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Category: Support

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The Importance of Updating WordPress

WordPress is easily one of the most used content management systems. It’s easy installation and management makes it perfect for a beginner website, while the unlimited plug-ins make it usable for even the most experienced webmaster. Content management systems and plugins will occasionally roll out updates to improve security or functionality. Though the frequency of them may get tiring, they serve many useful purposes.

Security Updates

Because WordPress is so widely used, it makes sense that website attackers will continually search for exploits to gain access to websites using the CMS. Updated to plugins and the content management system will ensure that security and functionality are at peak performance. New security exploits are being discovered all the time, therefore it is important to follow through with every update.

Speed Increases

WordPress developers are constant retooling the content management system to fine tune it for speed increases. By adapting the coding of program, bugs are eradicated and plugins are able to work more efficiently. Updating WordPress regularly can ensure websites are achieving the best possible speed they can.

Unlock New Features

New features and plugins are being created for WordPress constantly. In order to use these cutting edge plugins, the newest version of WordPress will need to be installed in most cases to avoid compatibility issues. Not updating your CMS can make it harder to install helpful resources and plugins that can benefit visitors or make website redesigns a nightmare. Many WordPress users rely on a webmaster to perform content management system or plugin updates to keep their site running at its full potential. In order to ensure no issues are run into during an update this is most often the best solution. When WordPress updates are installed improperly websites can lose certain functionality, or worse completely crash.

If you are in need of a webmaster, you can fill out our contact form to get started today. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn!

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Critical WordPress Security Holes Patched by Update 4.6.1

Padlock and keyhole in a printed circuit. Digital illustration.

WordPress recently encouraged webmasters to update their CMS packages to avoid the problems found with newly discovered vulnerability exploits. The company put out a security advisory with the latest version of the content management system warning webmasters of the potential threat.

WordPress, 4.6.1 contains an update to patch a cross-site scripting vulnerability and a path traversal security flaw, both grave security threats. An attacker can utilize these exploits to perform a wide variety of malice-based actions. Potential problems can include stealing session tokens and determining login credentials.

However, the most dangerous problem faced with these security threats is the ability of an attacker to remotely execute malicious code. These problems came from the discovery for attackers to take advantage of a scripting vulnerability related to image filenames on a WordPress site to utilize malicious JavaScript code.

This problem was discovered by SumOfPwn researcher Cengiz Han. The path transversal vulnerability, discovered by WordPress itself, was attributed to the upgrade package uploader. These problems are no longer an issue with WordPress version 4.6.1, but any versions that haven’t been updated are still vulnerable to this attack method. It is recommended that if you have no upgrade the content management system within your website that you do so immediately. The longer webmasters wait, the longer the website is at risk.

The newest version of WordPress also patched 15 different bugs that users were experiencing. These bugs included server setup problems for email, image thumbnail behaviors and infinite loop errors with plugin installations. For information on bugs that were specifically fixed see the release notes and list of changes. If you are worried about the vulnerability of your website, please contact your webmaster. If the updates or content management are installed incorrectly, the site may become unusable! The webmaster should be able to identify the WordPress version currently being used and update it as necessary.

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Protecting WordPress from Brute Force Attacks

Business people with stress and worries in office

WordPress has long been known as a user-friendly way to create your own website. With the availability of easily installed themes creating a content-ready website can be as simple as a few clicks. As simple as the website creation tool is, it’s not without its vulnerabilities. Among the most prevalent issues WordPress users run in to, brute force attacks have taken center stage. Users may wake up and find they have had thousands of malicious log-in attempts and be fearful that the site they’ve worked so hard to start is no longer secure. In the earliest installments of WordPress, logging into your dashboard was defaulted to the username “admin”. Without changing the username to make it unique your site would be at risk. Today many behind the brute force attacks work assuming that your username is still admin. By inputting the username “admin” and repeatedly attempting different passwords the attack can be successful if the user hasn’t made the effort to secure the log in credentials. Though the threat of a brute force attack can be a scary prospect there are many steps you can take to ensure that even if malicious log-ins are detected, your site is secure. Switch from the Admin Username The most efficient way to change your WordPress username is to create a new user with an updated email and assign the user to the administrator role. Once this is complete you can log in under the new username and delete the old username. Creating a Secure Password When creating a password, it’s important to not use real words or any variation of your website or personal name. Many password generators have become available to the public to create strong passwords using a variety of different characters. Though these are the most basic ways to protect a WordPress site from brute force attacks, advanced users have many other options to fortify their accounts. Limiting IP access to log in pages, using security plug-ins and banning IP addresses are all options to keep attacks at bay and protect

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Support

Unfrustrate your Website Maintenance

In this day and age, it is enormously vital to have a website to give your business an online presence. With the amount of time that people spend on the internet, a website has become the face of many small businesses and big businesses alike; a face that should always give a good first impression of the business. Websites offer current clients and potential customers an opportunity to engage with businesses to obtain detailed information and to interact with what that business has to offer. If information is outdated or a user’s experience becomes negative because of broken links, then it is definitely time for a little website maintenance to save face. The proper maintenance of a website takes time, a lot of effort, and can be frustrating for a business owner already pulled in a thousand different directions on a daily basis. We want you to know that the experienced team at Skynet Solutions has your back and can help any business with the following common website maintenance tasks: Move, change, add, update, or delete web links Add, change, resize, edit, update, or remove images Embed, replace, edit, and remove videos Replace or change existing logos and create new logos Update contact information or any other website text content Update meta keywords, page titles, and descriptions Update website buttons, inventory pricing, and shopping cart software Make changes and updates to website and newsletter layouts Adjust formatting and style enhancements of layouts Provide statistics on website traffic and visitor information Consult on search engine optimization and implement a plan of action Generate an easily navigable sitemap for search engines to index Work on all platforms (e.g. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Ruby on Rails, etc.) Let Skynet Solutions uncomplicate your website maintenance today. Give our skilled staff a call at 918-895-1982 to get started.

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Is Firefox About to Make its Comeback?

Remember when Firefox was the cool browser to use? It was a time before Google Chrome, when Internet Explorer first started to fall.

As you can imagine, Mozilla isn’t happy with Firefox’s declining user base, and they’ve developed a plan to begin regaining territory lost to Chrome. This plan revolves around a three-pillar philosophy

1. Quality – Ensuring that every feature is streamlined and enjoyable to use.

2. Uniquely Firefox – Giving users Control to shape their web with a strong focus on online privacy.

3. Best of the Web – Creating better integration with add-ons and partners.

More usage of Firefox could mean less search volume for Google, as Firefox no longer uses Google as its default search engine. It’s hard to say exactly what else this would mean for the future, but it’s safe to assume that Google, Apple, and Microsoft will react and bring even more changes to our current selection of browsers.

Either way, this fierce competition will likely end in victory for consumers!

Information sourced from News360 Article: Mozilla outlines three-step plan to win back Firefox users

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Is Your Bandwidth Dying? Windows 10 Could Be Culprit

Has anyone else noticed an especially slow network lately? Well, according to Senior Technical Instructor, Doug Bassett, if you’re not using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), “It’s not you, it’s not crazy, it’s not malware, it’s just Microsoft pushing out Windows 10 to as many people as possible.”

Many IT admins out there have reported that their networks slowed to a crawl when those files were automatically pushed to their computers and none are happy about it. Especially those who deal with hundreds of computers on a limited amount of bandwidth.

In a statement from Microsoft, “For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade. When the upgrade is ready, the customer will be prompted to install Windows 10 on the device.” How thoughtful of them.

In the meantime, every computer on your network could be pulling somewhere between 2 to 4.3 gigabites of unwelcome data whether or not you actually decide to upgrade to Windows 10. These files are reportedly being stored on the Local Disk in a hidden folder that’s called $Windows.~BT.

So, what can be done about this? Well, Doug Bassett recommends that you use WSUS. Unfortunately, not all of us can simply do that, so his other work-around is to, “Either set a group policy to turn off automatic updates,” or “go and manually do it. Hopefully you don’t have 10,000 machines trying to settle this stuff up.”

Good luck! We hope you don’t have 10,000 machines to do by hand either!

Skynet Solutions offers premium eCommerce support services, digital marketing, SEO implementation, custom development & graphic design.

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