As I am sure you are aware, we are great fans of WordPress. For any company with a focus on joined-up marketing, it’s a great tool for developing a professional & flexible website where content can easily be updated and integrated as part of a proactive marketing strategy. You may find ‘techy’ web developers who decry WordPress as being vulnerable to hacking. While this can sound threatening, our ‘real world‘ experience is that we have never had any problem with an up to date WordPress website. Furthermore, WordPress enjoys some notable users who demand a high level of security and reliability. Here are some of them:
- E-bay
- Sony
- VW
- Jay-Z
A wider list can be found at: http://en.wordpress.com/notable-users/ However, back at home, a recent incident highlighted an reinforced the need to ensure that your WordPress installation is up to date.
Disaster Strikes!! – well what could have been a disaster anyway!
A few weeks ago a redundant WordPress site housed on one of our test servers was hacked! Because the site was no longer live, the installation had not been updated, and was more than 2 years out of date. The hack exploited a vulnerability that had been plugged in the WordPress system 18 months ago, but that was still there in this site as it had not been updated! One of the great features of WordPress is that it is constantly being updated with patches and new features. Although this means that the core functionality of your site is continually being developed, enhanced and protected, it does mean that updates need to be applied on a regular basis.
Not an issue if BSA manages your site
Everyone who has their site managed by BSA can relax. We continually monitor WordPress updates, and ensure that updates are applied appropriately. If however you manage your own site, please don’t ignore the update messages in the admin system. Updating the site is a s simple as a couple of clicks, and can avoid a whole lot of grief! Just remember to backup your site & database before you do it (to be on the safe side!). Here are a couple of links that you may find useful if updating your own site:
