How to protect your blog from hackers?

As you guys know that I run a web design company, and I have many local / online clients. When I suggested the idea of using wordpress to some of my clients, they were very unsure. Reason being wordpress is an open source software hence insecure. But does it really make it insecure. In my opinion no, but due to the popularity of wordpress a lot of blogs become a target of hackers. Well, you can prevent it by taking the few simple steps.

Steps

1. Stay Updated

   WordPress come out with new releases all the time. Which means you need to update all the time because if you get hacked using an older version then you can’t blame wordpress. If you guys are going to say well, I don’t know when a new wordpress version comes out. Well subscribe to Balkhis, because I write about it every time. Guys the reason why it is important to stay updated is because when wordpress finds the bug, they fix it, and release the next version. In that next version, they tell the world what was the bug that they fixed. So now the hackers know the vulnerability of your site if you are using the older version. So you just make the job easier for them. So always download the most stable version. It doesn’t take a long time. Stop being lazy and stay updated.

2. Download Database Backups

   I am very sure that almost all of you get new comments everyday even if you don’t write new posts everyday. Well, then keep your database safe by making a backup everyday, so if anything happens you can always restore your site in moments. How do you download database backups. Well if you have cpanel, you go to Backup and download the mysql. But that seems like a lot of work. So you might be better of getting a WordPress Database Backup Plugin because this will let you schedule backups daily, weekly, monthly or what not. I have it as daily. Then you can chose to download the backup or have it sent to your email. Either one its up to you. But make sure you have database backups daily.

3. Good Web hosts

   Good web hosts make a big difference in the security of your wordpress blog, or heck any site. So you are better of with going with the most reliable names in the industry unless you have your own server. If you ask me which one is the best to run your blog. I will say, Host Gator, or Blue Host should do the job perfectly fine. Because I know that they take care of almost all of their security issues.

4. File Permissions

   Always delete your install folder from your root directory. Because a person can just rerun the install and change your password and screw your site. Next thing you want to make sure is that your wp-config.php is not writeable. If it is then you are technically revealing your passwords to the whole world. And someone can just change it if they really want to. You are better of with keeping all files writable just by yourself (user). A good plugin to have in this case is WP-Scan because it goes through everything and tell your site weaknesses.

5. Comment Spam

   Comment spam is another issue which makes your blog insecure (Not really from hackers but you have spammers on your site trying to get unwanted content on your site). So a good way to protect them is just getting the plugin called Akismet, and Spam Karma. For most people Akismet alone can do the job, but as your blog size increases, Akismet can’t do everything.

6. Change Username

   I know many people just use the wordpress default user admin. It is not a smart idea to do that because hackers know which field it is in the mysql database, so it is wise to make another user with your username, and a strong password give yourself adminstrator controls, and then delete the first user “admin”.

7. Keep Different Passwords

   You need to keep different passwords because a simple hack can turn into something big. Because say if you have a same password for your wordpress and the email. Someone hacked your wordpress, then saw your email listed there. Hacked your email then hacked who know what else… So always have different passwords. And have strong passwords meaning use Capital and Small letters, Numbers, and Characters.

So wordpress even though is an open source software, but it is very secure. It have a lot of plugins that can make your site rock. If you are not using wordpress then use wordpress. If you are using wordpress, then make sure you look at all these tips and protect your blog from hackers.