WordPress Security Basics: How We Keep Client Sites Safe (and What You Can Do Yourself)

WordPress powers about a third of all websites, which makes it a target for automated attacks. The good news is that most WordPress hacks are preventable with a handful of basics — and most of those basics are free.

Daily off-site backups

If your site is hacked, corrupted, or accidentally deleted, a recent backup is the difference between a 10-minute restore and a total loss. We back up every client site daily, off-site, and keep 30 days of history. A backup you cannot restore from is not a backup.

Plugin and core updates without breaking the site

Outdated plugins and WordPress core are the most common way sites get hacked. But updating a plugin can also break a site if it conflicts with another plugin or your theme. We stage updates, test them, and roll back if needed — so updates happen without downtime.

Our free Sentinel scanner for vulnerabilities

Sentinel is our free WordPress security scanner at sentinel.definemarketing.com.au. It checks your site for known vulnerabilities, outdated plugins, weak passwords, and common misconfigurations, and gives you a plain-English report. Run it monthly, and fix what it finds before an attacker does.

Cloudways managed hosting and firewall

We host client sites on Cloudways, which includes a server-level firewall, automatic SSL, and one-click staging clones. Managed hosting means the server, PHP, and database are kept up to date for you — you are not relying on a plugin to patch a server vulnerability.

If you manage your own WordPress site, start with daily backups, monthly updates, and a free scan from Sentinel. If you want us to handle all of it, that is exactly what our supporting services cover.