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What to do about website protection? The news has been reporting huge increases in cyber attacks in the last few weeks. Make no mistake about it, there are people out there actively working to hack your website. You need to be proactive with your website protection strategy.
Small business websites don't have the resources to throw at online security and are particularly vulnerable to hackers. There are steps you can take to protect your website without spending a dime. Since we work primarily with WordPress sites we'll focus on WordPress specific tips.
(Not specifically WordPress related) You don't need to pay for a good anti-virus program these days. A Google search for "free antivirus" will turn up quite a few options. We currently use the free version of Avast Mac Security and have good results.
(Not specifically WordPress related) You've heard it many times - don't open email attachments unless you are absolutely certain they are from a trusted source. Even then, be very careful with email attachments. Your trusted sender may have been hacked. One more reason to have a solid anti-virus program in place.
If you receive an email from a trusted source but for any reason you are suspicious of the email, pick up the phone and call them or text them to verify they actually sent the email. Hackers have gotten sophisticated enough to intercept email so if you use email to ask the sender if they actually sent the it, chances are you'll be talking to the hacker. It's getting crazy out there folks - be careful.
If you're sending email via your WordPress website you should utilize one of the many SMTP plugins.
WordPress is susceptible to brute force attacks from hackers. A brute force attack is simply an attempt to gain access to the website by guessing at a username and password over and over (usually employing some software to run these login attempts unattended).
Brute force attacks are common on WordPress sites. They're easy to mount and just as easy to defend against. First, we need to make sure all of our passwords are strong. By "strong" I mean made up of a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Here are some guidelines for creating strong passwords:
Since you can’t rename users in WordPress you’ll need to create an additional user account with admin privileges and then delete the original admin account.
Renaming your wp-login.php file can easily be done using a plugin like Rename WP-Login.php or Protect Your Admin. The capability to rename your login is also available in iThemes Security plugin.
WordPress updates are released frequently for the WordPress core files, themes, and plugins. Make sure you keep your site up to date by applying updates when they become available. Many of these updates contain patches to security vulnerabilities and failing to update could expose your website to security threats.
Remember this when applying updates to your WordPress website. Always install updates in this order: Plugins, Themes, WordPress Core Files.
There are lots of internet predators out there trying to do bad things with your website. You need some defense to combat these lowlifes. One of the best we've found is Wordfence. We install Wordfence on every site we build. There is a Pro version which costs $99 per year but the free version is excellent and plenty for most Wordpress sites. Install it and use it!
Another WordPress security we really like is iThemes Security. This plugin has lots of options and has been a rock-solid performer for us.
Site backups are an important step in your overall website health strategy. Your hosting provider may make periodic backups but you should make the effort to backup your site as well. We use UpdraftPlus and it's another default plugin on the WordPress websites we build.
The kind of security a VPN provides is on the way from being a luxury to becoming a necessity on the modern internet. While directly hacking a computer using its IP address is difficult today, thanks to the various firewalls employed by service providers, an IP address can still be used as a starting point to access location data that can then be used to dig up further sensitive information. What makes a VPN effective is that it encrypts your internet traffic before it reaches any server outside of your device. We recommend visiting VPNRatings.com for lots more information on VPNs.
These few steps will go a long way in preventing website headaches and should keep your site running strong.
Having problems with your WordPress website? Get in touch and we'll be happy to help.
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Looking for our Web Browser Poll? Scroll down.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.2.2" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.2.2" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.10.6" header_2_font="|600||on|||||" header_2_text_color="#ffffff" header_2_font_size="36px" header_2_letter_spacing="2px" background_color="#636363" custom_padding="15px||15px|10px|false|false" global_colors_info="{}"]It's been nine months since we last updated our statistics for the Brave browser. Here is the latest. Over a million and a quarter trackers and ads blocked by Brave with almost 25GM and 17 hours saved. Pretty impressive.
Firefox has been getting some rave reviews for their latest version of web browser. I have Firefox installed and have used it off and on since it first came on the market. The developer community is giving it high marks for its' capabilities in working with CSS and other its' developer tools. Firefox has come a long way since the days of Netscape.
Over 800,000 trackers & ads blocked. Wow. I'm not sure what I did with those 11 hours of time Brave saved but I'm pretty sure I used it to work on web design projects.
Since we began using the Brave Browser we have saved 5.6 hours and had over 400,000 trackers and ads blocked. That's a significant reduction in the usual irritations that go along with browsing the internet.
We have noticed that Brave seems to be a little more "locked down" than other browsers. Brave kicks up some security errors where other browsers don't. Is that good or bad? I prefer to error on the side of a more secure browsing experience.
I have Brave installed on my MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPhone. It's become my go-to browser and I have zero issues or problems with it on these devices.
If you haven't taken the Brave browser for a spin yet, it might be time to check it out.
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.5.5" header_2_font="|600||on|||||" header_2_text_color="#ffffff" header_2_font_size="36px" header_2_letter_spacing="2px" background_color="#636363" custom_padding="15px||15px|10px|false|false" global_colors_info="{}"]There a new browser in the fray. Created way back in 2016, the Brave Browser was updated with new algorithm code and re-released in November of 2019. Brave is FAST, in fact one of the faster web browsers out there. It runs all the extensions the Chrome runs and proudly displays its' stats on any new tab. Here are the stats registered on my install since December 15, 2019.
As you can see, Brave has saved me over an hour of time.
We like Brave and so far haven't encountered any problems using it.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" global_colors_info="{}" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.6.0" global_colors_info="{}"]Mosaic was introduced in 1993 and ushered in the age of the World Wide Web and the web browser evolution. Soon after Mosaic came Netscape's Navigator. Then in 1995, Microsoft introduced their web browser called Internet Explorer and the war was on between Netscape and Microsoft. There was a big advantage for Microsoft because they bundled Internet Explorer with it's popular Windows operating system.
By 2002 Microsoft's Internet Explorer had over 90% of the web browser market. In the late 1990s Netscape launched what would become Mozilla Foundation to develop an open source web browser which evolved into Firefox.
In 2003 Apple poked its' head in the race with their web browser named Safari. Although popular on Apple devices, Safari never caught on with the PC crowd.
Google jumped into the web browser market in 2008 with Chrome. By 2012 Chrome had absorbed market share from the competitors and was the dominant web browser in the market.
Here's a look at web browser market share as of January 2018 for desktop users.
When web browsers were in their infancy, almost all connections to the world wide web were through dial-up modems. Many of the technologies we take for granted today were just not possible with the slow transfer speeds of the dial-up modem days. Things like game playing, streaming services, YouTube videos and other data-intensive activities were not available. I can remember connecting with a 300 baud modem and waiting hours for a file to download. Today that same size file downloads in the blink of an eye.
As connection and data transfer speeds increase, web browser technology will continue to keep pace and bring us more capabilities than we ever dreamed of.
What web browser are you using? Do you use different browsers depending on the device you're using? Let us know in the comment section below. And don't forget to take our Web Browser poll.
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[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]via Team 218 Web Services https://ift.tt/XB5to2f
