Corporate Web Security & Performance Overhaul
A legacy corporate website faced stability issues. slow load times. and security risks due to outdated plugins and a compromised WordPress environment.
The leadership wanted the platform stabilized without downtime. and needed a foundation strong enough to support an upcoming rebrand.
I led the full recovery. security hardening. and performance overhaul.
The goal was to stabilize the system. remove risk. and restore high speed performance with no disruption to users.
Web Performance & Security
Web Operations Lead, WordPress Architecture, Security Hardening, Performance Optimization
WordPress, Cloudflare, GTmetrix, Security Scanner Tools
Challenge
The system had three major issues:
Security exposure: A plugin vulnerability caused instability and potential breach risk.
Performance hit: Slow load times. high plugin load. and 5–6 second delays blocked campaigns and sales activity.
Operational risk: The vendor team couldn’t respond fast enough. increasing downtime risk during business hours.
The business needed immediate stabilization without breaking existing workflows.
Results
The overhaul restored stability. improved speed. and reduced operational risk across the entire web platform.
• 100% uptime after recovery
• 72 hours saved per release cycle
• Load time improved from 5.8s → 3.7s (GTmetrix)
• Reduced plugin load impact by ~20%
• Zero downtime migrations
100%
Operational Uptime After Recovery
72hrs
Engineering Time Saved per Release Cycle
99.9%
Uptime (inc. Recent Global Outages)
Process
1. System Assessment
Scanned every plugin, theme layer, and database query.
Found outdated components, deprecated builders, high plugin load, and conflicting scripts.
2. Emergency Stabilization
Fixed the immediate breakpoints, disabled risky plugins, patched security gaps, and restored normal uptime. No downtime during business hours.
3. Security Hardening & Governance
Implemented:
• Plugin audit + cleanup
• Access cleanup
• Malware scan
• Minimum plugin policy
Created a stable dev → stage → production process.
4. Performance Optimization
Optimized server level caching, reduced requests, fixed heavy scripts, cleaned database bloat. Created Cloudflare rules to improve TTFB and global delivery.
5. Rebuild for the Rebrand
Prepared the entire architecture for a rebrand rollout.
Ensured the system could handle increased traffic, future pages, and campaign spikes.
The Business Impact
The Business Impact
The web platform moved from “at risk” to fully stable.
Marketing and sales regained confidence to run campaigns. launch new pages. and support the corporate rebrand without fear of downtime.
Highlights:
Operational Stability
100% uptime after the overhaul.
Real Speed Gains
Load time cut down by over 2 seconds, improving user experience and SEO.
Engineering Efficiency
72 hours saved per cycle, reducing dependency on external developers.
Future Ready Foundation
The system can now support new content, campaigns, and design updates without performance loss.
My role didn’t end at launch. I actively managed the platform’s evolution to ensure 99.99% availability through multiple infrastructure upgrades and global outages.
Zero Downtime Migrations: Successfully executed two major infrastructure migrations (GoDaddy → WP Engine → WPMU DEV) to optimize costs and performance. By utilizing staging environments and precise DNS cutovers, I ensured zero downtime during these critical transitions.
Crisis Response: During a recent global Cloudflare outage that took down competitor sites for hours, I actively monitored the incident and immediately rerouted nameservers to the origin host.
Result: The rSTAR website experienced only 2 minutes of total downtime, maintaining business continuity while peer organizations remained offline.
Conclusion
This project shows how fixing the foundation. securing the system, and improving speed can reduce operational risk and create long term stability for enterprise teams.
A clean, stable WordPress architecture allowed the company to move forward with confidence and scale without disruption.