I’m no expert on this particular subject, however having had a bit of a fright on Monday morning with the Magnet blog going down to technical fault and then discovering that some form of fault was due to malware being present in some of the public html files (dodgy plugin), I decided to write a post about how you can take measures to secure your WordPress blog.
As mentioned I’m no expert in this field but if you can get something from this post that can save you from insanity then that’s enough for me.
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Administration & cPanel Secure Password
The first thing I’d advise anyone currently working with a weak password is to change it to a stronger and more secure one. Aim to have at least 8 to 10 characters using symbols, letters (uppercase too) and numbers. Make sure you do the same for your cpanel login too but don’t use the same password as your WordPress login.
Limit Login Attempts
If you’re not too familiar with this fantastic plugin then get it activated on your WordPress blog as soon as possible. The Limit Login Attempts plugin allows you to perform a login lockdown after a series of failed login attempts. This is great to deter those hackers sad enough to sit at their computer’s sadistically trying to crack your password.
The login IP log gives you the opportunity to then dump those malicious IP’s in your blacklist box.
Update to the Latest Version of WordPress
Ensure that you are using the latest version of WordPress for the most up to date security features and bug fixes.
Keep Spam Away!
Use spam filters such as Akismet or Defensio for spam filtering, URL filtering, malicious content detection.
WordPress Database Backup
I recommend using WordPress Database Backup which creates backups of your core WordPress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.
Backup your Blog Some More…!
As well as the WordPress Database Backup plugin I also recommend using an additional or alternative backup service for your blog such as provided by Backup Technology.
IP Blacklist
Make good use of your comment, URL, IP blacklist box within your discussion settings in the admin area of your WordPress blog.
So that’s all the security tips I have for you for now however if you know of anymore obvious ones please shout them out in your comments below.
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About Fabrizio Van Marciano
Top tips once again I had my blog hijacked almost a year ago and haven’t been back since, wordpress is way too weak for my liking.
Thanks and I’m sorry to hear about that, WordPress are improving their security features everytime and we see regular upgrades more than often. I hope that you can perhaps one day get back to your blog and continue on your journey.
Being hacked is such a pain. Not only does it cause damage (however minimal) that can give you a headache in your efforts to repair your account, but it makes you feel like you’ve lost your sense of security. So glad you found a solution that will make prevention much easier. Keep it up!
Hi Mary, I fully agree with you. All the hard work you’ve put into needs to be protected, and I will always be on the look out for new ways to protect my blog and I will always share them in my posts.