Website Security

This series of Black Cap Design blog posts offers information about online web security.

WordPress is still the go-to CMS

July 6, 2017 in Website Management / Website Security / WordPress Development by Carrie

We have been designing and developing websites using WordPress for 8 years now and it continues to be the CMS of choice. This infographic from Matt Banner says it all: http://www.onblastblog.com/best-blogging-platforms/ Our clients continue to love WordPress because it includes blog functionality and they can make changes to content and images independently – and it is easy to customize. People using e-commerce also like the ability to add products and change pricing on their own. We love WordPress because it […]

Moving to SSL – Increased Website Security and Better SEO

July 1, 2017 in Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Security by Carrie

Google and WordPress have made it their mission to secure the Web. In the “old days” – before 2016, the only way to secure a website – and encrypt data transfer – was to purchase a costly SSL certificate. That also meant purchasing a dedicated IP address, which ruled out cost-effective shared hosting. Then, in 2016, a company called “Let’s Encrypt” developed a system to enable SSL without the need for a dedicated IP address. Google and WordPress both quickly […]

Managing Comments on your Blog

February 5, 2015 in Blogging / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Website Management / Website Security by Carrie

Are you thinking about setting up a blog? Are you trying to manage comments on an existing blog? Whether you are setting up a business, professional or personal blog, you will need to decide whether you will allow comments. Blogs help you improve your website’s SEO AND they help you connect with new and existing customers. Allowing people to post comments on your blog is a great way to make it interactive and drive even more traffic to your site. However, […]

Yes Indeed – Your WordPress Website Just Updated Itself!

April 16, 2014 in Communication / Website Management / Website Security / WordPress Development tagged CMS / WordPress by Pat

I wrote briefly about this back in October (WordPress Security: Fact or Fiction?) but it’s definitely worth mentioning again: WordPress now has the ability to update itself! Not only that, your WordPress site sends you a friendly email message telling you about it! How cool is that? If your site is powered by WordPress version 3.7 or newer it has the ability to conduct minor security updates independently. Lately, I’ve been receiving messages from clients asking me questions like “Is […]

Black Cap Design Hosting Clients are Not Affected by the Heartbleed Bug

April 11, 2014 in Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Security tagged Black Cap Design / Hosting / SSL by Pat

A quick notice to our Website Hosting clients: sites hosted with Black Cap Design are NOT affected by the Heartbleed Bug. On Monday April 7, 2014 a major security vulnerability was disclosed on the Internet that can potentially affect some half a million servers worldwide. This vulnerability, known as the Heartbleed Bug affects the encryption keys that are at the core of SSL encryption. (Unencrypted internet connections begin with http, whereas encrypted connections begin with https.) The Heartbleed Bug enables […]

Why Contact Forms are a Good Idea

April 9, 2014 in Communication / Website Management / Website Security tagged web forms / web security / website / website design by Pat

I am surprised how often I wind up on a website requiring me to download and print a simple form – then fill it out and fax or mail it back – just to send a bit of information. Don’t get me wrong – I think PDF documents are great, and I use them all the time. But Web forms provide a simple, effective and immediate mechanism for getting information from visitors to a website administrator or owner. Web forms […]

Ever wonder why there is so much spam in your inbox?

April 2, 2014 in Website Security tagged Search Engines / Spam by Pat

Do you ever wonder why there is so much spam in your email inbox? The unfortunate truth is that spam – aka unsolicited or ‘junk’ email – is an unavoidable fact of life if you actively use email on the Web. Email spam is a growing problem because it is so inexpensive and easy to generate, and it’s difficult for the authorities to identify and hold spammers accountable for their actions. The good news is there ARE some steps you […]

10 Password Safety Tips

February 20, 2014 in Website Management / Website Security tagged password generators / password storage / usernames by Carrie

Do your passwords look like this: “#47R?R)(*l*8“? If not, it may be time to think about securing your accounts. Password cracking computer programs can try to guess your password at a rate of over one hundred million passwords per second. What!? I’m not making this up (Source: Wikipedia – Password Cracking)! These password cracking programs will keep trying until they gain access to your account, unless they are stopped by a firewall or security software. Password cracking software is used […]

WordPress Security: Fact or Fiction?

November 20, 2013 in Hosting and Domain Registration / Website Management / Website Security / WordPress Development tagged CMS / Hosting / Plugins / static website / web host / WordPress by Pat

One of the biggest shifts in website development in recent years has been toward sites that can be managed independently – commonly referred to as Content Management Systems (CMS) or “dynamic” websites. WordPress has emerged as the leader due to its flexibility (with over 27,000 free plugins available for download), its intuitive administrative console and huge developer community. What many people don’t realize is that any website that enables browser-based editing (the ability for you to manage your own content […]