Frequently Asked Questions

Updates are an imperative part of website maintenance. Generally speaking, software (and the code that your website is built from) can be updated for a number of reasons. It may be to include new features, or improve the functionality. Above all though, it’s for security purposes.

If you run a WordPress website, there are 3 different elements to it that will require updating.

1. WordPress Core files
2. Your sites Theme
3. Any Plugins that are used on your site

Core files, put simply is WordPress. It’s all the behind-the-scenes code that makes your website work. These updates come directly from WordPress and always include security patches and bug fixes.

The Theme is generally what makes your site look the way it does. It is often referred to as the site ‘template’. These are designed and built by a third party, usually development companies who sell their Themes through online market places. Much like Core files, themes are updated to improve security. They are also updated to maintain compatibility with WordPress core updates.

Finally, Plugins are the additional tools that are required to make your website do what it does. Any contact forms, shopping carts, image galleries running on your site are probably all Plugins. Plugins can be developed by anybody with an understanding of how WordPress works, and therefore come in all shapes and sizes. Some are used by over a million websites, whereas others might only be used by ten. Some are updated weekly, others may not have changed in a year. Plugins are a key component when it comes to maintaining the speed and security of your website, as there are many variables that can have an impact. Our website scans alert us of any plugins that pose as risks to the health of your site.

Backups are a ‘snapshot’ of the current state of your site. When a backup is performed, the database is downloaded and all sites files are collated into an archive.

Backups are created in the event that your site gets damaged, either by human error (if you or a team member accidentally edits/deletes the wrong thing), or in the event of an attack. Thankfully, we minimise the latter with regular updates of your sites core, theme and plugin files. Backups can be restored to return a site to its previous state.

We also perform backups before we update anything, just in case there are any compatibility errors between new version of WordPress and plugins that may be in use.

Backups are stored securely on the cloud using Amazon S3 servers.

It is often thought that a hacker is simply an individual with a laptop who might sit in a room and manually try to log in to someone’s site.

Unfortunately this is not the case, it’s far worse. Some nasty people write scripts that are designed to automate the entire hacking process. As an easy way to think about how this works, consider how Google adds sites to its search results.‘Bots’ scan through all the webpages on the internet and then determine how they should be ranked in the search results. With hacking, bots scan websites for vulnerabilities. A vulnerability in this instance could basically be considered as a way into your sites data. Once this bot has determined that it has access to your sites files, that’s when the damage happens.

An important thing to note is that a hacked site is not a personal attack. It can be easy to feel violated in this instance, which is why it’s important to stay vigilant with website security.

It depends on the incident. Sometimes sites are hacked in attempt to steal personal information such as email addresses for spamming, or credit card details.

Other times, a script might alter the contents of all your sites pages, displaying spam ads for pharmaceutical products (as an example). In addition to this, it may redirect the user to a harmful site that prompts them to enter their details, passwords etc. When on those sites, it may try to download harmful files to the users computer.

In other cases, the nature of the attack could purely be destructive. Files will start to go missing from your sites server and within 48 hours everything could be deleted forever. Once it’s gone, that’s it. Play it safe and let us help you, by backing up your site regularly.

We offer subscription based plans, designed to cater to the budgets of smaller businesses through to larger companies.

There are no hidden fees, only the monthly payment.

Our subscriptions bill each month.

When purchasing a subscription through our site, you will be prompted to enter your credit card details.

We use Paypal, a leading online payment system to handle all our payments. We’re not privy to your credit card details and therefore do not have them on record. Subscriptions will automatically renew each month and an invoice will be sent to you with each renewal. We believe in transparency with our customers.

Our site also has a valid SSL Certificate for added security.

Simply get in touch. Subscriptions are not locked into any contract, so you are welcome to reach out if you feel our service is not suitable for you.

GoHostSecure Website Management can quote on other development work on a per-job basis.

As part of the monthly reports we send out, we may advise on ways to improve your sites performance. There may be instances where achieving desired results requires additional costs outside of the services that we offer in our plans. We’re happy to discuss options as part of our consultancy, while reminding you that you are not under any obligation to hire GoHostSecure Website Management to carry out additional work based on our recommendations.