question about my hosted website

[Freedom2016]

I have a small consultancy and with it, a website that I had built for me on the Drupal platform. It is hosted at pair.com.

10 days ago pair.com took down my website and told me Drupal was outdated; for $50 they would upgrade me and get me back online. I contacted the woman who built my website and she said that was cheaper than what it would cost me to have her upgrade it. So I said yes. I was upgraded to Drupal 7.58.

TODAY pair.com contacted me to say 7.58 has vulnerabilities that they've "just discovered" and for just $50 more they'll upgrade me to 7.59.

Is this bullshit, or what?

It sure seems like a con to me... but educate me if I'm wrong and I should just fork over another wad of cash.

For what it's worth I know nothing about any of this stuff and so wouldn't have the first clue on how to DIY.

[Daley]

Software platform updates should be an automated thing, and free. Find another host who offers/supports Drupal and provides either Softaculous or Fantastico integrated with cPanel along with free site migration, and leave.

Here's some of the best research available on less scummy and flaky web host providers:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/web-hosting/5089-top-web-hosts.html

Personally, I've been using Hawk Host's shared hosting for a few years now, and I can't complain.

Edit: It's been a few years sice I last used Drupal. There can apparently be problems with automated updates if there's any customization from stock now. Did the person who developed your site lock you into some funky extensions?

[Freedom2016]

Software platform updates should be an automated thing, and free. Find another host who offers/supports Drupal and provides either Softaculous or Fantastico integrated with cPanel along with free site migration, and leave.

Here's some of the best research available on less scummy and flaky web host providers:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/web-hosting/5089-top-web-hosts.html

Personally, I've been using Hawk Host's shared hosting for a few years now, and I can't complain.

Edit: It's been a few years sice I last used Drupal. There can apparently be problems with automated updates if there's any customization from stock now. Did the person who developed your site lock you into some funky extensions?

Thanks. Bummer news, though; doing research on stuff I have no clue about and (no disrespect intended) don't particularly care to learn isn't very appealing. Boo.

I don't think my web developer added anything unusual or extra, it's a pretty simple site at the moment. But I'll check with her.

[nessness]

Well Drupal has had some major security issues lately, so I don't think it's unreasonable that they had to update it twice.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-dont-give-site-owners-time-to-patch-start-exploiting-new-drupal-flaw-within-hours/

I don't know enough about web hosting to say whether it's reasonable to charge you $50 each time.

[RyanAtTanagra]

Holy shit that's some of the biggest scammy bullshit I've heard.  They took your site down then charged you to put it back up?!  That's called ransom, like the ransomware that locks people's computers and won't unlock them without a credit card.

Yes Drupal has periodic security issues, just like Wordpress, or anything else on (or off) the internet.  Find a new provider, ideally one that will migrate your site for you.  Any reputable provider will do security updates for free, or at least provide them for you to do yourself.