The Only 3 Security Things Small Businesses Actually Need
The internet is full of overwhelming security advice. Firewalls, penetration testing, intrusion detection systems, security audits – it’s enough to make you want to unplug your website and go back to the Yellow Pages.
Here’s the truth: Most small businesses don’t need enterprise-level security. You need three things done consistently. That’s it.
I’ve been hosting and maintaining websites since 1999, and I can tell you that nearly every security problem I’ve seen came down to one of these three issues. Fix these, and you’re ahead of 80% of small businesses out there.
1. Strong Passwords (And Stop Reusing Them)
This sounds basic because it is basic. It’s also the #1 way websites get compromised.
“Password123” doesn’t cut it. Neither does your business name plus the current year. And please, for the love of all that’s holy, stop using the same password for your website, email, bank account, and Netflix.
What Actually Works
Use a password manager. I don’t care which one – 1Password, LastPass, Bitwarden – just pick one and use it. Let it generate random passwords for everything. You only need to remember one master password.
For your WordPress admin account, think 16+ characters minimum. Mix uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. Let the password manager handle it.
Multi-factor authentication adds another layer. Even if someone steals your password, they still need your phone to get in. It takes two minutes to set up and stops most automated attacks cold.
The password manager costs less per month than a single cup of coffee. Compare that to recovering from a hacked website.
2. Regular Backups (And Actually Test Them)
Backups are your safety net. Everything else can fail, and you’ll survive if you have clean backups.
I tell every client the same thing: your website will eventually have a problem. Could be a bad update, could be a server failure, could be a hack. When it happens, you need backups from before the problem started.
What You Actually Need
Automated daily backups stored somewhere OTHER than your web server. If your server crashes, backups on that same server are worthless.
Keep at least 30 days of backups. You might not notice a problem immediately, and you need the option to restore from before the issue started.
Test your backups at least once a quarter. I’ve seen too many businesses discover during an emergency that their backups were corrupted or incomplete. Fifteen minutes testing now beats hours of panic later.
Document how to restore. When your website is down and you’re stressed, you don’t want to be figuring out the restoration process for the first time.
Most quality hosting providers include automated backups. If yours doesn’t, that’s a red flag about their service quality. Backup plugins like UpdraftPlus work well for WordPress sites if you need to handle it yourself.
3. Keep Your Software Updated
Old software is vulnerable software. This applies to WordPress, your theme, every plugin you have installed, and PHP on the server.
Security patches exist because someone found a vulnerability. When updates come out, hackers know exactly what vulnerability was fixed. They scan the internet looking for sites that haven’t updated yet. Don’t be low-hanging fruit.
How to Actually Do This
Updates need testing before going live. A staging site – basically a copy of your website – lets you test updates safely. If something breaks, you fix it on the staging site before it affects your live website.
Always back up before updating. If an update causes problems, you can restore the previous version quickly.
Critical security updates get priority. Regular feature updates can wait a few days for testing. Security patches should go live as soon as you’ve verified they don’t break anything.
WordPress core, PHP version, themes, plugins – all of it needs updating. Outdated plugins are one of the most common entry points for attacks.
If you don’t have someone monitoring updates regularly, you need a maintenance plan. Letting updates pile up for months creates compound problems that get harder and expensive to fix.
What About Everything Else?
SSL certificates, firewalls, security scanning, malware detection – these matter too. But honestly, most quality hosting providers handle these automatically. If your host doesn’t include SSL, automatic malware scanning, and basic firewall protection, you’re with the wrong host.
The three things above are what YOU need to actively manage or verify someone is managing for you.
The Reality for Small Businesses
You’re busy running your actual business. You don’t have time to become a security expert, and you shouldn’t need to.
But you do need these three things handled consistently. Either build them into your routine, or work with someone who includes them in a maintenance plan.
Strong passwords, regular backups, software updates. Get these right, and you’ve addressed the vast majority of security risks facing small business websites.
Everything else is just noise.
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