While these attacks are nothing new – our Security team identifies and defeats dozens of them every day – this current wave is sophisticated and large in scope. Many hosting providers are reporting similar issues this week.

We believe we have mitigated much of the attack, but there is a chance you could be affected as it continues. Because of the security measures we must put in place to address this, some customers have experienced difficulty accessing the admin pages for WordPress® or Joomla!®, while others have had intermittently unresponsive sites because of the attacks.

While we continue to take preventive and active measures to mitigate this attack, there’s also something you can do.

What We’re Doing

Our Security team continues to identify these attacks, down to the IP address, and block anything that looks malicious. Additionally, we’ve installed new features on every single one of our thousands of servers to block these bad actors more quickly.

What You Can Do

Regardless of whether you use WordPress or Joomla! for your website, this worldwide attack could affect you. That’s why it’s imperative that you use strong passwords.

We all know that “password123” is not a wise idea for a password, but neither are dictionary words, your dog’s name, or the name of the street you live on. Attackers have libraries of the most common passwords, and use those lists in attacks like we’re experiencing.

The tougher and more sophisticated your password, the more difficult it will be for an attacker to gain access. See x.co/strongpass for more information on creating a strong password.

And remember, if you use the same password for your hosting that you do for your bank account, an attacker could compromise much more than your website. Make sure your passwords are unique for all your accounts.

Thanks for your patience while we fight these attackers.

Here are five reasons why your business needs to be online:

1. Expanded Audience: How else can you reach your new customers without breaking the bank? You might be a local business, but with the internet you can expand your brand as far as you want.

2. Constant Availability: In a world of technology, people want information fast. With a website, customers can learn about your services, products, and business without waiting to contact you during normal business hours. Talk about instant gratification!

3. Established Credibility: More often than not, customers want to do business with companies that have a website. It reassures them that they are doing business with a credible source. Don’t drive customers away — use a website to strengthen your brand.

4. Gather Information: Online tools make it possible for you to track who and where your customers are. Determine your target audience, find leads and solidify your place in the market, all through the Web.

5. Stay Current: With a website, you can continually update your inventory, maintain accurate business information, share latest news, and answer customer questions. Your business might not be open 24 hours a day, but your website is. What a great benefit to your customers.

The updated File Manager presents drag-and-drop functionality. And we’re not just talking about files, folks.

You can now drag and drop folders from your desktop to the File Manager.

Did you ever feel like the old FTP File Manager was a bit limiting? Well, not anymore. The upload limit is increasing to 250 MB.

If you’re familiar with more robust text editing programs, like Notepad++, you might have thought the text editor in the FTP File Manager is lacking. Not anymore. The new text editor boasts syntax highlighting and WYSIWYG editing.

Keep your eyes peeled for this update. We’re releasing it in waves — so you can expect to see it live in your hosting account within the next few weeks.

1. How much do you charge per hour?
Asking how much someone charges per website is the wrong question and a lot of people ask it. Be leery of flat fees per website because each customer has different needs that take different amounts of time.

If you’re a successful clothing retailer, you’re going to need a lot of work from your Web developer. If you’re a mom-and-pop soda store, not so much. You wouldn’t expect both of these customers to pay the same price.

Getting a per-hour price lets you compare rates between developers much more easily.

2. How much do you charge per hour for maintenance?
You are going to want to change content on your website, and chances are, you won’t know how to do it yourself (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So, how are those changes going to happen?

Your Web developer’s going to make them.

Knowing the price on that work beforehand is a good idea. Getting stuck with an outdated website’s potentially hazardous to your business. Make sure you know what you’re getting into.

3. Who owns the domain name?
Domain ownership can be tricky. Make sure you know whose name and whose account the domain name is in. We all want to believe the best out of everyone all the time, but if your domain name is registered to somebody else and they skip town, you might not be able to wrest it from their controls.

In short, make sure your domain name is registered to you and accessible.

4. Who owns the hosting account?
Just like your domain name, if your Web developer has the hosting account totally under his/her control and the relationship sours, you can have a hard time getting your site back under your control.

Ideally, both your domain name and hosting account should be in your name in an account separate from the developer’s.

Unlike the domain name, though, this isn’t a total deal-breaker. Sometimes, for logistical reasons, a developer can have reasons for a convoluted hosting setup.

5. What happens if I want to go in a different direction?
No one wants to talk about breaking up at the beginning of a relationship, but knowing what can happen ahead of time helps you make sure you aren’t put in a bad situation. Get the details. Have a backup plan. Hopefully, you’ll never need it, but if you do, you’ll be glad you asked.

To be honest, there’s merit to your apprehension. Software engineers’ top priority isn’t making one solution for every problem (because that kind of magical solution doesn’t exist). So, let’s look at some quick tips to figure out which kind of hosting account you need.

Basic Build It Yourself

If you don’t know HTML from CSS from NSPE and don’t have the budget to hire a professional Web designer, you can do it yourself. Really, truly, I promise. I’ve seen it done. I’ve done it myself.

There are a lot of do-it-yourself solutions out there. Ours is aptly named Website Builder. You don’t need to know any kind of coding, scripting, or technical hoopla. It’s easy and makes beautiful sites.

Website Builder’s an all-inclusive package, too, which means it comes with both the interface you’ll use and the hosting account for it.

For more information, see What is Website Builder?

Slightly-More-Complicated Build It Yourself

Another option to get your own website up and running is to use a CMS (content management system) like WordPress®. This is a popular option for bloggers, because you can select a theme. For business sites, you can configure options to make your business website look like a website and not a blog. It takes some work, but if you have a little know-how, you can figure it out.

To make using WordPress even easier, we have a hosting account with it baked right in. We have more information in the WordPress Hosting FAQ.

Hiring a Pro & Advanced Build It Yourself

If you know how to use Adobe Dreamweaver® (or something similar) or hire a professional, you need a regular, old-fashioned hosting account. That isn’t to say it isn’t exciting — these hosting accounts offer the most flexibility of any option we’ve talked about so far. But, to get any use out of it, you have to know what you’re doing.

A good litmus test for needing a hosting account is being comfortable with FTP. If you are, you’re great. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, consider a less difficult option.

When you pick up a hosting account, you need to decide whether you want a Linux® or a Windows® account. Unless you’re running a Windows-specific language (ASP/ASP.net) or database (MS SQL®), go with Linux.

You can add hosting to your account here.

Now, with Deluxe and Premium accounts, you can customize your mobile website. If you don’t like your changes, they’re easy to reset. If you prefer not to have a mobile version of your website, you can easily disable it.

Mobile websites are optimized to display on mobile devices such as smartphones. When visitors come to your website on their mobile devices, they see a version that’s easier to view and navigate.

With the widespread use of mobile devices these days, a mobile-friendly website can increase traffic to your site — and its overall success.

For more information, see Working with Mobile Websites in Web Hosting.

Here’s a preview:

What do you think?

Website Accelerator uses a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to speed up website response time and improve performance. Not sure what a CDN is? Check it out.

Using CDN technology, Website Accelerator caches static website content on geographically disperse servers. When someone views a website powered by Website Accelerator, the cached files are delivered from the server closest to them. This makes their Web experience much faster.

To qualify for Website Accelerator your hosting account must meet the following restrictions:

• Have an Ultimate Linux Web hosting plan
• Have no SSL applied to the account
• Have a hosting account based in the U.S.
• Have a domain and hosting plan that are in the same account

Website Accelerator is free with Go Daddy Ultimate Linux Web Hosting plans that fit the criteria mentioned earlier. Eligible customers will see a Website Accelerator icon on the main page of their hosting Control Panel.

Check out these Help articles to get an idea of how it works. Or, better yet, go to your hosting Control Panel and enable Website Accelerator.

What do you think? If you have any questions, suggestions, or concerns leave a comment and let us know.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

You can install this plugin if you want to continue using the Link Manager. In fact, here’s an insightful blog post that details link management in WordPress.

Here are a few highlights:

• Adding and organizing media with drag-and-drop functionality
• A new default theme boasting a streamlined look and responsive design that displays on multiple devices
• More detailed information when upload errors display
• A leaner and cleaner dashboard display that supports retina display
• Improvements for mobile devices and Internet Explorer®

As with any application upgrade, there are bound to be plug-ins and themes that get lost in the groove. The WordPress forum is great place to stay current on known issues.

So, go and update your WordPress account. Check back with us, and let us know what you think.