CMS A TO Z

Recently there has been a lot of talk about security in the CMS community. We have seen a steady increase in attacks in the last year, and that continues a general trend for websites running any kind of database driven applications such as forums, guest books, etc. Automated sniffers are constantly trying to find and exploit (or report back to the mother ship) openings in the security of our Content Management Systems. And that automation has become more and more efficient while the number of exploitable sites has grown as well.

My suggestion to small business owners and to non-technical individuals looking for a secure cms solution: Find someone else to do it.

A hosted solution means that you will not be responsible for security updates and patches. It also means that the host is responsible for clean-up if something does go wrong. That will likely lead to a higher level of security in general, and also free you up to focus on your business or on your message.

Don't worry too much about whether the solution that the host is using is itself open source or if it is proprietary, but do make sure that you can depend on them.

As always:

1. Get references that you can verify.
2. Get contact informatin that you can verify.
3. Ask your friends or colleagues for recommendations that they have actually used.
4. Check to see if there are any complaints about the company (just google the name of the company or the product).
5. Make sure that you are not giving up rights to your data in any way.