Website back-up and other useful resources
Episode #10 of the course Cyber security for small business by Cat Paterson
It’s all going swimmingly. You have a gorgeous website, there’s a steady stream of traffic, and then boom—you delete a bit of code by mistake, you’ve missed a critical WordPress update, malware has infected your site, or you’re in the middle of moving hosts (now you’ve found a more secure site) and your lovely website has suddenly up and disappeared.
But it’s okay. You regularly back up your site…don’t you?
A bit like finding a secure host, you don’t know what you don’t know, and regular back-ups are an oft-overlooked part of owning and operating a successful and secure website.
Back-ups are an essential part of maintenance, but just because (hopefully) you won’t need to use them that often doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make the process a regular task. No website is immune from a bit of technical drama now and again.
I would recommend backing up daily, especially if you have loads of traffic to your site or make changes regularly. At a minimum, this should be done monthly for site files and weekly for database files, but certainly do it immediately after you have made any changes like posting a blog or changing some code (if you’re a bit more website-savvy).
Back-ups should also be done prior to installing a new version of WordPress so that if anything goes awry, you can slide back to a previous version.
There are loads of ways to perform back-ups; there are plug-ins galore, some more technical than others.
Here are some considerations when thinking about a method of back-up:
1. Can the back-up be automated so you can set it and forget it, especially to fit in with a regular schedule?
2. Does the back-up get automatically stored in Dropbox or another cloud storage provider for easy access? If it’s only held by the web host provider and they get hacked, you’ve got a problem. It’s best to store back-ups elsewhere
3. Can the back-up be easily restored? It’s all very well backing up the files, but can they be re-installed easily?
4. Consider using an online service that performs the back-up and stores your data for a monthly fee.
5. Use a WordPress plug-in that performs scheduled back-ups and stores them in cloud storage.
By this point, you should be a bit savvier about your security and either feel calm that you’ve got it under control or now have a checklist of things you need to go and do immediately.
Thanks for taking the time to go through this course, and congratulations on getting your digital world secure!
Resources:
If you want to get into more detail about cyber security, then the Sophos Threatsaurus is a must-read. It literally covers every term from A-Z relevant to cyber security.
Apple publishes their current security updates here.
Windows publishes their current security updates here.
How to choose between a hardware firewall and software firewall.
How to choose a hosting provider.
Download a FREE cyber security audit worksheet to start protecting your digital world (link in the bio section too)
Recommended book
“CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-301 Study Guide” by Darril Gibson
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