Certainly, no one wants to work hard on a blog for hours or years and see it hacked.
Even though it is difficult to stay ahead of hackers when it comes to blogs, there are various simple things that most WordPress blog users fail to adhere to which open the security doors of their blogs for hackers to jump in.
Failing To Update Your WordPress:
To be frank, it is sometimes annoying that after updating WordPress, within 2 or 3 days, another update alert pops up on your blog. Most bloggers cannot be bothered to keep their WordPress versions up to date.
I will not say this is out of laziness since if you have a blog and you are passionate about it, simply clicking the automatic update button which comes with WordPress should not be any hard work for you. After all, you spend hours to research and write quality post, so why can’t you simply click on update and get it going?
Most bloggers just ignore the update alert with the mindset that, they will do it later on in the day or will get it done tomorrow.
Eventually, this never gets done. Most of the WordPress Blogs have seen hacked are those the owners have mostly failed to keep them updated. Do not become a victim of this, keep your WordPress blogs up to date.
Most people do not realize that some of the WordPress updates are security patch updates and therefore must quickly be done when they pop up.
When after few hours or days of an update, another update pops up, It should occur to you that, something is wrong with the version and the WordPress team is trying to cover loop holes with the new update.
Be concern about the platform your blog runs on, content will get you there but the platform will secure your content by kicking hackers out of your door.
Most bloggers also ignore updates as they think it will break their themes or plugins. This is why you need to back up your site before running the update or have a test site. Do not ignore updates; it becomes a death trap for your blog if you do so.
Failing To Update Your Plugins:
I hate having so many plugins on my blogs. I only install and keep plugins which are essential to the smooth running of my blog. If you can avoid certain plugins, please do so.
After from the need to update them regularly, they also slow the loading speed of your blog.
Remember plugins are mostly developed by people you do not know, security flaws are common in most plugins.
Do not make your WordPress blog an easy target of hackers by installing many plugins creating pot holes on your blog. Hackers can easily jump into these holes.
When you have carefully picked some few plugins that you believe your blog needs, make sure to check to see if the developer has not discontinued supporting the plugin. Everything need maintenance and update over time, so do plugins.
As mentioned above, the importance we attach to updating our WordPress platform should also be attach to updating the plugins that run on the WordPress platform.
Why would you firmly secure your doors from thieves and leave your windows widely opened for them? They will jump into your house via the windows. Keep all your plugins up to date and uninstall plugins that you do not need anymore.
Your User Names & Passwords Must Not Be Simple
Most bloggers still have their usernames as the default WordPress username “admin”. It is so amazing why most of us decide to keep this, knowing that everyone out there would surely guess that right.
If you have your username as “admin”, then you are simply calling hackers to come in. Change it to something you can easily remember but surely not your display name too.
Passwords are like the keys to our secured rooms. If you padlock your front doors with the best of locks but leave your lock’s password to be easily “Guessed”, then you are a joker. Avoid using simple passwords and never use your display name as your password.
The Security Of Your Host
The foundation upon which you build your house determines the strength of your house to a very large extent. If you get your house build at a waterlogged area, no matter the amount of cements or nails you will use to secure the actual building frames, the foundation will render these efforts useless.
Your blog must rest on a firm foundation. The foundation is your Hosting Company. Do not be swindled by cheap prices with certain hosting companies who provide no security or a small amount of security for your blog.
The first thing to check when looking for a host is , its security and reliability record. Do not fall for cheap deals.
There are so many affordable hosting companies out who will also provide the best of security for your blog. Let your foundation be strong else your entire house (blog) will sink in easily anytime any little force exerted on it.
Giving Out Admin Privileges To Guest Writers/ Contributors
You can call me the most paranoid dude on earth when it comes to online and I will smile in good faith.
I have so many guest writers and contributors on my other blogs but it took me years to give out direct publishing privileges to few of them after meeting them several times.
Same way you will not meet anyone on the street and give out your bank card and pin for them to check on your bank account anytime they want, same way you should not give out admin or publishing privileges to Guest writers and contributors or people you do not know very much online.
You do not know who is sitting behind the computer at the other end, so be careful as to what privilege you give to readers and writers.
To me, the ideal way is for all Guest writers and contributors to email their work, have a read through and publish them under their names.
If you can, do not give out publishing or admin privileges to anyone. You will not give out spare keys of your house to even your very good friends, so why do that with your blog?
Using the comment box below, you can chip in anything I have failed to consider in this post which you think I should have mentioned.
Paranoid is not the word I’d use, lol. Great tips though, similar from what I’ve read on other blogs and essential to running a smoothly funtioning blog. I already use these on my blogs and with my contributors as well. I’m also getting the hang of handling updates and have realized they sometimes can also cause errors if you do not update. A blogger would not like that as well so let’s keep current!! Another thing I would suggest is to back up your blog often, so just in case something was to happen, at least you have some peace of mind on that end of the stick 🙂 something I do faithfully.
So much to learn when it comes to blogging, you can never read enough, as there seems to always be a person a lil bit more ahead.