We’ve all heard the stories of major websites getting hacked and people’s private information being compromised. A study conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that as many as 500,000 US jobs are lost each year because of cyber espionage and that it costs the US economy as much as $100 billion a year.

You may not worry about cyberattacks. After all, your website may simply tell the story of your senior care company and doesn’t store any personal information about clients or customers. But a hacker can destroy or alter important information, or inject your site with malicious links or hijack your server in a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, which can take down your site for hours or even days. If you do store personal information about clients or customers, security becomes even more of a concern.

At IlluminAge, we understand the importance of keeping your website secure. We partner with WP Engine, one of the leaders in website security, specifically tailored to protect WordPress websites and apps. They use enterprise-grade security protocols, including third party scans from Sucuri, a leading information security firm.

Our extensive security arsenal includes:

  • AppArmor, a Linux Security Module, customized for our hosting setup
  • Suhosin, a two-part process guarding against known PHP vulnerabilities
  • Sucuri third-party scans and penetration testing to ensure top security for your site(s) at all times

Additionally, we take the following precautions to protect your information:

  • Configure Nginx to block known malicious requests on the front end before they ever reach the back end
  • Keep WordPress core and plugins up to date
  • Perform zero-hour updates for WordPress security patches
  • Scan logs 24/7 for suspicious behavior and blocking accordingly
  • Segregate Filesystem roots
  • Optionally locking down the file system

While no system of security is 100 percent foolproof, we provide several layers of security around your sites, making a security breach highly unlikely. Our record of keeping websites safe and secure is second to none and we are confident in the protection we provide to our clients.

There are also some things you can do to protect yourself from falling victim to a hacker. Update your software regularly. When companies discover vulnerabilities in their software, they will usually send out security patches that appear in the form of pop-ups or download prompts. Pay attention to these and act upon them. Choose passwords that are a combination of alphanumeric characters, symbols, and upper and lower case letters, and make them at least 12 characters long. Change your passwords often and never write them down or email them.

And never give them to anyone you don’t completely trust.