If you are reading this article, then most probably you are either about to start a new WordPress account or you just started and want to protect your content from unwarranted editing from jealous hackers. Whatever your situation, hopefully, you will learn some tips and tricks on how to guard your blog site.
First off, WordPress is the biggest online content management system in the world. WordPress powers 30% of all the websites in the world. If that doesn’t blow you away, here’s a more amazing stat – as of March 2018, approximately 75,000,000 websites are utilizing WordPress. And it’s still growing. This is actually an increase of 5 percentage points from 2015. Wow!
One of the main reasons that this is such a huge thing is that it is absolutely free to start and maintain. The only expense that you actually have to shell out is when you want a very specific domain name (along with certain special plugins). Other than that, everything else is available for all.
Now, because it is free and also probably the biggest entity in the online world, it’s not surprising that security is compromised every now and then. In fairness, this is not WordPress’ fault. Try protecting 75 million websites (who don’t pay) from worldwide hackers onslaught every second of every day. Didn’t think so.
All this to say that when you sign up for a free account, then it should be your responsibility to protect it. It’s not as complicated as you might think. And if you’re thinking of actually maintaining a blog site, the sooner you learn everything about it, the better for your future. Here are 3 simple ways to protect your WordPress blog.
Secure Login and Password
This should be a clear no-brainer. First and foremost, don’t leave your login username as “admin” (the WordPress default), please just don’t. Millions of websites have been hacked through this method. Create a better username, maybe something not even related to your blog. Doesn’t even have to be memorable (ever heard of LastPass?), the important thing is that it’s not an easy guess for anyone.
Passwords should be as unique as they come. The more random it is, the better the security. Again, you don’t have to memorize it. There are online services that offer to keep your login and passwords secure and easily accessible whenever and wherever.
You can even add two-factor authentication security. This is an added layer to your login process. If anyone tries to log in to your blog (including yourself), and he or she correctly fill out the username and password, you will receive a one-time password to confirm that the login is authorized. The best device to use for two-factor authentication security is your smartphone because you carry it with you all the time.
Security Software
WordPress actually doesn’t leave you hanging when it comes to security protocols. Check out Wordfence.com. Wordfence is a security plugin from, yup, WordPress. And yes, what do you know, it’s also free. You can use this plugin to create a firewall, scan for hacked files, and to control the access of guests. It also comes with malware scanning, DDoS (distributed denial-of-service ) protection, and regularly assesses your security to check if you’ve been lazy in your protection.
You can also acquire the services of a third-party cybersecurity group, but just the sound of that makes you pause, hmm, expenses. However, if your blog will contact very sensitive information like credit card or bank account numbers, then it might be a smart move to actually get a paid service.
Update Regularly
This is actually the easiest of them all. You can literally update your WordPress software without even doing anything. All you have to do is program your website to auto-update for new versions of WordPress or any of the plugins that you’re using.
Updates usually include better security coding against recent malware and harmful files. So you have completely nothing to lose by updating to the latest version.
There you go. You can get more ideas and possibly even formulate a better security process for your blog if you do some research. There are thousands of other blog posts that offer suggestions. Check them out. This may not be the most comprehensive security blog you will ever read, but preferably it did help you start your website on the right foot, jealous hackers or not.
