At Education Web Solutions, protecting and supporting school websites is an ongoing responsibility — not something that stops once a website goes live.
As technology changes and online security becomes increasingly important, we continually review the systems we use to host and manage the websites entrusted to us.
That is why EWS is progressively transitioning the school websites we manage to WPStaq, a managed WordPress hosting platform built on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure.
Why are we making the change?
The move is about providing our schools with a hosting environment that offers stronger:
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Security
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Reliability
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Website performance
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Monitoring and backups
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Website management
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Protection against malicious traffic and online threats
Importantly, many of these protections operate at the hosting infrastructure level, rather than relying solely on plugins installed within WordPress.
For EWS, this means we have greater control over the environment supporting each school website and can take a more proactive approach to security, performance and ongoing management.
Schools and ICT teams wanting more technical information can view WPStaq’s hosting infrastructure.
Stronger security at multiple levels
WPStaq uses AWS infrastructure and separates individual WordPress websites within its hosting environment.
The platform includes a range of security measures such as:
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Web Application Firewall protection
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DDoS and malicious traffic protection
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Malware monitoring and remediation
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File integrity monitoring
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Plugin and theme vulnerability monitoring
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Website isolation and restricted permissions
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Two-factor authentication capability
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Automated monitoring and recovery systems
Administrative access can also be further restricted where required, including limiting WordPress administrative access to approved IP addresses.
This gives EWS additional tools to help protect the websites we manage beyond the security controls available within WordPress itself.
Australian hosting and data location 🇦🇺
Data location is particularly important when working with Australian schools.
For websites hosted within WPStaq’s Sydney/Australian environment, website data and backups are stored within Australia.
Further information about the collection, storage and handling of information is available in the WPStaq Privacy Policy.
It is also important to note that information collected through an individual school website can depend on the functionality enabled on that website, including contact forms, enquiry forms, analytics and other third-party integrations.
These services remain subject to the school’s own privacy requirements and the privacy terms of any applicable third-party services.
Secure connections by default
Websites hosted through the platform use HTTPS/SSL encryption, helping protect information transmitted between visitors and the website.
HTTP traffic is redirected to HTTPS, and additional security controls can be applied at the server and infrastructure level.
This forms part of a broader approach to securing websites across the network, hosting and application layers.
Protection of website credentials
WordPress user passwords are not stored in plain text.
Current versions of WordPress use secure password hashing to protect account credentials, helping ensure that the original password cannot simply be retrieved from the website database.
WPStaq also provides additional authentication and access controls, including support for two-factor authentication.
Built on Amazon Web Services
One of the key reasons EWS selected WPStaq is its use of Amazon Web Services infrastructure.
AWS operates one of the world’s largest cloud infrastructure environments and maintains a comprehensive range of independently audited security and compliance certifications.
This includes ISO/IEC 27001:2022, alongside other internationally recognised security and privacy standards.
Further information can be viewed through AWS ISO certifications.
It is important to distinguish between WPStaq and the underlying AWS infrastructure.
EWS does not represent WPStaq itself as being ISO 27001 certified unless that certification is specifically provided by WPStaq. Rather, WPStaq operates using AWS infrastructure, which benefits from AWS’s independently audited and certified security environment.
More than simply hosting a website
For EWS, hosting is not simply about keeping a website online.
It is about providing schools with a secure, monitored and professionally managed digital environment.
Alongside the hosting platform, the EWS team continues to manage and support the websites entrusted to us, including:
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WordPress and plugin updates
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Security monitoring
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Website backups
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Technical troubleshooting
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Performance monitoring
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Ongoing support
Moving to WPStaq is another investment in improving the infrastructure behind the school websites we support.
As the digital environment continues to evolve, EWS will continue to review and strengthen the technology we use to protect our schools and their online presence.
Built for schools. Designed for families. Supported by EWS.
