You’ve invested countless hours and a significant amount of money into building your beautiful new website. It’s your digital storefront, your 24/7 salesperson, and the proud face of your brand. But like any valuable asset, it’s also a target. For many South African small business owners, the idea of website security feels abstract and overwhelming—a problem for big banks and massive e-commerce sites, not for a local startup.
This is, unfortunately, a dangerously outdated belief.
In 2025, cybercriminals are increasingly turning their attention to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) for one simple reason: they are often the easiest targets. While large corporations have entire teams dedicated to cybersecurity, many SMEs operate with a “set it and forget it” mentality, leaving their digital doors wide open. A successful hack can be devastating, leading to financial loss, theft of customer data, severe reputational damage, and even legal action under POPIA.
The most frustrating part? The vast majority of website hacks are not the result of sophisticated, movie-style attacks. They are the result of a few simple, common, and entirely avoidable mistakes.
This guide is your essential security briefing. We are going to shine a spotlight on the five most common security mistakes that business owners make with their websites. We’ll explain why each one is so dangerous in a South African context and provide a clear, actionable plan to fix it today. You don’t need to be a cybersecurity expert to be secure; you just need to be diligent. Let’s lock the doors.
Mistake #1: Using Weak and Reused Passwords
This is, without a doubt, the number one cause of website security breaches globally. A password is the key to your entire digital kingdom, yet many people create keys made of glass.
The Mistake:
You set the password for your WordPress admin account to YourBusinessName2025! or Password123!. Worse still, you use this same password, or a slight variation of it, for your cPanel login, your business email, your bank account, and your social media profiles.
Why It’s So Dangerous:
Cybercriminals use automated software to conduct “brute-force attacks,” where they try thousands of common password combinations per second. Simple, predictable passwords can be cracked in minutes.
The bigger danger, however, is password reuse. Massive data breaches happen constantly (think of past breaches at large companies like LinkedIn, Adobe, or even local services). In these breaches, lists of millions of email addresses and their corresponding passwords are stolen and then sold or shared on the dark web. Hackers take these lists and run “credential stuffing” attacks. They systematically try your leaked email and password combination on thousands of other websites—like your WordPress login page. If you’ve reused your password, they are guaranteed to get in.
In the South African context, where password reuse is rampant, this is a ticking time bomb. A single weak password from an unrelated, breached service can give a criminal the keys to your entire business website.
How to Fix It: The Password Security Overhaul
- Embrace Complexity: A strong password is long and random. It should have:
- At least 12-16 characters.
- A mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols (e.g.,
!@#$%^&*). - Crucially, it should not be a recognizable word or phrase.
Tr0ub4dor&3is a weak password because “troubador” is a dictionary word.R7$!z@qP#bV&kE*9is a strong password.
- Get a Password Manager (This is Non-Negotiable): It is humanly impossible to create and remember unique, strong passwords for every single online account. A password manager is the solution. Reputable services like 1Password, Bitwarden (which has a great free tier), or Dashlane will:
- Generate incredibly strong, random passwords for you with one click.
- Securely store all your passwords in an encrypted “vault.”
- Automatically fill in your login details on websites. You only need to remember one single, master password—the one to unlock your password manager. Make this one your strongest ever.
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): 2FA is a crucial second layer of security. Even if a hacker steals your password, they can’t log in without a second piece of information—usually a temporary code sent to your phone. Enable 2FA on every service that offers it, especially your WordPress admin, cPanel, and email accounts.
Action Item: Go and change your key passwords right now. Start with your hosting/cPanel login and your main WordPress administrator account. Use a password manager to generate new, strong, unique passwords for them.
Mistake #2: Neglecting Software Updates
Your website is a complex piece of software, built on multiple layers: the WordPress core, your theme, and your plugins. Every one of these is a potential entry point for an attacker.
The Mistake:
You see the update notifications in your WordPress dashboard—”2 plugins need updating,” “WordPress 6.8 is available”—and you ignore them. You think, “The site is working fine, I don’t want to risk breaking something.”
Why It’s So Dangerous:
This is arguably the most critical mistake after weak passwords. According to cybersecurity firms like Wordfence and Patchstack, vulnerabilities in outdated plugins and themes are the leading cause of WordPress website hacks. In May 2025 alone, over 140 new vulnerabilities were discovered in WordPress plugins.
When a security vulnerability is discovered in a piece of software, the developers quickly release a patch to fix it in the form of an update. Hackers actively monitor these update releases. They know that millions of website owners are slow to update, so they create automated bots that scan the internet for sites running the old, vulnerable version of the software and attack them.
By not updating, you are essentially leaving a known, unlocked back door to your website that hackers are actively searching for.
How to Fix It: A Culture of Constant Updates
- Make it a Weekly Habit: Set a reminder in your calendar to log into your WordPress dashboard once a week and check for updates. The process is usually as simple as ticking a few boxes and clicking “Update.”
- Backup Before You Update: The fear of an update breaking something is legitimate, although rare. The solution is simple: always perform a full website backup before you run any major updates. If something does go wrong, you can restore your site to its previous state in minutes. (See Mistake #4).
- Enable Automatic Updates (with caution): WordPress can automatically update plugins, themes, and its core software. For minor security releases of the WordPress core, this is a great idea. For major plugin updates, some webmasters prefer to do it manually after a backup, just in case. You can configure these settings in your dashboard.
- Delete What You Don’t Use: If you have plugins or themes that are installed but not active, don’t just leave them there. Delete them completely. They can still contain security vulnerabilities even when they are inactive.
Action Item: Log into your WordPress site today. Go to Dashboard > Updates. If you see any available updates, perform a backup, and then apply them immediately.
Mistake #3: Not Using SSL/HTTPS (The “Not Secure” Warning)
We’ve covered this in detail before, but it bears repeating as it remains a common and damaging mistake for new businesses.
The Mistake:
Your website loads over http:// instead of the secure https://. There is no padlock icon in the visitor’s browser bar.
Why It’s So Dangerous:
- Data Interception: Any data submitted through your contact forms—names, emails, messages—is sent in plain text and can be intercepted by hackers, especially on public Wi-Fi.
- POPIA Non-Compliance: This is a direct failure to take a “reasonable technical measure” to protect personal information, putting you at legal risk.
- Destroys Customer Trust: Google Chrome and other browsers actively display a “Not Secure” warning on
http://sites. This warning sign immediately erodes visitor trust and can cause them to leave your site, costing you leads and sales. - Negative SEO Impact: Google uses HTTPS as a positive ranking signal. Not having it puts you at a disadvantage compared to your secure competitors.
How to Fix It: The Easiest Security Win
- Get a Free SSL Certificate: There is no longer any cost barrier to SSL. Every reputable hosting provider in South Africa, including Coolhost, offers a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate with every hosting plan.
- Activate it in cPanel: Log into your cPanel, find the “SSL/TLS Status” or “Let’s Encrypt SSL” tool, and follow the simple on-screen instructions to issue and install the certificate for your domain.
- Enforce HTTPS: Install a simple plugin like “Really Simple SSL” on your WordPress site to ensure all visitors are automatically redirected to the secure
https://version.
Action Item: If your site is not secure, contact your hosting provider’s support team today and ask them to help you activate your free SSL certificate. This is a five-minute job that has a massive impact.
Mistake #4: Having No (or a Poor) Backup Strategy
You assume your hosting provider is handling it, or you simply forget. You have no reliable, recent copy of your website stored in a safe place.
The Mistake:
You have no automated backup system in place. The only copy of your website is the live version on the server.
Why It’s So Dangerous:
Disaster can strike at any time. A hack, a server failure, a faulty update, or a simple human error could corrupt or completely delete your website. Without a backup, years of work—your content, your design, your customer data—could be gone forever. It’s the digital equivalent of your entire business premises burning down with no insurance.
How to Fix It: Your 3-2-1 Insurance Policy
- Confirm Your Host’s Backups: Your hosting provider should be your first line of defence. Confirm that they take, at a minimum, daily automated backups of your site.
- Implement Your Own Automated Backups: For ultimate peace of mind, install a trusted WordPress backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or Duplicator.
- Store Backups Off-Site: This is the crucial step. Configure your backup plugin to automatically send a copy of your backup files to a separate, off-site cloud storage location like your personal Google Drive, Dropbox, or a dedicated service like Amazon S3. This protects you even in the rare event that something happens to your entire hosting server.
Action Item: Install and configure a WordPress backup plugin today. Set it to run on an automatic schedule and connect it to an off-site storage location. Test it by performing a backup and ensuring the file appears in your cloud storage.
Mistake #5: Poor User Role Management
When you first build your site, you are the only user, with full “Administrator” privileges. As your business grows, you might give access to a freelance writer, a developer, or an employee.
The Mistake:
You give everyone who needs access to the site an Administrator account.
Why It’s So Dangerous:
The Administrator role in WordPress has complete power. They can install or delete anything, change core settings, and even delete other users. Giving this level of access to everyone who needs to, for example, just write a blog post, is a huge security risk. If that user’s account is compromised (perhaps due to a weak password), the hacker gains full control of your entire website.
This follows the “Principle of Least Privilege”: only give users the minimum level of access they need to do their job.
How to Fix It: Using WordPress Roles Intelligently
WordPress has several built-in user roles. Understand and use them:
- Administrator: Full control over the entire site. This should be limited to you and perhaps one other trusted technical partner.
- Editor: Can publish and manage pages and posts, including those written by other users.
- Author: Can write, publish, and manage their own posts.
- Contributor: Can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them (an Editor must approve them).
- Subscriber: Can only manage their own profile.
Action Item: Go to the “Users” section of your WordPress dashboard. Review everyone who has access. If you have given someone “Administrator” access when all they need to do is write blog posts, change their role to “Author” or “Contributor.”
Conclusion: Building a Culture of Security
Website security is not a one-time task you can check off a list. It’s an ongoing process and, more importantly, a mindset. By avoiding these five common mistakes, you are closing the most common entry points that hackers use to target South African small businesses.
You are moving from being an easy target to a hardened one. You are replacing hope with diligence. You are taking the necessary steps to protect your investment, your reputation, and your customers. Make security a habit, not an afterthought. The peace of mind you’ll gain is priceless.
