Security and Backup
Brute Force Attack Protection
Brute force attacks are the most common way a hacker gains access to your site. Hackers employ networks of remotely controlled computers to spam your login field in an effort to guess your username and password. If a hacker uses this technique it can slow down your site, gain access to your content, and jeopardize your legitimacy.
Jetpack provides Brute Force protection by blocking flagged malicious IPs before they reach your site and by limiting login attempts. You can view attack statistics from your dashboard, whitelist known IP addresses to avoid false positives or turn the feature on or off whenever you like.
Secure Authentication
Every user of your site is a potential security fail point. Secure Authentication prevents users, authors, and contributors from using weak passwords, accidental sharing of user account credentials, and malicious disclosure of leaks of admin passwords. It does this by using the same login methods and credentials found on your WordPress.com account. This option is compatible with your existing login systems and you can bypass or disable the default WordPress login form. Most importantly, you gain access to two-factor authentication for your network. This is a very handy tool to prevent common exploits to your site.
Site Backups
You may be thinking that your web hosting service provides a backup of your website for you. Most providers will include backups in their packages, but a smart webmaster will always keep a second backup just in case.
Jetpack provides automatic daily or real-time backups of your entire site with unlimited storage space. You have access to either a 30 day or unlimited backup history depending on your needs. These secure, offsite backups are completely separate from your hosting provider, so if your hosting provider is hacked or disabled for any reason, you still have a copy of your site. You also have the ability to migrate and restore your site to any new hosting provider in case that your current provider fails to honor your contract. And best of all, these backups are managed by Automattic, the company behind WordPress who hosts world-class websites such as the NY Times and CNN.com, not to mention WordPress.com. Site backups are provided for paid plans starting at $3.50/month.
Security Scanning
When a hacker gains access to your site they can wreak havoc on your users. They are usually stealthy and make subtle changes that can range from redirecting your users to different sites to stealing user information. All of this can ruin your brand’s reputation and cost you traffic.
Jetpack provides Security Scanning as part of its paid services. These scans act just like your home antivirus by scanning your site code for malicious changes and activity. You can request scans on-demand if you feel something is off. You will receive instant email notifications when a threat is detected with detailed information about the threat and the affected files. Jetpack provides automated resolution for a large percentage of known threats and you also have expert priority support from Automattic’s Happiness Engineering team to help you address any issues.
Spam Filtering
An unsung hero of the internet, Spam Filtering is a subtle feature with widespread effects. Web spammers usually place unsavory content in your comments section to redirect your users to the spammer’s affiliates, costing you traffic and angering your users. Search engines also frown on this sort of behavior because it affects the user experience, this can cause your site to lose ranking. Depending on the site that the user is redirected to, they could become compromised and infiltrated with malicious code.
Jetpack provides Spam Filtering as part of its paid services and will automatically filter comments, pingbacks, and contact form submissions for known spam.
You can review flagged content, view stats about spam activity and the service is easily activated from your dashboard.
Downtime Monitoring
This is a simple and fantastic feature. Jetpack will check your site every five minutes from multiple locations around the world to ensure your site is accessible. If Jetpack cannot reach your site you will receive an email notification for how long your site was offline and another when your site comes back online. Once your site is back up you will see the total time your site was offline. This is great if your site is heavily trafficked in order for your team to troubleshoot any potential issues.
Automatic Plugin Updates
Out of date plugins become problematic security holes if they are not updated or replaced in a timely manner. Hackers use commonly known plugin vulnerabilities as access vectors for infiltrating your site, which is no bueno.
Plugins receive updates not just for security purposes, but also for new features. Keeping your site’s plugins up to date is a great idea but requires commitment and time, so why not automate it?
Jetpack has an option to update your site, or all of your sites’, plugins at once. Jetpack will also notify you if a plugin fails to update or updates successfully.
Site Restores and Migrations
Backups and Migrations are very important, and let me repeat that, very important. Nothing is worse than losing your site for a multitude of easily thwarted reasons. Jetpack offers unlimited backups with their paid plans.
Jetpack will handle backing up your whole site and at the click of a button you can restore your site to an earlier version should the need arise. You can choose to restore the entire site, or perhaps just a few parts such as the themes, plugins, content, or database. You can also manually restore your site if you so choose.
But let’s say the reason your site failed was due to a faulty hosting solution, well enter the Jetpack migration feature. Jetpack makes it easy to migrate a backup of your site to another host just by installing the Jetpack plugin on the new host. You also have access to expert support who can help you handle your restore and migration needs.
Expert, Priority WordPress Support
A paid membership entitles you to Automattic’s expert support. This is useful for a number of reasons such as your site having custom configurations that automated services are unaccustomed to, perhaps you are a victim of a new form of attack or threat, or maybe there is a limitation to the automated services that haven’t been discovered yet.
When you sign up with Jetpack your tickets are prioritized, regardless of your timezone, and the support staff is supported by the team and developers who build the security services.
Wrap Up
Site security ensures the safety of your content and the legitimacy of your brand, it is a foundation of any web presence. Next up, tools for engaging your visitors.
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