The word ‘hack’ has so many meanings – some positive, some negative – but when it’s said in relation to your WordPress website it’s generally not a particularly good sign.
Sure, there are terms such as “The latest hacks to keep your WordPress website running smoothly” or “Top SEO hacks for your WordPress website” which are often coined for SEO and generally positive, but what we’re talking about is the dreaded “Website Security Alert: Your website has been hacked”.
And believe it or not, attempts to hack your website occur more often than you realise!
To prove it, we analysed the number of attempted website hacks which we successfully prevented for those who have invested in our website maintenance service through the Glow app.
If you’re learning about website hacks for the first time, you may want to sit down before reading on.
Attempted website hacks in September 2020
Throughout September, our Glow website maintenance app recorded a total of 52, 589 suspicious logins across the small business websites we maintain.
Alarmingly, this works out at an average of 1,421 suspicious login attempts per WordPress website in 30 days.
If we look at what this equates to as an average per site, it works out as 47 suspicious login attempts per site, per day.
What does it mean when your website is hacked?
Put simply, a website hack occurs when someone who does not have admin control of your website uses methods and tools to obtain access with the intention of accessing your data or causing damage – such as uploading lots of dodgy files to your server that ultimately bring down your website.
Cybercriminals use a variety of different tools and techniques to perform these attacks, and often aim for websites with vulnerabilities and different network resources in a bid to extort money or steal assets.
Scary hey?!
The reality for small businesses
So, what does all this mean for small business owners with WordPress websites?
According to the Federation of Small Business (FSB) the annual cost of cyber-attacks – which includes website hacks – to the small business community is estimated to be a huge £4.5 billion.
That’s A LOT!
As you can imagine, if it were to happen to you, it could destroy your cash reserves in an instant.
Don’t believe us? In a recent survey by WebARX, 66% of businesses attacked by hackers admitted they weren’t confident they could recover financially, which is devastating.
Reducing the risk with website maintenance
Despite these alarming statistics, many business owners still don’t take the necessary action and invest in website maintenance to reduce their risk of being hacked.
And it’s not just us concerned by the increased risk, in WebARX’s 2020 security survey more than 73% of digital agencies and freelancers reported becoming increasingly worried about website security.
However, only 45% admitted they take proper measures to protect the sites they are responsible for due to the difficulties of selling maintenance to clients.
The thing is, since COVID-19 first hit the UK in March, internet usage has increased, and this is something which hackers have taken advantage of.
It’s therefore more important now than ever that you protect your business from further financial crisis and invest in website maintenance.
Aside from keeping your website operating efficiently and smoothly, website maintenance also increases your protection against being hacked.
Why not get in touch and see how we can help you?