Have you ever had your Wordpress blog hacked? If yes, then you will know what a complete nightmare it is to try and restore it, especially if your blog is old and established. If you’ve never had your blog hacked, then you are one of the lucky ones :).
There are plenty of actions you can take to ensure your blog is hack proof, and here are 5 of the simplest ones you can implement on your blog right now.
1. Make sure you have upgraded to the latest version of WordPress.
This may seem like an obvious one, but there are still many people I know who do not keep their version of WordPress up to date. Every time there are new WordPress versions available they include several security patches in them. These security patches are necessary to make sure your blog stays safe.
2. Take the meta information off your front page of your blog.
Many, many blogs I visit regularly still have their meta information in their sidebar or the footer. You know that little widget that shows the following options:
* Login
*Logout
*Wordpress
*xhtml
What you are basically doing by keeping this on the front of your blog is advertising your WordPress login page to your visitors.
3. Make sure your username and password are hard to guess.
The default Wordpress username is Admin, and many people just stick with this one. Although it’s easier for you to remember, unfortunately it’s also easier for the hackers to guess. You might also change your password every couple of weeks in your dashboard.
4. Install the WP security scan plugin.
Once installed, the WP security scan plugin will scan your Wordpress blog and find anything that makes your blog vulnerable. If it does find any weak spots in your blog installation, it will suggest what you can do to fix it.
5. Make sure you back up your blog.
Lastly and probably the most important step is ensuring that you have a back up copy of your blogs files and database. Then if your blog does get hacked, you will be able to have it back online in no time at all.
As you can see the 5 steps above are not rocket science, and some may even seem pretty obvious to you. But many many blogs I have encountered do not even take these five simple steps to ensure their blog is protected.
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