing bugs and vulnerabilities.  Updating the WordPress software just once monthly can greatly reduce your site’s chances of falling prey to malicious hackers.

5-Point Plan for Successful, Secure CMS Hosting

•  Solid, secure hosting.
•  Monthly audits of all sites to confirm software is current
•  Monthly updates for sites running on outdated software.
•  Research all plugins for security issues.
•  Check all plugins during monthly audits and update all that are outdated, along with CMS software.

As mentioned earlier, plugins, and even themes can be a security risk mostly due to insecure coding practices opening up vulnerabilities in even the most up- to-date WordPress installation.  This makes it equally important to vet each before installation and to maintain updates regularly. Unfortunately many themes and plugins can be quite buggy after updating the WordPress software,  which leads many to use outdated software.

A SiteVison CMS Update Management Option:

Here at SiteVision, we host and maintain sites based on a variety of CMS platforms – Mura, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress and many more.  Some of our users feel uncomfortable updating their CMS software, patches and updates internally. Additionally, some simply don’t have the resources or time.

SiteVision is proud to offer a CMS Management Option.  We perform monthly audits, updates on all CMS software, plugins and themes, to ensure that the hosting solution we’re offering is custom tailored to your specific needs. Again, this is not WordPress specific, there are many CMS options that have unique features for your unique needs.  Just email us, or give us a call for additional information.