Like many aspects of technical maintenance—backing up your system or increasing server space—the critical need for running updates on your WordPress website is only obvious when it is too late, and a hack has already occurred!

Without a maintenance plan, your organization’s WordPress website will quickly become outdated and could make your entire company vulnerable. At Mopdog, we wanted to stress the risks your business could be taking by not implementing updates in the right way.

• Security vulnerabilities in plugins can crash your server when hackers load your backend with unknown activity, like sending thousands of spam emails. This crisis could take days to investigate and solve.

• Malicious software can also be installed through an outdated plugin, which can redirect visitors to another, inappropriate site. Although a rather quick fix, the embarrassment to your brand’s image could have a lasting effect.

• Sometimes the entire dashboard (the tool your team uses to update or add website information) can be taken over. This completely limits your access to the company website, which could require a large amount of time and money to build it back from scratch.

To ensure your website is functioning and communicating correctly behind the scenes, Mopdog highly recommends running updates for your operating system, all applications and plugins within WordPress. Being compatible with the latest software and infrastructure improvements also increases the efficiency of your website.

WordPress Releases Update, Mopdog Offers Support
On May 7, WordPress issued a 4.2.2 Security and Maintenance Release, labeled as a “critical security release.” Even though WordPress has instituted fixes, it is left to individual website owners to install the necessary patches. This process is not a simple one and must start with executing a full backup of the website. A complete update requires following an exact set of steps in a particular order, otherwise the website could break down completely.

Mopdog’s team of web developers can immediately update your website to fix bugs or security issues. We can also create a proactive monthly or quarterly maintenance schedule to keep your website up to date from this point on. Please contact Mopdog CEO Bill Musial, at [email protected], to discuss WordPress vulnerabilities and how to patch your system before a problem occurs!