Are you doing enough to protect your blog against hackers? It’s frustrating when you invest countless hours of hard work into building a blog, only to discover that it’s been taken over by a hacker. The good news is that you can reduce your chances of being attacked by following some simple steps to secure your blog.
Use a Strong Password
A strong password is your blog’s first line of defense against hackers. Sure, it’s easier to remember “myspace123” (note: that used to be the most commonly used password), but that also means hackers can infiltrate your blog more easily. A better and more secure approach is to create a password consisting of upper-case letters, lower-case letters, non-sequential numbers, and special characters. After creating a password for your blog, avoid using it on other sites or accounts.
Don’t Use ‘Admin’ Username
Why shouldn’t you use the “admin” username? Well, hackers often target blogs with “admin” usernames simply because it’s one less element they need to crack. When you initially install WordPress, you’ll have the option to choose your own username, so take advantage of this feature by making it something different. It doesn’t have to be some complex string of characters, as a basic name will suffice.
Restrict Admin Access
One of the easiest ways to safeguard your blog from cyber attacks is to restrict admin access to your IP address. If someone attempts to login from an IP address that isn’t yours, they will be turned away. Assuming your blog is built on WordPress, you can do this by adding the following code to your .htaccess file, replacing the variables on the last line with your own IP address. Keep in mind, however, that you will only be able to access your blog’s admin panel from the IP address listed here. If you have a dynamic IP address, this could prove troublesome since it will constantly change.
AuthUserFile /dev/null
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName “Access Control”
AuthType Basic
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (enter your IP address here)
Update Your CMS
Whether you use the content management system (CMS) WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or any other popular blogging platform, be sure to install new updates in a timely manner. Most CMS updates are designed to patch security vulnerabilities; therefore, running an outdated version leaves your blog susceptible to attacks.
Disable User File Uploads
This may sound like common sense, but it’s still worth mentioning that user file uploads pose a serious security risk to blogs and websites. If users are allowed to upload their own files, they could upload a nefarious bug or virus that wreaks havoc on your blog’s code. And don’t assume that restricting file uploads to image files will prevent this from occurring. File formats can be spoofed to look like an image, even if it is actually a virus.
Have any other security tips that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!
Very useful info. I’m especially interested to set up the restricted admin access.
My blog was hacked early on. It was such a frustrating experience. Good tips!
Thank you for this info. Will be implementing some of these security measures.