Imagine you wake up one morning, sit down in front of your computer with a steaming hot cup of coffee ready to take on the world and add some new content to your Joomla website when lo and behold you realize you site has been hacked. Your site is riddled with spam, you can’t login and you’re in panic mode.
“People always think, it can’t happen to them. They think hackers only go after big huge companies they are trying to infect with some doomsday virus and trying to take down the world like you see on TV and movies, but hackers get their start somewhere…like hacking on small websites that are more unobtrusive,” says Nicole of YellowWebMonkey Web Design. “We have received our fair share of middle of the night calls from business owners and employees in crisis mode who need their sites fixed ASAP due to being hacked. It’s a shame because there are ways to prevent this from happening.”
A Joomla site can be hacked through several different ways, outdated or vulnerable Joomla extensions and themes, weak passwords, incorrect web server configurations, outdated server software, being on a server where another site was hacked…the list goes on and on. “Outdated extensions and Joomla versions are by far one of the easiest ways to hack into a Joomla site,” according to Alexis, Sr Web Developer at YellowWebMonkey Web Design. “Developers are constantly releasing upgraded extensions that are a huge part of the framework of what runs a Joomla website. The Joomla Project maintains a list of vulnerable extensions, but as a business owner or an employee who has been assigned to maintain a website do you really want to have the added responsibility of going through their list on a regular basis to verify your extensions are ok? That’s something that should be left to the experts, like us.”
Fixing a hacked Joomla site is a serious undertaking that should be left up to a Joomla professional, to ensure all security vulnerabilities have been addressed. This could include everything from upgrading extensions and changing server permissions to having your site re-indexed by search engines, removing unnecessary databases, upgrading or migrating your site to the latest version of Joomla and so many more things that should only be handled by someone that knows what they are doing.
But what’s the easiest way to prevent getting hacked in the first place? Get a maintenance contract. “People have a misconception that once you set up a website it just sort of runs itself…but that is incorrect, “ says Nicole. “You have to think of a website the same way you think of your car. Cars need oil changes every 5000 miles, you have to have your tires rotated, your fluids need to be checked every so often and you have to carry insurance on them in case of accidents or mechanical breakdowns – a website is no different. Think of having a maintenance contract as insurance for your website – you don’t want to be caught without one.”
All of our plans include preventative maintenance, security checks, backups, training, extension upgrades, Joomla core upgrades and a team on call if there are any problems on your website. In addition, every month we complete our 50 point checklist to ensure your site is running optimally for security, speed, and SEO. You get a report at the end of the month letting you know what actions were taken and the current status of your site. With varying plans to fit every budget and the option to cancel anytime, you can’t go wrong.
But if you’re still not convinced you need maintenance plan, we also offer one time Oil Changes where we upgrade your extensions and upgrade you to the latest version of Joomla AND complete our 50 point checklist – so it gives you a taste of what regular maintenance is like. In addition in the event you have a hacked Joomla site we also offer an a la carte Fix My Hacked Joomla Site service
So be proactive rather than reactive – check out the various plans we have available today and let us handle your website while you handle your business.
