Every day we see in the news that a Website has been hacked and that a database has been compromised. That scares us all. Not to go so far, recently Anonymous made “the biggest attack” in history, sneaking into the servers of GoDaddy, leaving with a single attack more than 50 million websites offline.
Unfortunately, among them were my Blogs … and yours?
Hacking and defacing networks, databases, and websites is one of the main threats that computer users are facing today. According to the well-versed lawyer having expertise in computer hacking laws and penalties in Virginia, computer hacking is also referred to as computer trespass which is a Class 3 misdemeanor, carrying significant punishments and severe penalties. It typically involves the breaking into of a computer system or device in order to alter or amend or modify the presently available settings. (§ 18.2-152.4)
It is important that we take care of and worry about the security of our Blogs, websites, databases, computers and other confidential contents. Here are nine easy steps to keep your WordPress Blog safer and optimally protected from hackers:
1. Use Strong Passwords
This is the first step to ensure your Blog, use strong, indecipherable passwords. This step should not be procrastinated, if you are not using a password of at least 10 characters, with numbers and letters (uppercase and lowercase), then you are making a serious mistake. In fact, what are you waiting for?
2. Always keep up with the Updates
The Updates WordPress are not released to improve web positioning, they are launched to fix flaws, add features, and most importantly, fix gaps in the security system.
Will WordPress (or another CMS platform) always be one step ahead of hackers? Of course not.
Unlike. They will always be a step behind the Hackers, and we must accept it, is the world in which we live.
But in spite of this, we should not provide these criminals with work.
The WordPress team works hard to create updates that make WordPress a better platform, leaving old installations with small gaps in the source code.
Those gaps allow entry to hackers.
Some feel afraid to update WordPress, because the theme they use may lose the changes/customization, or some plugins stop working.
My answer to that is simple: That does not stop you, always make a backup before updating WordPress, so when you update it, you can quickly reconfigure the theme (if your theme loses the settings).
3. Protect your Access as Administrator
Should I change the “Administrator” username that comes with WordPress by default? Sure, you can do it. But not doing it does not hurt you at all.
Keep in mind, that the username is not the key factor in terms of security measures. Hackers can easily find your username; they just need to see some article of yours or see the URL of the author. The important thing is the password, as I mentioned in step 1.
4. Save yourself from Access Attacks
According to statistics shown by Copyblogger, which is one of the most read blogs in the world, a site receives more than 275 unauthorized access attempts … every hour!
Surely none of us receives that number of attacks, but we are not exempt from receiving some.
First, be sure to follow steps 1, 2, and 3.
Second, there are plugins that you can install in your WordPress that will help you make hackers’ work more difficult.
The Plugin Limit Login Attempts, is perfect for this since it blocks the IP address that tries to access erroneously more than the amount you set.