“Cannot reach WordPress” errors are usually temporary in nature. If the issue persists, some sort of security measures on your hosting end may be interfering. If you have any security plugins, try deactivating it to see if it resolves the issue. If so, contact the plugin developer for a more permanent fix. It could also be some kind of security measure implemented by your host, such as firewall or modSecurty. Contact your host for assistance in resolving such problems.
Updraft AFAIK doesn’t contact wordpress.org in order to do a backup. Backup issues also indicate security measures are interfering, assuming the connection to the backup resource was working previously.
This usually happens due to a server or firewall issue blocking connection to wordpress.org. Try disabling security plugins temporarily, checking with your hosting provider, and ensuring no firewall rules are blocking outgoing requests. You can also try changing DNS settings and running a Site Health check in WordPress.
Thanks, but I am not technical and am struggling with all this. I’ve never really managed my website (other than updating the content) and don’t know what it involves. Maybe I need to outsource that to someone who knows what they are doing. But first I’d like to back it up myself – that’s not working on updraft plus – It just pauses indefinitely because of unspecified errors.
