WordPress is a wonderful content managed system that solves many requirements for web site owners all over the world. But it is not full-proof when it comes to viruses and malware. I found this out personally this week. Yes, perugi.com was hacked! Although my site wasn’t outwardly symptomatic, a possible client in Florida got an “Alert!” when she went to look at my portfolio. The last thing I need is to scare away potential customers. It’s also the last thing you need.
In my research on Mashable, I learned that you should NOT save your password on your browser, where the malware can get in the back door. Mashable also recommended I uninstall WordPress and reinstall it, then rebuild the site. That’s a drastic step, which is why I called Bluehost. My trusted buddies ran a test that didn’t turn up anything too malicious. But they couldn’t be sure it was clean either.
My guy then recommended I call the folks at “We Watch Your Website“. For a reasonable fee, they quietly download your entire site, cleanup and remove any malware and other nasty things, harden the website to prevent future infections, monitor the website every four hours and update WordPress. They do this for an entire year for $50. I recommend it. I looked around for plug-ins and other software but nothing seemed legitimate. It was all glitz. At your next budget meeting, contemplate purchasing this service from me. None of us can afford a website to go down and ruin our day. Update: I got an email later telling me I had not updated the WP software on my personal site and the theory is that the hacker got in that way. Lesson learned. Always update your plugins!
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