Heartbleed – What is it and why you need protection on your WordPress Site
May 1, 2014 · 4
Table of Contents
Heartbleed: An Epic Catastrophe
Last week, we all found out about Heartbleed – one of the most dangerous vulnerabilities to WordPress sites to date. In simple terms, it’s like having a big hole in your backyard fence and not noticing it for a few years.
Because of it, hackers have a key to the back doors of millions of WordPress websites. They can use the security vulnerability to steal usernames and passwords, confidential emails, credit card information, and all kinds of other records. You’ve probably heard about it, too, because it’s turned into an international news story.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Heartbleed is an 11.
It’s really that serious. Now that Heartbleed is public, it’s just a matter of time before hackers jump on the bandwagon and start exploiting it on YOUR WordPress website (if they haven’t already). That means sites that haven’t fixed their technology to protect your private data are leaving you vulnerable.
Why is Heartbleed So Dangerous to You?
It’s not only about your current website. Any site that you entered data into may have been compromised – and we’re talking about more than a two-year period where this security hole went undetected – and that means there’s more to do than just “patch things up.”
You have to go to all of the sites you’ve used that may have been compromised (here’s a list) and change your passwords. That includes Gmail, Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo! and dozens of others. Why? Because your login information could’ve been stolen any time between 2011 and last week.
What Are We Doing About It?
We’re working hard to fix all of the problems Heartbleed has caused, particularly on sites that don’t have the added layer of protection from our WP-SUB package, so that your data is safe and secure. Sites that have an extra layer of protection from our premium security plugins are inherently safer, but Heartbleed has still compromised as many as 70 percent of all websites worldwide.
How WP-SUB Helps Against Problems Like Heartbleed
Our WordPress Security, Updates and Backup package helps mitigate the risks of having a WordPress site. You’re protected from data loss, hacking and attacks because there’s a built-in Malware and Security Scanner. If someone attempts to get into your site, we’ll know exactly what happened and continue providing protection.
Could Your Site Have Been Compromised?
If you subscribe to our WP-SUB package, you need to know that we back up your site regularly. We use premium security plugins and constantly scan for malware and security breaches – including attempts that hackers make to figure out your password. As part of the package, we also make sure that your site is running on the latest version of WordPress (and they’ve already fixed the security issues that Heartbleed has caused).
Post-Heartbleed: What Now?
When something like this rocks the Internet community, it makes all of us wonder what’s coming next.
We really can’t stress it enough: you need to be running the most recent versions of WordPress and have extreme security protection. Heartbleed is just one example of the many, many dangers that WordPress sites face every single day. Because WordPress is such a popular platform – hackers know that 70 percent of all sites online use it – it’s always going to be vulnerable to attack.
Protecting yourself ahead of time is one of the most effective ways to keep your data secure, and that’s what the WP-SUB package is designed to do.
You can subscribe to WP-SUB annually or get a monthly subscription to help head off problems from security holes like Heartbleed. You don’t have to do anything once you’ve subscribed. We’ll handle all of the work so that you don’t have to worry about losing leads, data security or compromising your visitors’ information.
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