Mentality Dictionary
Assume breach
Definition
Assume breach means designing as if an attacker may already have a foothold, so detection and recovery matter as much as prevention.
Also called: assume-breach
Why it matters for WordPress
Perfect prevention fails eventually: zero-days, vendor compromise, or a phished editor. Teams that only “lock the door” freeze when something slips through.
How it shows up in practice
- Backups you have restored in a drill
- Logging that answers “what changed?”
- Credentials rotated as routine after incidents
- Clear ownership for who cleans malware
What to do
- Practice a restore on staging.
- Keep an events log and file integrity checks on.
- Write a one-page incident checklist before you need it.
- After any compromise, hunt for persistence, do not only “delete the weird file.”
Related terms
Nearby ideas in the dictionary
- Defense in depth Defense in depth stacks multiple controls so one missed update or weak password is less likely to end in disaster.
- Event logging Event logging records security-relevant actions so you can see what changed and when.
- Backdoor A backdoor is hidden access an attacker leaves so they can return without the original vulnerability.