I recently received a frantic text from a client who was sure she had messed up.

She received an Email on her way out the door, supposedly from her Web host. It told her in rather-official looking (at first glance) language that they had received a request to cancel her Email account, and that if she didn’t want this to happen in 3 hours she needed to click the link.

Urgency took over – she was on her way out the door, didn’t want her primary Email to be cancelled, and it looked like the Email had come from her Website or host.

She clicked the link, and then after thinking about it for a while, changed her hosting password and gave me a call.

Luckily, she caught her hasty mistake in time and nothing else came of it. She forwarded me the Email, and sure enough – had she not changed her password as quickly as she did, her site would likely have been gone.

I instructed to call her Web host to be sure, but…crisis averted.

If someone ever sends you a notification that something is going to be cancelled unless you click the link, treat it with extreme prejudice and suspicion, especially if you were not the one who started the process.

If you feel there was some kind of error, rather than clicking the link – call your Web Host (or whomever “sent” the Email) directly.

You should also avoid ever giving your Website information to a company who calls you. You never know who you are talking to or where the call is being routed from, and it is much safer to tell them that you will call back at the appropriate customer service number to handle your account.

Your website is never too small to be hacked. There are plenty of reasons why someone would hack a small business site.

If you want to learn about seven other ways you can secure your Website, read my new checklist called, “The WordPress Security Checklist: 7 “Common Sense” Tips to Keep you from Getting Hacked.”

I hope you will download it below and let me know if you have any questions.

P.S. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram!

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